Stop the Madness

I'm warning you now this is quite the rant, but I could not hold this in, it just had to come out.

I should've known better than to open it considering who it was from, but I couldn't help myself! The subject line read: "It has begun" And, let's face it I'm nosy inquisitive and I just had to know what "it" was.

 The e-mail said that if you are a True American you will refuse the new $1 coins because it doesn't say "In God We Trust." It went on to say that if there was ever a time to boycott, it is now!

Since when, does your religious belief have any impact on whether you're American, or not?! America was founded on freedom of religion, and what religion, you believe in, if any, should not matter to who you are as a person, nor, to who you are as an American!

And, as far as important things to Boycott?! There are a great deal more things that impact our lives, much more strongly, than whether there are 4 words on the money we exchange! Has anyone noticed the violence happening in our own American Streets?! or the state of our economy?!  ♪people killin', people dyin' children hurt and you hear them cryin'♪ (Black Eyed Peas)

And, what bothers me more than the note itself, is that this person is not a judgemental person. So, why did she forward something so controversial?

Well, she is that friend that "forwards." You know the one. The one, that doesn't check Snopes before sending the note that says stop drinking bottled water because it causes cancer, or that if you forward the same forwarded note, Microsoft will pay you hundreds of dollars. Oh, and the jokes, you can't forget the umpteen hundred jokes that have been sent, funny, or not.

Yeah, that friend. I love her dearly, but she has now become the person that I am hesitant to open e-mails from because they are always something ridiculous, that doesn't even represent who she is as a person!

 So, if you choose not to accept the $1 coins as change, it is your American right to do so, but please do it for your own reasons, not because someone somewhere created an e-mail that has been forwarded and reforwarded. ♪got to be your own man, not a puppet on a string♪ (Aaron Tippin)

And, if you're that person that is the "forwarder," PLEASE STOP! your friends won't be honest with you, but I will. We don't want to read every note you've received, so please stop the madness! Stop, Stop Stop!   It's ok, to forward something of value, but be selective, and, think of your audience. Before you send that note think about whether it might be hurtful to the person receiving it. Because, we don't all view things the same, and isn't that uniqueness, in fact, what makes us True Americans?

♪I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free♪ (Lee Greenwood)