Remember this week

Some weeks, you just want to turn your back on and forget. I won't be able to do it with this week, if only because part of what I wish I could block from memory were headlines that both sadden and infuriate me - the news about Eric Garner and the religious freedom act in Michigan making it out of the House and on its way to the State Senate. The only way to make change happen so that everyone is treated equally in a public place is to remember the steps that took us backward and fight against them.

I won't argue about it here. I'll just say that legalizing openly discriminatory acts - which if you refuse public service to someone absolutely is - is narrow-minded, and nobody will ever be able to convince me otherwise. Perhaps I assume the worst in people in believing legislation like this would totally be abused, or that those same people who demand to treat people with hate would show outrage if the same behavior came from an opposing religious belief, but I've seen both firsthand. It only takes one or two extremists to sully an entire group. 

So I won't forget about this week. I'll just do my best to teach my children to treat everyone with the same respect and grace. Intolerance is a learned behavior.