What if?

What if I am wrong about everything I hold to be true? What if a jealous, vindictive, masculine god really did create the world six thousands years ago in only six days? What if women shouldn’t have the right to choose and god really does hate the gays? What if blacks are only three-fifths human beings and ignorance and intolerance build strong communities teaming with family values? What if it does make sense to spend my tax dollars on endless war, Wall Street bailouts, and a police state? What if teaching to the status quo is what the world needs? What if I believed that my daughter should not worry about the planet but should spend more time on what she wears and buys? What if I thought that the American system is the best in the world and so we should keep the Mexicans on their side of the fence? What if I could be all I could be in an Army of one? What if I trusted homeland security, the police, and politicians? What if I believed in the market to regulate itself and had faith in corporations to be better stewards of the planet? What if human nature is base and greedy, and nothing will ever get better? What if Fox news really is balanced and the liberal media is trying to brainwash me? What if murdering animals and eating their flesh is what I was meant to do? What if competition builds character and cooperation stifles creativity? What if Milton Freedman was right and Naomi Klein is dead wrong? What if torture works and Guantanimo is not a shameful insult to human rights everywhere? What if the third world is lazy and corrupt and lucky have us buy their water supplies? What if colonialism is in the past and Globalization the future? What if the world really is flat? What if teaching to the test and grubbing for grades really does help students learn? What if a meaningless degree and a 4.0 is better than life experience and travel? What if we should have guns, panic rooms, and brainwash ourselves in sub-divisions? What if power wasn’t meant for the people? What if there is a heaven and a hell? What if anybody even cares?