Congenital Moral Outrage

I have an innate sense of justice.  I was morally outraged at birth. That's why I was screaming.  I wanted everyone around me to wake up and smell the injustice the world was serving up as palatable goodness.  My grandmother says I "had the colic"   No I didn't.  What I had was congenital moral outrage.  I screamed and screamed and then when I could finally articulate that moral outrage I talked and talked and talked some more.  I also wrote and wrote and wrote some more. Sometimes I punctuated all my talking and writing with emphatic gestures and yes, more screaming.

I wasn't groomed to be this way.  My family was never particularly politically active.  Sure, they voted, but they didn't talk about it.  They worked.  A lot.  I didn't go to church if I could avoid it.  Neither did my grandpa. That's not to say my family was amoral or morally lax.  We were just relaxed about it. No one was sitting around trying to force me to think or be or believe one thing or another thing (well sometimes they did, but it didn't take long to figure out that method doesn't work so well with me).. In fact, my family is a politically and religiously mixed bag of nuts (pun intended).  So I say I was born this way.  I was born morally outraged and determined to spread that outrage to the masses.

In high school I decided my first amendment right to free speech was being violated when my school decided to enforce a mandatory daily participation of the Pledge of Allegiance.  I didn't necessarily have any beef with the Pledge itself.  No, that wasn't it at all.  My problem was with being forced to stand up and say it.  So I researched the first amendment and found a case where the Supreme Court had decided that the first amendment right to free speech also extended to the right not to say something.  I decided to take a stand, or rather a sit.  I refused to say the pledge.  I also wrote a letter to a classmate filled with my moral outrage, not only at being forced to say the Pledge but at inconsistencies I felt were inherent in the Pledge itself ("under God," I scoffed, "What about freedom of religion?").  So I sat down.  I refused to say the pledge.  The more my teacher tried to force me to say it, the more obstinately I sat--lips zipped and butt firmly planted in my chair.  Then she found my letter and tried to use that as grounds to get me suspended.

Of course I was thrilled.  This was a real coup.  I was now in a position to defend my entire student body's right to free speech.  I contacted the School Superintendent's office, citing the court case, and threatened to sue.  The School Superintendent personally responded to my call immediately.  My after school detention and pending suspension were both overturned, and it was no longer acceptable for school officials to force anyone to say the Pledge of Allegiance.  Students were free to sit quietly if they willed it.  I considered this a victory.

Now I realize there are far more important matters to fight for, but when you're sixteen free speech seems to be of the utmost importance, superseding pretty much everything else. 

Since that time I have used my inborn moral outrage to fight for numerous things:  animal rights, women's rights, particular political candidates, historic preservation, conservation, environmental issues.  I also have a soft spot for the underdog.  I almost always side with the underdog and I will fight tooth and nail for anyone or anything that piques my innate sense of justice. 

People don't always agree with me.  Sometimes people get mad at me.  Sometimes I'm misunderstood.  But despite all that, I'm still screaming, brimming with ethical indignation and rejoicing whenever someone actually listens.