WWAD?

So this Ronald Reagan worshipping religious nut invites himself into my cubicle and decides to start up a conversation about politics. The conversation turns to gays, and at some point his face contorts into a look of absolute hate, his voice changes, and he states, “if I could, I’d shoot them myself.” He was not joking. He was dead serious.

My problem with this situation wasn’t what he said or the way he said it. Long ago I realized that people this obsessed with homosexuality are simply closeted, self-hating gays who are doing all the can to repress the way they really feel, and it manifests itself in hate. No, my problem was my reaction. Silence. Then, a change of subject before I politely stated I had to get back to work.

This was a perfect situation to tell someone off, and I failed. He initiated the conversation in my cubicle, so however I chose to express myself would have been justified. But I just sat there.

After he left I was sitting there, mad at myself, and the thought popped up: What Would Avery Do?

You see, Avery is my good friend in San Diego, and if this would have happened in his cubicle, things would have gone down differently. Oh, there would have been words. I’m sure there would have been some “fuck you”’s and “fuck off”’s mixed in, and they would have been totally necessary and justified
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I’m tired of trying to politely respond to people who say stupid things to my face and send me ignorant email about immigrants, the war, race, whatever. Maybe my silence leads them to believe I'm okay with it. So fuck it. If they have no shame in expressing their views to me, whether to my face or in their stupid fucking emails, then, instead of being diplomatic, I’m going to think WWAD? and let the profanities fly. Besides, I have health insurance.

Actually, I’ll probably do the same old nice guy song and dance as usual, but it feels good to take a fake stand once in a while.