A Blank Canvas

I was fascinated to read New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's daughter Georgina has shunned political life. It seems she prefers the company of horses to public policy pundits. Her sister works for their father in City Hall; Georgina is an equestrian who writes books.

Allegedly, Papa Bloomberg is not happy that his daughter Georgina isn't the typical offspring of a billionaire politician. But were Georgina's sister not produced by the current mayor of New York, would a single Junior Bloomberg work at City Hall?

So many lives would be more fulfilled were we not imprisoned by what's expected of us.

Look at the box in which religion puts millions of people... How many shun pleasurable behavior they would otherwise consider sinless?

Had they experienced no household bias, how many children would grow up to follow the same holy book as their parents? Few would believe a factual holy book even existed. Of those who did, an astronomically small number would eventually decide they accepted the same book in which members of their family have believed for generations. In hopes good earthly deeds lead to heavenly rewards, some would believe in a loving creator, but, if not steered down a direct path, it's safe to assume most children would shun all specific religions, thus opening them up to limitless opportunities.

And they would most likely be better people. Instead of recalling sermons about the evils of homosexuality and therefore adding to the torment, brave untainted high-schoolers would come to the defense of bully victims.

Faithful people claim religion injects its subjects with goodness, when it instead acts as a barricade to inherent feelings of goodness. No religion in a young person's life means, "The high-voiced boy in my school is a good person; I know this because I judge him by his actions, not his mannerisms," would replace, "Only a small percentage of boys in my school talk like girls, and church teaches me that boys should talk like boys."

I understand that children often ridicule unique members of their class, and completely eliminating bullying is nearly impossible, but weekly visits to grandiose dwellings supposedly inspired by perfection, which actively back the assertion that the picked-on are vile sinners, certainly increases the amount of cruelty perpetrated in schoolyards across America.

If no parent influenced their child to believe a certain way, the world would undoubtedly see vast improvement.

Laws are aimed at making sure parents feed and water their children. Why not control what parents feed their child's brain by forbidding the teaching of propaganda? Again, think about how much society would benefit from legislation that required adults to only teach what they can prove. You can't prove god hates fags, you can't prove god encourages moderate levels of child abuse, and you certainly can't prove god smiles after the killing of an infidel under the age of 18.

Like Mayor Bloomberg should not be disappointed with his equestrian/author daughter; don't treat your child poorly for making decisions that fill his or her life with happiness. In fact, you should be proud they bravely carved their own niche - particularly when said niche doesn't call for baseless discrimination.