Thoughts

Nobody tells me what to think. You can change my behaviour through legal threats and sanctions. You can even stop me saying things by speech codes and threats of imprisonment or ostracisation. But you cannot change what I think. And, if you attempt to do that, you will find you are unsuccessful. What is in my head is mine, not yours. If you want to persuade me of something, talk to me. Give me evidence and argument - but make it real evidence and logical argument, not falsehoods and trickery, presented clearly and without prejudice or manipulation. I am wise to those things. And don't ever try to make me feel guilty about what I do or what I think. I've been around on this planet a long time now, and there are reasons for everything I say and do. I think what I think because I have thought a lot. I do what I do because it works for me. As long as I am not harming anyone, I will do as I please, and my right to do that is more ancient than your right to stop me merely because you disapprove. I'm always prepared to change my mind, if I think the evidence warrants it. But I won't be bullied into changing the way I feel by people who think I am not a worthy human being just because I disagree with them.

Speak to me as an adult, an equal, and I will listen. Patronise me, try to bully me, try to make me feel guilty for my thoughts, marginalise me, and I will not.