Our Greatest Sin

(a poem)

Perhaps 

our greatest sin is passing on to our children our age old biases and prejudices. 

Or perhaps 

it is the work we put into making sure their beautifully open minds slowly close to more closely resemble our own closed minds. 

Or perhaps 

it is pointing out the people and places they should hate and demonize in order to ensure the perpetuation of decades old animosity. 

Or perhaps 

it is convincing them that they deserve the material goods that someone else has, and that the outsiders are the reason they cannot have what they want. 

Or perhaps 

it is the way we indoctrinate them to believe what we believe about those who believe differently than we believe. 

Or perhaps 

it is in the manner in which we give our fears and insecurities to them ensuring that they will never see the world or others any differently than we do. 

Or perhaps 

it is our understanding that we are the ones who must shape them while being blind to the ways in which they might shape us. 

Perhaps 

that is our greatest sin. 

--bss2017