So after a brief moment of self reflection this evening, I decided to write a little bit about why I think the way that I do. Where did my questioning, critical thinking mind come from? While I've always questioned authority and never tried to hide that fact, I distinctly remember one instance in college that literally changed the way I think.
Dennis Hoffman was my college professor for three classes. Criminal Justice 101, Terrorism, and Organized Crime. My first class with him was obviously 101. I was very ‘Crime Control’ and you could even say a tad conservative at this time. I'm not sure why, it was before 9/11 and as I said, I have a problem with authority. Anyhow, Dr. Hoffman asked this question. “If a grown man who has severe mental illness and has an IQ of an 8 year old commits murder, do we convict him?”
Out of probably 300 students, he picks me to answer. I said, “Yes.”
As if expecting my answer, he immediately answered, “Why?”
I sheepishly said, “Because he committed the crime?”
Right on the ball he said, “If we define the crime of murder as the act itself along with malicious intent and the suspect does not hold the capacity to create intent, legally, there is no crime.”
I felt SO stupid in front of all of those people but that started getting me to look at things in a whole new way. I started questioning things and not just taking them at face value. You take that kind of critical thinking to other parts of your life and things just start to make more sense. Things aren't black and white and there's room for the gray. You can think of new possibilities and new solutions to problems. You don't have to shove yourself in a box in order to make other people happy. And when you use that kind of critical thinking to Religion, all of a sudden this whole, because God said so line wasn’t really enough for me anymore. Let's just leave it at that.
I hope the things I say make a little more sense to you now. And if not, then maybe your eyes haven't been opened wide enough yet.
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