Everyone can't stand under your umbrella...they won't fit!

You know what really exhausts me?

Like, actually physically exhausts me...?

You know, aside from the fact that I decided to start working my butt off, start working out 6 days-a-week before work, and develop a new-found addiction to catching up on Castle episodes late into the night hoping one day Castle and Beckett will FINALLY get together...all at the same moment in time...

(but I digress...)

What exhausts me? People. The stupid kind.

More specifically the stupid kind that have been telling me, and others around me (and not-so around me), to "stop eating our own."

This has sincerely been on my mind for weeks. There have been so many instances lately where I have been told this, or seen or heard someone else scolded with some version of this little phrase – in a number of different capacities...
...in terms of religion, politics, any sort of personal beliefs etc. etc. etc. 

And there is one simple answer that I really have not heard anyone express...

"They are not 'my own'..." It's as simple as that.

Shocking, I know...but just because I share some very, very basic trait or belief with someone...or some group...does not mean that I have some instant loyalty to them.

Now, this is not to say that I think we should all have free reign to attack each other at will. I'm not trying to re-live high school – and let's be quite honest: college...the 83rd session...uhhh, yesterday? heh – and just go sh*t-talk crazy, be the next gossip-queen or Perez Hilton or WHATEVER!

What I AM saying is this: if a person or group does something that I don't agree with, does something that is worth being criticized publicly, I will do just that. I don't care if it's a church, a church-goer, a religious person of any-branch, a "Republican" or anyone else that people could possibly identify as "my own."

Are you honestly going to sit there and tell me that because I was raised Baptist I can't criticize the shocking and disgusting "protest" tactics of Westboro Baptist Church?

That just because someone sells their self as a Republican or a conservative I can't criticize them if they go and do something completely against what they claim they stand for?

Get it together, people.

You either have a set of personal beliefs that you identify with and believe in to your very core, or you "identify" with the name of those beliefs you think you have. 

It's okay to be more selective with who you include under your umbrellas. In fact, it's incredibly necessary!

So, don't sit there and tell me not to "eat my own," because chances are if you have a reason to say that to me, then whoever or whatever I am calling out – they're not "my own."