February 16 - November 9, 2022

Do Your Own Research

“Please, Do Your Own Research” you say, most often

when those you say it to disagree with what you think

as if to "do our own research" could cause us agree

do you know how presumptuous your saying that sounds?

don’t you think that I’m as likely to be as offended by this

as you would be if I were to say these same words to you

“Do your own research,” you throw it out so casually

as if assuming I haven’t already done my own research

my different opinion from yours doesn’t make me wrong

nor does your different opinion from mine make you right

have you even stopped to consider that my own research

was not as narrow as you suppose, but wider than yours

or that I’m operating with a different bias than you think

or that my disagreement with you is deeper than it looks

my opinions rising from my own research are not invalid

simply because they are not opinions the same as yours

(though they may be invalid, that is not the reason why)

you should not assume I’ve not done my own research

when I’ve concluded a different opinion than your own