Here is our affirmation:

I apologize when I let my actions affect things in a way that I did not want them to. I do not apologize for their latent ability to happen. I apologize when I let my anger out in poor ways. I do not apologize for it being there.

I apologize when I cannot always be there for my friends. I acknowledge that I cannot always be, and that does not make me any less of a person. I do not apologize for my pride. I apologize when it distorts my interactions with others.

I understand that I have the potential for contradictions inside myself. I do not apologize for their existence, for my sincerity can exist beside my temptation without contamination. I apologize for when my flaws hurt others. I do not apologize for their existence. I apologize for when I accidentally or deliberately hurt other people by who I am. But I do not apologize for my ability to be things that they do not expect.

I do not apologize for my existence. How I treat others and how I treat myself are the responsibilities I have, not justifying why I am here. My internal version of reality is whatever it needs to be. I do not apologize for it, although I remember that others do not see it and it will not affect them.

I do not need to prove that I am just as worthy of breathing air as you. There are no apologies for existence.

And, as a multiple:

We do not apologize for those in us who we might not like. We acknowledge that they are there, and that they, too, have a role. We apologize for when they alter the external world in a way that the rest of us do not like, but we do not apologize for the fact that they exist.

What is NAfE itself?

NAfE is a cause dedicated to the affirmation that every view of the world from an African, European, Asian, American, or Other standpoint is important. Every gay's, bisexual's, straight's, and other's are equal. Every male, female, transsexual/transgenderal, and other has the same potential that we do. Every singleton's, mid-continuum's, multiple's, otherkin's, soulbonder's and other's experiences of reality are valid and exist.

We cross into dangerous lines when we label our own ideas and values to be at all more important to another group than their own. And how can we tell them that we 'know better'? That doesn't mean that we can simply ignore everything we don't like--but we *can* respect it. Above all, we can affirm other worlds, just as we can affirm the other people who embody them.

There isn't any need to worry about trying to get a single, massive consistent reality. The beauty of things is that there are a million different views for a million different people--that this existence. is only a collective vote in the end. How we see the world is exactly how we need to, for these styles of life are what are needed to either create or contrast against other views. But it does not say that we are any more valuable, special, or important than another. The cultist zealot, the bigoted neighbor, the small-minded boss--all these are equal. All these need not apologize either, and we are no better than them in the end.

Respect of other realities, and respect of our own. That's all it is. It doesn't require love. It doesn't require hate. None of us are quite in the same world by default. We pay our own consequences and try to shape our own dreams. We can think of whatever we want on the inside, but should always remember to play well with others on the outside or take the consequences when we do not.

Our duties are not to the streamlining of other lives, but to the creation of as wonderful a construct as we can make with our own. Acceptance is a very gritty thing sometimes, but it's worth it.

If you want a NAfE banner, by all means take it. Link back to the explanation page here or make one of your own. If you let us know, that's even better, so we can cheer up now and then or even make more banners or better things with this section.

Q: Does this mean I can be as big of a jerk as I want?
A: That depends. Do you *want* to be known to others and treated as one?

Q: What *does* NAfE do then?
A: NAfE doesn't give people a pardon from the consequences of their behavior. Yes, that which we don't like can exist, but we don't have to embody it.
It's up to you to become what you want to be. NAfE isn't here to give people excuses, but reminders--because NAfE *also* means that there are no possible apologies that can be made for the many, many mistakes we make simply by existing. We are lucky when our actions can be resolved by something as simple as an "I'm sorry."

Q: This all sounds stupid. Why would I want to support NAfE when I already *know* I'm good?
A: You probably don't want to then. Mostly because NAfE is a reminder that other people are just as good as you.
NAfE is here to state that our evils are as strong as we need them to be, and our virtues as powerful. Denying the place for wickedness means that you give it no rights to exist, and refusing that which you consider to be good is just as self-defeating. These things on their own aren't the end-all and be-all of reality. It's what we *do* with them that matters.