I would like to say something though.
I have been thinking a lot about the war, peace, humanity, life. After all this pondering it occurred to me that if I live my entire life without surviving for a time on wheat and rice while living in a fox hole for several years while purifying my own urine for drinking water while the infrastructure of the world around me crumbles, and the depravity of humanity reaches the unbearable world wide, I'll smile and die happy.
Call me naive, but I would like to think that life will go on folks. Of course there will be wars, contention, and unrest. Gas prices will go up, then down, the probably up again, then probably down again. Maybe we won't need gas at all in the not too distant future.
People will continue to complain about the depravity of humanity, seeing only the evil going on in front of their faces while ignoring the not so rosy road that brought humanity to where it is today. I would like to paraphrase something someone smarter than me said, Polygamy, human sacrifice, cannibalism, wife beating, self mutilation, war, circumcision, castration and incest are perfectly "moral" actions in certain cultures and at certain times in our history.
I assume that hate crimes, cruelty and bigotry in its various forms will continue. As long as people continue to believe that they are somehow a chosen or better people. Some how above the rest, or privy to some special knowledge. Whether this belief comes from religion, or somewhere deep inside that special place in their heart, they feel that their God will reward his faithful and acknowledge their sacrifices and damn everyone else. Unfortunately, what it means to be one of God's faithful varies widely from religion to religion. We all know we are right and everyone else is in the dark. To quote Richard Dawkins; "...We are all atheist about most Gods humanity ever believed in..."
The pious believe it is their responsibility or privilege to, by the spirit, prove the absolute rightness (?) of their religion. To give a light to those in the dark. This sometimes offends the unwilling rescued. This is a story as old as humanity. It is the reason for unrest in the Middle East, apartheid, America, The Inquisition, The Salem witchcraft trials, human sacrifices, suicide bombers, the chastity belt, ethnic cleansing, racism, genocide, fillicide, infanticide, misogyny, wars, and you get the idea.
I guess in order for humanity to have the peace we so desperately preach, and want and crave, Christ is going to have to descsend from Heaven with all his pomp and granduer to end these arguments like most Christians believe he someday will. Maybe someday all this contention will be ended by the decimation of ALL life by some unstoppable force from the outer reaches of our universe. A gamma ray burst, a ravenous black hole, an asteroid, the birth of a new star, or the untimely death of our Sun. Maybe will will war ourselves to death. Each army confident that they are right, that God is on their side, and finally, maybe because of our carelessness, we will kill our Earth. The only planet in our Solar System capable of sustaining our existence. Pick your poison people...or maybe we could just coexist, with people and our planet. Maybe we could try to see that we are all just people trying to find our path, trying to be happy. It almost sounds trite, but so what. History has always been written by the winners, which why it is sometimes distorted. I would like to write my own history, without buying into alarmist mentalities, or messed up ideals, or conflicting standards. I just want to be me and be a genuinely good person, and to love life and people and diversity and live my life and allow others the same opportunity regardless of race, creed, religion, standards, political affiliation, nationality or sex.
-End Rant-
In other things on my mind but not so particularly controversial, did anyone see The Moon, Jupiter and Venus last night?
What an awesome time to be alive, People!
I love you, that is all.
~B
