The Root of All Evil

“They’re just a bunch of faggots,” was the phrase I heard from someone as I was walking the streets of Pocatello on Wednesday. It took me about 5 minutes before it hit me like a 20 pound sledge  slammed into my head. I hadn’t just  witnessed another case of homophobia, I had been witness to the root of all evil. The cause that allows people to maim, torture, rape, murder, kill and brutalize each other and still feel righteous and good. The black gnarled roots are the ability to dehumanize. To label a group of people based on an arbitrarily disagreeable trait and hate them for it.

When a person becomes less than human in one’s eyes they become an animal. And like our ancestors on the African plains hunting animals for physical nourishment, we hunt those we dehumanize to sustain our twisted ideas, because after all they are only faggots or niggers or chinks or jews. The only way to overcome this evil is to come to the realization that we are all human. I have known many people from many backgrounds and I have never once met a person I couldn’t relate to. Not a single person who hadn’t had a similar human experience to me.

Unfortunately the only way to kill this black thorny weed which seeks to snuff out all but the “chosen” is to win the minds of the complacent majority. To get those who listen to their silently elected hate mongers to reject that hate and show them that we all have something to share with each other. This is no easy task because the powers we are taking on hold the keys to the cage of the mind. I am talking about any  group of people who claim they are more pure and chosen than another. I won’t name names because then I become no better than those I seek to oppose, in the arena of rationality, but we who are on the same mission, to bring equality to all people of the world, know who they are.

Why I Write

The passion I have externalized the most my whole has been technology. However the one passion I have, which pre-dates technology is writing. My earliest memory was in the 3rd grade telling my teacher about an idea I had where students from different classes at my elementary school could create a small newspaper for parents telling them what we were doing at the school. At that time I wrote up a few samples and gave them to her. I don’t know if that idea ever came to fruition because not long after I was pulled from public school to be home schooled, but I digress. I have also seen many of the writing samples my mom has kept going all the way back to kindergarten. Needless to say, it has interested me for a long time.

Part of my passion for technology came because I learned I was able to communicate with other people across the internet in written form. You see I, as I was reminded in a small disagreement with a friend yesterday, don’t communicate well verbally. It’s always been an issue for me to be able to complete a whole thought verbally without pausing half way through. I remember at a young age, probably 5, my dad yelling at me to, “think about what I’m saying before I open my mouth.” I don’t know why I just can’t, even to this day. When writing I have the ability to not only craft what I want to say in a coherent way, but I can make it more eloquent than if I were speaking verbally.

While writing has helped me communicate it’s not the whole picture, nor does it explain the passion. A large portion of it is egotistical. I actually think that some of the things I have to say are not only worth being said, but they are worth taking the time to write down and I think others will want to take the time to read them. Writing is a craft that takes guts. I don’t just internalize my ideas or share them with a small group of friends, I am actively putting them out to the world to be judged, criticized and determined if they are off any worth. The fact that I keep doing it is an ego trip.

However, writing also fills a deep philosophical role for me too. I have a deep belief that the only way for the world to become a better place is to exchange ideas and understanding, and writing is a tangible way to transfer ideas from one mind to another. If we all can understand what makes us human, and find the attributes we all share, we can make this world a better place. In fact I think it is the only way to make the world a better place. As soon as we think a group of people are less than human, and we marginalize them, that is when ugly things happen in this world.

I will admit though, the written word has also been used to change the world in evil ways. One of the most infamous books is Mein Kampf, by Adolf Hitler. Just like good ideas can be transfered by the written word, so can the bad. However, it’s a battle of wits, and just because a tool can be used for evil doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be used for good. I think to hacking tools. Black hat hackers use many of the same tools white hat hackers use, only one has malicious intent, while the other is using those tools to stop that malicious intent.

Today we can look back at history and see that people have lived and died and whole nations have risen and fallen on the written word. Writing is a powerful tool of communication, which requires a strong will, but to those who wield it well, they can change the world. I want to be one of those who wields the power of the written word and uses it for good.

My De-conversion

This month represents 2 years since I made my clean break from religion. To mark the occasion, I’ve decided to explore how I was de-converted. The problem is, the people this is written to will probably not read it. I am writing this, not for my closest friends, who accept me for who I am, but for those who think that I left religion frivolously. These people believe that I left because I wanted to live a life I couldn’t while being LDS or that I simply fell into the wrong crowd. They also believe that it will take something just as frivolous to bring me back. The phrase I hear directly and indirectly is, “All you need is a good Mormon girl to bring you back.” If you are one of these people please read on because I hope to demonstrate that my de-conversion was a long process which didn’t happen overnight, in fact it took years.

As far as my stance on life, the universe and everything, I am an agnostic atheist. I believe there is no god, but I can’t prove one doesn’t exist. However, when I started doubting my faith I couldn’t foresee I would end at that conclusion.

A little bit of background, I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and was homeschooled from the 3rd grade through high school. A little on my homeschooling, my parents weren’t very ‘hands on.’ Anything I learned I mostly taught myself through reading, exploration and watching liberal amounts science shows on TV, like Bill Nye the Science Guy. What this did for me was give me a very curious nature. I wanted to know more about many subjects, which helped lead to my fall. I also never was in a position where I was just accepting of what I was taught.

I started having doubts about my religion when I was 16. I started seeing inconsistencies in the church like, old doctrines the church had rejected that they now glossed over. An example was not allowing African-Americans to receive the priesthood or go to the temple for a long time. That was rejected and now you never hear about it, and it’s glossed over if you bring it up. Along with it I started learning about other translations of the Bible. I had a hard time seeing the problem with using different translations of the Bible, especially if they were easier to understand. The reasoning, I was told, was there was deeper meaning in the old english the King James Version was written in. So there are some starting seeds of doubt, at this point my faith still pretty strong, but I have curiosity both in what other versions of the Bible say and what are some other ‘deep doctrine’ that is no longer taught.

When I entered my 3rd year of seminary I had completed studying the whole Bible and moved onto the Book of Mormon. This is where I learned why the church really uses the King James Version elusively.  It’s because several parts of the Book of Mormon quote the King James Bible. As I researched though I found that the King James Bible wasn’t translated correctly, and thought that might spill over into the Book of Mormon. But we were taught that while there were translation errors in the Bible, the Book of Mormon was the inerrant word of God. In fact the 8th article of faith reads, “We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.” This was the first major blow for me, how could something that was translated wrong be correct if it was quoted in the other?

As I entered my final year of seminary I had put most of my previous questions in the back of my mind, but as we started learning about Doctrine & Covenants and church history I was struck at how some of the stories were twisted to give a specific view. My favorite is of the Book of Lehi, where Martin Harris takes the translated manuscript to his wife and she steals it and tells Harris that if Joseph Smith can re-translate it word for word then it would be proof that he was telling the truth. In the church the story goes that God was mad at Joseph Smith because he had begged God to let Martin Harris take the manuscript, despite saying no many times, and commanded him to move on and that those pages wouldn’t be re-translated. To me that story seemed more then just a little fishy.

The other story which was similar was taking the golden plates and the translated manuscript to have it authenticated. I don’t remember the characters names, but it goes like this. Someone took the plates and the manuscript to an expert in ancient languages to verify it was authentic.  The scholar looked at the translation, was amazed at how accurate it was and signed a certificate of authenticity. When he asked whoever brought them how they were translated, then man said, by angels of God. Then, according to the story, the scholar ripped up the certificate, threw it out and said something to the affect that, “God no longer converses with man.”

The thing these stories have in common is, when verifiable evidence of the validity of these stories is given, the story comes up with a reason why it was take away. While someone who accepts the stories when told by an authority figure would believe them, I didn’t.

As time went on I took some institute classes in Anchorage, and while the social interaction was nice, I still couldn’t get those lingering problems out of my head. Eventually my family and I moved to Idaho when I was 19 and I stopped going to church from 19-21.

At 21 I decided to give the LDS church 1 more shot. It was great while it lasted, mostly for the social interactions. I met people, made friends and had fun, but all the fun in the world couldn’t quell the nagging feeling I had that there was so much not quite right about everything, the doctrines, the stories, everything. Also as I was going to college I was finding I was agreeing with ideas I had picked up there, and learning more about history both in the church and in general that further invalidated what I was taught in church and institute. Evolution is a great example. The story that humans started off black and in Africa invalidated the story of Adam and Eve being white and black skin came later as a curse on Cain and his decedents for murdering his brother Able.

In November of 2007, when I was 22, almost 23, I decided I needed to look at other religions. I look at different Christian sects, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and others. I did a lot of research and what I found going  over all the religions, they all (except Buddhism) believed in a god or gods, and going back and looking at Egyptian and Norse gods, gods most of modern society has rejected, that the likeliness of the Judeo-Christian God, the Hindu Gods, the Egyptian Gods and the Norse Gods were about as likely to exist.

Going back to my curiosity in science, this is when it really struck me that God was beyond science. I had no way to verify that the god I believed in was any more or less valid than any other. This sparked the question, “Why would God let all these false gods exist without revealing himself?” All these religions claimed to have members who experienced mystical events to validate their god so my personal feelings toward this one god made it an invalid test (it wasn’t until later that I learned the problems of anecdotal evidence).

As I thought about it more and more I came to THE question, “Is there a god?”

This question sent my brain into a panic. I had many restless nights trying to get over it and spent a lot of time and energy trying to convince myself that there was. As I look back, I find that at this point, part of me already knew that I no longer believed, but the other part wasn’t ready to accept it.

At this point I hope there is 1 specific person that is still reading. You see before I left, and really through this whole process, I didn’t give any hint I was having any spiritual problems to my church leaders. One person has always wondered if they had missed any signs and I will say they did, but it’s very devious.  You see the only hint was the one that seemed to show I had an extremely strong faith. When I would get up once a month and bare my testimony, I would attribute an event to God. This wasn’t me being strong in the church, this was me trying very, very hard to reboot my belief process. I don’t say this to mock you, if you’re still reading 1,400 words later, but just to make you aware.

Anyway by the time April 2008 came around I had accepted that I had lost my faith. Not only that, I was excited I was finally able to accept it, however, on the advice of some friends I decided to keep going to church for the time being. At that point I had started forming secular ideas for things I had always attributed to faith and scripture, things such as service, kindness and all around altruism. While in this transition phase, I was asked to give a talk on service. What was funny was that I gave a completely secular message, that we shouldn’t just serve fellow man because we will receive blessings. I wish I still had that talk, because hindsight says it was an important point for me.

About 2 weeks after that I went and told my bishop I was done. I didn’t believe it anymore, and I haven’t been back since, except to hear my sister sing in church for Christmas Sunday.

To close I want to make a point that I came to this conclusion on my own. I knew atheists and agnostics during this process, but they were kind and didn’t push me in any direction. They were a sounding board when I needed one and always checked if they were going too far, but they never pushed me in any direction and if I were still Mormon they would accept me, which is more than I can say about some of my old Mormon friends (bu not all, mind you). I appreciate them for being their to hear me when I was afraid to talk to anyone else. Also I didn’t read any atheist books or websites before coming to this conclusion.

If you wonder how I could no longer believe in a god, I refer to a quote by Stephen F. Roberts posting to the alt.atheism newsgroup, “I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”

If that is too much to comprehend, think about believing in Santa Clause. You may be offended by the reference, but it’s applicable. Do you still believe in Santa Clause?

Now take the Santa Clause statement and apply that to believing again. I don’t think I could ever believe in a god again just like I could never believe in Santa Clause again. Could you believe in Santa Clause again?

This has been an extremely long post, but hopefully it gives some insight into how I left.

I would like to point out there were other problems I had with the LDS church and religion in general. I only touched briefly on some of the major points, so if you have any inkling that these could all be answered easily, then you’re wrong. You’re welcome to try, I have an open door policy on listening, but it doesn’t mean it’ll convince me I’m wrong. I have half a mind to go into why, but since this post is already over 2,000 words (longer then either of my final papers this last semester) I’ll save it for another post.

Offended? Good!

Before I start I want to say that if you start reading the following paragraph you have to keep reading to the end.

According to the Idaho State Journal, this weekend an Aryan Nation affiliate left fliers around Pocatello. I find the ideas the Aryan Nation spreads disgusting, but one very specific purpose I’m glad they did it.

The reason is because of a deeply held belief I have that people need to be offended on a regular basis to examine their beliefs and and to shake up their apathy.

I think the saying, “Evil prevails when good men do nothing,” is rooted in apathy. If people aren’t offended on a regular basis, they allow evil to happen.

The effects of apathy are captured in the following poem, attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, referring to Nazi Germany

“THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

So if you find yourself in a situation where you are offended, take full advantage of it. Use it as an opportunity to re-examine your most closely held thoughts and beliefs and use it as fuel for action.

Goodbye, 09

2009 is over. Another year has come and gone. This has been an interesting year for me. This year I came to a realization that, quite possibly, has plotted life on a different course for the foreseeable future.

We’ll start with the end of 2008. I finally got addicted to World of Warcraft. After tasting time and again, it sucked me in. The Spring 2009 semester of college shows this since my grades were the worst they’ve ever been (C+, C, C-, F). I was spending a good 6 hours a day Monday through Friday and 12+ hours on the weekends.

Then the beginning of June my dad and I were in a bad car accident. We flipped our Chevy Malibu 6 times, according to a witness at the scene. Hydroplaning at 75 miles per hour is not good, especially if you turn sideways.

I ended up with my butt parked in a very soft chair for about 2 months as a I dealt with severe back pain from the accident.

Over that 2 months the realization hit. I have a very real belief that this is my only life and I almost lost it. I also realized I had been pissing it away. Not just the previous 8 months playing WoW, but I never took any real risks. I always played it safe. I was getting an education in a generally safe career field. I didn’t make waves and I was just floating by.

So after I was able to stand up and get around I decided to take some risks, and hopefully there will be some pay off. Mostly I changed my major from Web Design and Management to Mass Communication, Journalism.

Journalism is of course a career with bad pay and worse hours, but it’s a career that can make a real difference in the world and the world could use journalists with the balls to get the story and the knowledge to transmit it in a way that more people see it. It’s also a career in writing. Something that I enjoy doing, but have never considered as a career option. Writing, like any art, is risky business.

I also asked a woman out on a date. She turned me down, but it was the first time I’ve done that in about 3 years. It felt good to try, and I’ve grown a tough enough skin that rejection really isn’t a big deal.

As for the coming year, what I hope to accomplish is to be more sociable. I’m still fairly introverted around people I don’t know. I was home schooled from 3rd grade through high school and grew up in a very conservative religion so social skills at a bar are not my strong suite. But I’ve been going to a couple bars and feel comfortable going to them.

In the end if I learned one thing that I would hope to convey to the rest of the world from 2009 it’s the following. Even if you are deeply religious and believe in an afterlife or reincarnation, this life, here and now, is a unique experience you will never get to relive through all of eternity, take full advantage of it. You can survive to be 100 and never really live. I would rather die at 30 knowing I lived a full life then live to 100 and have a case of the woulda, shoulda, coulda’s.

Now if you’ll excuse me I have some lost time to make up for.

I also really need to get back on the writing track.

Changing the World Part 1 – Attitudes

I have been told by people that I am arrogant. I am godless, I have a tendency to think I am smarter then many people, many of which are in positions of power, and I actually think I can change the world. I’m starting off with this statement because I think it takes a lot of things to affect change in this world and first among them is the right attitude.

To change the world I think one requires vision, ambition, skills, a strong stomach and arrogance. The vision to see the change you want to see in the world, the ambition to make your vision a reality, a set of skills to accomplish what you seek, a strong stomach to do what it takes to accomplish your goals, and the arrogance to actually think that you can change the world.

I have this image of Gandhi when I list off attitudes because nobody really thinks of Gandhi as arrogant. Quite the opposite, most people think of him as an extremely humble man because of his simple lifestyle, but he had all the attributes above including a bit of arrogance. He had the vision of an India that was free from British rule, he had the ambition to organize the people against British rule, he was a lawyer and had the ability to organize people to his cause, he had the stomach to do what it takes including spending time in prison, and he was arrogant enough to think his efforts would save his country from foreign rule. And he succeeded.

Vision, on the surface, is easy. We can all imagine what we would like the world to be. But vision takes more then just pipe dreams. To have true vision you need to see the changes you want, and a path to achieve those changes. Optimism is nice, but one needs to be realistic and needs to set realistic goals. A single person can’t simply state, “I will end world hunger,” because it’s not possible. However, through careful planning, gradual goal setting and the ability to see how each step creates a path to the whole, significant progress can be made towards your final goal.

Ambition is a whole other beast from vision. Even if you can imagine how your changed world will look and have a plan to achieve it, you still have to get your lazy ass off out of the chair you’re sitting in at this moment and put that plan to action. And if you want to change the world you’re going to need not just a few jolts of ambition, you are going to need a constant, long-term desire to achieve your goals. Gandhi didn’t free India in a night, a day, a week or a year. Neither will you change the world in such a short span of time.

You also need to be able to keep your ambition up even when you fail, and you will. I heard a saying once, it stated, “Those who succeed fail the most.” You can’t fear failing at each step or ultimately you will fail at the big picture.

You must have a skill or skills, to affect change. I will talk about this more in a later post, but how this applies to attitude is you need the desire hone that skill and you need to believe that your skills, whatever they may be, can change the world. You need to be willing to practice them even when no one but yourself is aware of the time and effort being put into it.

A strong stomach is a must. You have believe in your vision enough to step outside your comfortable little box to complete your goals. Most likely, any change worth the time and energy spent, is going to require you prying small, complacent and lazy minds from their comfort zone and to do that you need to pry your mind out of it’s small, complacent and lazy box.

An example of stepping out of the comfort zone comes from the story of Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the 2 Washington Post who exposed the Watergate scandal which led to the President Richard Nixon’s resignation. They had to do a lot of uncomfortable things to get the story. My favorite was asking a co-worker to ask her ex-boyfriend for a list of employees from the Committee to Re-elect the President. It would be hard putting someone in that situation, but they did and it helped change the world.

And now we come back to arrogance. Maybe arrogance is the wrong word, but you need to believe that you can affect change, no matter your situation in life. It’s easier for a billionaire to affect change because they can throw money at a problem and seems like money makes the world go round, but what I advocate is that no matter your position in life, if you have all these attributes, that you have the right stuff to change the world. And the lower your place in life, the more arrogance it requires to change the world. You have to believe in yourself and believe in your cause.

So before you think you can change the world you need to look at yourself and see if you have what it takes. If you have the cajones to change the world. It’s not going to be an easy ride boys and girls, but it’ll be worth it.

The Cliched “Shit I’m Thankful For” Post

It’s time for me to follow the great blogger tradition of writing about shit I’m thankful for, since it is Thanksgiving.

First I am thankful for my family. We’ve had some tough times the past few years and sometimes I think we going to fall apart, but we’ve persisted so far.

Second I’m thankful for my friends. I have the most awesome friends in the world, and I have added a couple more to my circle the past few months. I am especially grateful for my friends because I never had many growing up, making the ones I have that much more important. I think a person is only as good as the people they associate themselves with and I’ve associated myself with the cream of the crop.

I’m thankful for the ability to think for myself. Although my parents probably regret it at times, I do have them to thank for it. They gave me the tools to be able to figure out the world on my own such as basic reasoning skills and fostering my natural curiosity.

I’m also grateful to have been lucky enough to be born in a time when there is so much change going on and having the opportunity to affect those changes.

I have been able to break lose from the bonds of doctrine and culture and am able to chart my own course through life, this too I am grateful for. Being free from religion isn’t always easy. I have found that claiming to be an atheist has many extremely negative and flat out wrong assumptions. I’ve even heard people say, “I don’t mind if you don’t believe in a god, but and atheist?” It’s hard when a previous friend cuts me off simply because I don’t agree with their view of the world, but I have found an accepting niche, most are either also atheist, agnostic or of other religious backgrounds then Mormonism and if nothing else we can all relate to the cultural difficulties of living in this area.

Finally I am grateful for beer. It’s tasty, it feels good, but most importantly it’s the best drink to share with friends. No matter how busy life is, I will always make time for a beer with a friend.

What I Haven’t Learned

In a follow up to my posts a few days ago about what I have learned over the past 10 years, here’s a few things I still haven’t figured out.

The first is how to read women in an intimate way. I have a knack for reading most people in most situations, but I can never seem to read whether a woman is interested in me, being friendly or just being polite. I feel like I lack a certain skill set, that if I knew X, Y and Z I would be set. But there probably isn’t a skill set. That’s probably one of those things that I just have to bumble around like an idiot making a fool of myself until I figure out just enough to find the right woman and settle down. It’s anti-intuitive. You keep getting shot down and keep getting negative feedback until finally there is some positive feedback, a relationship, then you stop. Once you are rewarded you stop the pursuit.

Second is how to measure success. I have no idea what success looks like. Some people would say I’ve had a moderate amount of success, yet I don’t feel particularly successful. Maybe I just haven’t found a way to measure success, or maybe I’m still on the path and when I get to the end I’ll be able to measure it. But I feel like success might be the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It could be there, but I will never actually get to the end of a rainbow to find out. It could be that I don’t really have any criteria for success. If I were a goal setter, I might be able to measure my success, but even when I set goals and achieve them I just want to move on to the next.

Finally, how to change the world. This is a big one for me. I feel like I have what it takes to change the world, I just haven’t figured out how yet. I try to understand how the world works, why it can be so cruel to many who are undeserving and kind to some of the worst scum of the earth. I want to make the world better for everyone. I feel like I have the power to do it, I just don’t know how. How do we change the world? This one question has produced more sleepless nights then anything else.

Maybe I’m thinking too broad. Maybe I need to focus on one area where I can make a significant impact. But there are so many problems in the world that a significant impact on one are will make no real difference.

I remember when I was in the 3rd grade I went to the elementary school councilor because of insomnia. What I drew he interpreted as me being disturbed by what I saw on the news. Looking back, even at that young age of 9, I recognized the world was screwed up and I had the ability to change it for the better.

I don’t know how I’m going to change the world, but I will, in one way or another.

In the end, if I were to find out I was going to die, these are the 3 things I would regret never knowing. How to know the love of a woman, how to be successful and how to save the frakking world.

I Can’t Write Tonight

I have no inspiration to write tonight. I had this issue last night too. I could go look up writing prompts or inspiration, but that feels cheap. To me that’s like saying I just cracked the block on my Porsche Carrera 911 and I need a new one. Sure I have the pretty body, but I need to get a new engine to get moving.

I think it speaks to the creative process as a whole. Why is it so damn hard to get started? I love writing, except for the part where I actually have to start writing. I may have an idea in my head but I can’t always translate it into words.

It’s not because I lack vocabulary or experience in what others have written. I read a lot and have an above average vocabulary.

What I wonder is if this translates to other creative mediums. Do painters stand there while their paints dry and trying to start? Do 3d animators or sculptures sit around while they try to figure out what to reshape a ball of material into?

Maybe I just don’t work hard enough to capture those moments of inspiration. I’ve always thought it was ridiculous carrying a notebook to capture a few notes in a moment of inspiration, but maybe I’m wrong. Even if a moment of inspiration is remembered, the stream of thoughts that come with it aren’t.

Maybe I need to be more diligent at capturing those moments of inspiration instead of thinking I’ll remember them in a day, a week or a month.

I can attest to the fact that the creative process is a difficult, I would say it’s just as difficult as a mathematician working out a difficult equation. It’s hard generating content, and that’s what all artists due, whether writers, painters, sculptors, graphic designers, etc. We are content generators and it is a difficult task to do on a regular basis. It takes skill, practice and inspiration.

I think a lot of people shun the arts because they don’t see any value in them. Well guess what, there are really only 2 things which make humans more intelligent then any other member of the animal kingdom. First, we are able to achieve a higher understanding of how the world around us works and Second we can create art. And intelligence is the only thing us humans have going for us. We are not faster, stronger or more resilient then many species of animals, yet we are the dominant species.

In the end, I guess writing is a difficult process that requires practice, just like math or athletics. So despite my inability to write at times I need to keep going.

And now that I’ve written about 500 words on not being able to write, I guess I can write tonight. And with some booze in me, I may be on my way to being the next Hunter Thompson. Which reminds me I really need to watch all of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

What I’ve Learned in the Past 10 Years (part 2)

Some more things I’ve learned and opinions I’ve formed over the past 10 years.

Although I’m not homosexual, I think homosexual couples should be able to get married. What 2 consenting adults do and who they want to have a long-term relationship with is for them to decide. Not a god, who in my opinion, probably doesn’t exist. And the Judeo-Christian God seems to be the  To be honest, I think this should be expanded to any group of consenting adults. If you want practice group marriage, that’s up to you and the group.

Teenage years are not the greatest in life. I see this from 2 points of view. The first being that my teenage years were brutal. I was the fat home schooled kid that even my church peers hated until their computers’ broke. I’m glad to be out of my teenage years. But the second and most important point is observing those who do think their teenage, and especially high school, years were their best. I feel sorry that they can’t seem to grow out of the drama and annoy and hurt others just to try to relive the long gone days when they were the kings and queens of their small worlds.

Failure doesn’t mean the world is going to end. Actually it’s a bit exhilarating to fail every once in awhile and realize the world hasn’t come to an end.

When you see studies that say a little alcohol everyday may be healthy, that probably isn’t true. Alcohol is essentially poison, but it’s less poisonous then the stressful lives we live, and a little alcoholic winding down is pleasant. And now I sound like an alcoholic. Excuse me while I sip at my epic tequila.

Young children don’t take advantage of naps. I wish I had enjoyed napping as much when I was 5 as I do now.

Finally years go by faster as I get older. I can’t believe this one is almost over.

That’s all. If I think of any other lessons I’ll make another post.