On Parallels to 1930's Germany being TOTAL Hyperbole

There's definitely not a growing list of historians who are warning about parallels to 1930's Germany in the United States. Even if they did, who cares? A self-proclaimed history buff is just as good as someone who dedicated years of their life to studying history. Experts? Pfft. It just can't happen here. America is immune from it. There's no way people could be eased into accepting authoritarianism bit by bit and be lulled into a sense of "this is business as usual" or "we're just restoring our country". I mean, shoot, Hitler didn't ever say anything about getting back Germany or use slogans similar "remember who you are". I mean, as the slogan based on the song that hasn't been sung by white supremacist groups for years says, "We'll have our home again!" 

I mean, when we send thousands of federal agents into cities, it's just because there are so many violent, dangerous, and illegal criminals out there working at Target and Home Depot right under our noses. But really, even the ones who aren't causing problems are actually criminals because they're here illegaly. You may not realize it but these people's very presence GREATLY affects your personal life. Those places we send them with shitty conditions are nothing like the internment camps of the 40's. 

Oh, and when it comes to ICE, they've gotta be anonymous and wear masks because the crazy leftists (which is anyone who doesn't agree that Trump is the greatest president in American history) are gonna go after them for doing their righteous job of ONLY going after dangerous criminals just like Trump promised on the campaign trail (which is what they're doing)! Don't get all choked up when you see these illegals screaming and crying while their kids are in agony watching them be taken away. They're probably helping some narco-terrorist smuggle in fentanyl on the side (but even if they're not doing that, they're ILLEGAL). Oh, yeah, and even though there are like 14 million undocumented immigrants in the country, and migrant crime rates were higher in the 80's when the great Ronald Reagan (kind of like a lesser Trump, but he was way too compassionate, which is weak) was in charge, we should just start getting all of them together to ship out of here. Those numbers are probably wrong anyway because leftists are protecting them and only leftists care about statistics anyway (unless those statistics are favorable to Trump, then they're probably right).  

Also, if you get in the way and get shot as an American citizen, oh well! Just like my favorite part of the Constitution says, "Comply or Die" (I think that's in there, like right after the second amendment, we just need guns to help the government get their job done sometimes, I think). THIS version of rounding up people on the streets and going door to door is different than when it was done to Jews because these people don't have their papers. If you don't have your papers, are you really even a person?

Shoot, let me just say, on the side, we have every right to Greenland even if Denmark has had a claim to it as a colony since the 1700's and fully a part of Denmark since 1953. It should be OURS. We need it even if this wasn't expressed by a single person in the US prior to the start of this year. Also, we had every right to just bomb the Venezuelan capitol in the middle of the night with no warning to Congress or the American people because their leader was evil (had nothing to do with their oil, it was about DRUGS!). Get with the program and start saluting that flag. What business do you have sticking to these things you think are your own principles? Empathy is for Europeans and Marxists. Duh. 

This is how you toadies sound.

Seriously, Guys. Why Trump?

Regarding Donald Trump, I have one question to which I can't get a straight answer. What do you all like so much about him? Sure, he's had some economic success, but the degree of that success has been highly exaggerated by the president and his administration. He's claimed it's the best in history. It's not. That's just a fact and I'd be happy to provide the data on that if you don't want to take my word for it (message me... we'll chat). Even if we do have a healthy economy, is that necessarily the only measuring stick for a good president?

Here are some other things he's done. He's harmed relationships with allies, abandoned the Kurds, acted inhumanely toward children of immigrants and asylum seekers (who he collectively called drug dealers, criminals, and rapists), tried to ban "Muslims" (his words) from entering the country as if they're all terrorists, allowed the longest government shutdown in history in an effort to keep a campaign promise for a wall that he swore we wouldn't be spending anything on as a country, attempted to declare a national emergency for that same wall, attempted to use a portion of military money to build that same wall (his own party, even Mitch McConnell, didn't want him to do it, but none of them had the guts to stop him), he basically refused to condemn white supremacists in Charlottesville until he was badgered into it and then backtracked on his condemnation later, publicly suggested to China and Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, said to Russia "if you're listening" to hack into Hillary's emails, has irresponsibly threatened to pull us out of our NATO agreement (dangerous), pulled us from the Paris Climate Accord (global warming and climate change are real... DEBATE ME), has outpaced Obama with executive orders in his first term (a thing Republican voters and officials both freaked out about when Obama was doing it), attempted to host the G7 Summit at his own Doral resort (a clear violation of the Emoluments Clause), referred to certain countries as "shit-hole countries," has praised leaders like Putin, Erdogan, and Kim Jong-un while shitting on leaders of allies like France, Canada, Germany, and Australia. In one of the more alarming actions in my opinion, he has attacked the free press as "enemies of the state," language historically used by dictators.

The last one I'll mention (but lord knows there is more), is this recent thing that got him impeached by the House. Trump made that infamous call to Ukraine on July 25, 2019. He did uphold aid to Ukraine. That is a fact. Evidence seems to suggest he did plan to keep it upheld until the whistle-blower complaint was filed and it was clear he had gotten caught. The complaint was filed on August 12, 2019. Trump learned about the complaint on September 9, 2019 (with some claiming earlier, September 7). He released the aid two days later on September 11, 2019. We all heard the same testimony. We all read the same "transcript." Those of us who saw evidence for wrongdoing were victims of constant gas-lighting attempts from the GOP. Those who love Trump refused to consider anything but what the GOP was telling us. They were telling us it was all a sham; a hoax. They told us that there was nothing there. Those in the GOP who conceded Trump did do the things of which he was accused told us those things were not impeachable offenses. Thank goodness, not all of us are buying that. This whole impeachment thing was a giant example of confirmation bias on the part of those who are loyal to the president. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out and give preference to information that affirms a person's previously held beliefs, while shutting out the information that conflicts with that belief. Then there was the obstruction. Trump, in an unprecedented move for a president under investigation, prevented people close to him from testifying when subpoenaed; people who could have quickly cleared his name and put an end to this all before it even really got started. Why did he do that? Why wouldn't he want to clear his name if he was innocent? If it was out of pure defiance, then this man is more stubborn and prideful than we could have ever imagined.

Here's my take on the man. Despite all that has happened recently there are some thoughts I've had about him since the day he began campaigning: He doesn't represent all of America. He represents and panders to one demographic. That demographic is white, Christian, and straight. He plays on the fears of those people with the promise of restoring what they see as some loss of station in this country, the loss of their superiority over all other groups disguised as an erosion of "American" values, which is a wrongheaded notion in the first place given our diversity, which has grown exponentially since that time in the past when whites and blacks had different drinking fountains and the gays kept it to themselves. He promises to erase the imaginary emergency that is the scourge of violent crime he claims is coming from immigrants. Data exists! This is not a thing! But when fact-checkers point this out, Donald Trump derides it as "fake news" and his supporters believe him without a second thought. Scary.

I just couldn't then and still can't get behind all of that. Anyone with a shred of empathy inside of them shouldn't be able to get behind that. To make matters more confusing, many of these are the people who claim to live in the example of Christ. Can those people honestly read the Beatitudes and say with a straight face that Donald Trump is the man who best represents those values? To me, that is absolutely mind-blowing. I'm not a religious man by any stretch, but I know Christianity. I was raised with it. I've read the Bible. I used to listen to the Bible on tapes and read along with it as a kid. I read it in its entirety throughout the course of my adult life. I know the good things that are promoted by Christ in the Bible. The words of Christ, what Christians claim to pattern their lives by, are full of universally good messages for the most part. Despite that they may vehemently argue the opposite, these people are not heeding that guidance in their support of this man nor the ugly manner in which he has inspired them to behave. At any rate, this country doesn't belong to those people exclusively. It belongs to all citizens no matter their race, religion, sexual orientation, or identity. That so many people love this guy really bums me out. It truly exposes how tribal we have become and how little so many of us care about those who either don't look like us or are ideologically different from us in this country. Make no mistake, this division didn't start with Trump. I'm not saying that. He's just exacerbated it immensely.

I don't think all Trump supporters are inherently bad people. I just think they've gotten sucked into this current environment of tribal frenzy. Many people on the left have done the same to the other end of the extreme. Almost all of us have been guilty of it in some way or another, I'd guess, whether it's publicly or privately. Personally, I'm trying to wake up from this horrible nightmare of tribalism. We have to be able talk to one another again, but civilly. We have to be able to listen to one another's grievances without becoming defensive (provided that person is not being blatantly racist, misogynistic, or homophobic; those people deserve all the ridicule the world has to offer and more). More importantly, we have to find a way to discover that empathy within us; the ability to put ourselves in the place of others. We have lost our way as a people and this guy isn't doing anything to help us find our way back, but rather, he's driving us further apart. Despite this, many want him to be elected again, which is a very realistic possibility. But why not support a person who wants to unite us? Support someone who believes in compromise, Republican, Democrat, Independent, or whatever, and doesn't just constantly relish in the thought of making his ideological opponents suffer? This relish has almost universally become shared by his supporters and by residual affect, the suffering of those Trump supporters have come to be relished by those who loathe President Trump. The environment we live within presently can't be sustained. I hope this sad time passes and we can all come back together soon. This democratic republic's survival depends on it. We are in jeopardy of turning this nation into a failed experiment. We will join Athens in the history books as a nation who allowed itself to be torn apart by its own people. When Benjamin Franklin answered the question of what kind of government the founders had created and responded with, "A republic, if you can keep it," he knew that it was fragile because it depends on the American people to keep it healthy. We're not doing that at the moment. We must change. We can only hope logic takes hold and we shake our minds loose from this daze of division.

Etiquette in Social Media and Text Messaging

Communication in modern times is much different from what it was in even the fairly recent past. We in the first world have essentially become beholden to technology in all matters of life. Because this has become such a deep-seated truth, it has become akin to face-to-face conversation when concerning texting and messaging of any kind. Would a decent person blatantly ignore someone who addressed them in an in-person conversation? Highly unlikely. Now that so much communication occurs from a distance and has become a part of our daily lives, we should be more sensitive to how it may affect others when we simply decide to shun their attempts at conversation. Privacy is important, but as a humanist and someone who cares about the emotions of other human beings, I feel this is worth considering in terms of our mental health and how friends should treat one another. I've decided to come up with some handy tips for how to put off a conversation that is either unwanted or we don't have time for, with some needed sidebars included.

Responding to someone when directly addressed in a comment on a social media post or a direct message (text, any kind of messenger) is easy and full of benefits.
How it’s easy:

1. It literally takes seconds.
2. It requires basically no energy.
3. It usually requires very little thought.

How it’s beneficial:

1. One engages in human, social interaction.
2. One avoids coming off as self-important.
3. One avoids upsetting the person sending the message and in turn avoid dealing with the unneeded annoyance of addressing the upset person’s concerns as to why one has decided to ignore them.

It should be noted and understood that sometimes, someone just doesn’t feel like talking or simply didn’t see the message until a much later time. But if we care about the feelings of our friends, this shouldn't excuse us from using common courtesy and practicing general social etiquette. Here are some tips for dealing with both of these situations.

Don’t feel like talking:

1. Step 1:  address the initial message (optional). Step 2: follow up with, “Hey, sorry, I’m a little busy at the moment. I’ll have to talk to you later.” If you don't have time to address the subject matter, skip directly to step 2.
2. Say you’re not necessarily busy, but you’re reading a book or watching Netflix, for example. The best thing to do in this situation? Use honesty. “Hey, what’s up. Can’t talk now, I’m in the middle of watching a show/reading a book and want to finish up. Chat later.” The person may be disappointed, but they’ll at least know you have acknowledged them and care about their attempt to contact you.
3. If it’s on social media and it’s a statement that you have nothing to add to and don’t feel like doing so, most social media sites offer a “like” option. This is just a courtesy and sends the message to the friend in question, “I have seen you’re comment and have chosen to acknowledge to you that I’ve read it. However, I have nothing of import to add.”

Didn’t see the message:

*Note: This one is tricky. Some people can become very impatient and barrage you with further messages. These people are likely dealing with some kind of insecurity or are maybe even lonely in their life. Though it’s incredibly irritating and can even seem rude, be the better person and attempt to exhibit empathy. If the person is blatantly rude, then we course have license to defend ourselves in kind and this presents case where ignoring the message may be considered appropriate. Some phones (and virtually all social media) have features where we can block certain parties from contacting us.

1. The classic, “Hey sorry, just saw this...” works perfectly in any situation.
2. Say you feel asleep or hadn’t awaken for the day. Let’s go back to an earlier tactic: use honestly. “Hey, sorry, I just woke up...” Then address them in kind. If you don’t feel like speaking further, see tips for “Don’t feel like talking.”

Let’s say this person genuinely rubs the recipient of the message the wrong way and said recipient wants nothing to do with them. Let’s get back to that “use honesty” tactic described earlier. It may seem difficult, but it may be the best course of action for the recipient to bluntly inform the messaging party that they don't want anything to do with them. “Listen, I’m not interested in speaking to you.” It may seem harsh, but it will save the recipient and the party in question lots of grief in the future. It could even thwart a much bigger issue in advance. It may be initially uncomfortable and feelings could even change down the road, but at least the person won’t be in any way curious as to why the recipient seems to always avoid them.

There are people who likely text excessively. These people are probably unaware they are being a nuisance. Again, the "use honesty" tactic can take a person very far in this scenario. Consider telling the person, "Hey, though I enjoy being your friend, I'm not really much of a texting person. I'd rather just keep text conversations to a minimum if we could. Feel free to text me if you need something, but I'm probably not going to just have lengthy conversations with you via text unless I'm really in the mood for it." The person may be disappointed that they won't be able to socialize with their friend outside of seeing one another in person much, but if the messaging party respects the recipient  as a friend, they'll listen and they'll keep the texts to a minimum.

The very little effort involved in acknowledging someone else's attempt to connect with us via conversation is a win-win for both parties. It's always worth remembering that the mere fact this person is attempting to contact us usually means they see our worth and admire it. This person likely enjoys speaking with us and our company. Not every individual is fortunate enough to have such a luxury in this often unkind world. It's important that we remember and feel grateful for having people in our lives with which to socialize.

Home of the Brave?

We refer to America as “the land of the free and the home of the brave.” I’d like to believe that to be true. What exactly do we consider bravery? I think the definition is pretty broad among our people. I’ve been very interested in following the views of others regarding this situation with the attacks in Paris and the resulting shift in opinion concerning the consideration of granting a safe-haven to a small percentage Syrian refugees. I’ve also been aware of a reignited thirst for war from many of us. I see some calling for a total ban on bringing refugees into the country. I see others claiming we should open our doors and increase the number that we would let in. I hear some claim none of these refugees are women and children, but all able-bodied men of fighting age. I see some making hasty warnings with memes in serious need of citation. For example, I saw one comparing this situation to a percentage of Nazis in Germany during World War II and terrorists who practice the Islamic faith. Does this meme suggest that we should wipe out Muslims or does this meme suggest that we should bar any further influx of Muslims into our country because we should first assume that they have the intentions of a jihadist (akin to Germans being Nazis)? Either way, I can’t help but think back to that motto we’ve adopted from our National Anthem: The land of the free and the home of the brave.

I want to address civilians here, meaning non-military citizens of the United States. When calling for a full-scale invasion of Syria, Iraq, or any other place from which ISIS is operating, is it you who shows bravery, or is it you who expects others to be brave for you? Is it brave to sit at a computer and pound away at the keys to make public your desire to send off our citizens who have volunteered to protect our country to fight a battle in which you cannot or have no intention of participating? As we sit from the comfort of our heated homes with cable television and high-speed internet and an abundance of food in our pantries and refrigerators, with our vehicle (or multiple vehicles) sitting in our garages or driveways, some of us even opine that we should take a page from Hiroshima and Nagasaki and drop nuclear bombs on the Middle East in order to end this war with Islamic extremists once and for all. God is good. God has blessed us and we are the good guys. Have you even considered what the result of that would be? Have you even considered the horrors that would result from an action like this? Think of the innocent lives that will forever be gone. Think of the land that we would render inhabitable and spoil for years. This land, which some of you believe is the cradle of civilization, the setting where the stories from your most sacred, holy book took place, should be destroyed for the actions of a fringe element of a much wider culture? Of course, something should be done to assist, but do we really support such an extreme action? Thank goodness cooler heads will prevail in Washington. This would be an evil, tyrannical move and a crime against humanity on a scale never before seen. Sure, a lot of these nations are regressive in their ways of thinking. Women are treated poorly. Christians, atheists, and LGBT citizens must live secret lives or possibly die. But this isn’t the fault of the citizens. They were born into this situation. This is all they know. We were born into our situations of privilege. Good for us, but are we any better than these people because of it? Can we really efficiently transform a culture of violence and oppression with more violence and oppression? Each time we do this, we help to displace people from their homes, their families, and their way of life. We manufacture the resentment of these people. Is this really what we want? Do we really want to continue down this path?

I want to turn to the refugee situation. Which of these following actions do you find to be more in line with the notion that America is the “home of the brave?” One action would involve allowing these fellow human beings who have lost everything and are simply trying to find a place where they can keep themselves and their children safe from the constant war and strife that takes place in their home country. We would accept this action with the knowledge that a majority of these people practice the Muslim faith and there is a slight possibility that some of them could harbor bad intentions. But to the vast, vast majority, we would merely provide succor. A second action would be to generalize and assume that assisting these human beings would inevitably result in a danger to us, so in a flurry of fear-based decision making, we deny these people shelter from a living hell that we have never experienced in our fortunate place within the world. Are we humanitarians as a country or are we nationalists who care nothing for the lives of any but our own? I consider myself a humanist, so in my mind, it’s my duty to help in any way possible to fellow human beings in need. The majority of Americans are Christians. Christians are charged by the figure of Christ, who they base their very way of life upon, to care for those in need. Here are just two verses from the New Testament which support this:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” — Matthew 25:37-40

“Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.” — Romans 12:13

Consider these questions. What constitutes bravery to you? What course of action would genuinely display the most courage? Look deep inside yourself, from the depths of your own conscience and ask: what is right?

  

People Aren't Toys

People we truly love are not toys we can just grow tired of and place back on the shelf after the novelty wears off. We are all subject to the same processes. All of our cognitive actions are driven by a stimulus, which then creates electrical impulses called action potentials in our neurons, which then send those signals to other neurons, which eventually reach terminals to release the neurotransmitters which will illicit the outward, physical response to said stimulus (quite simplified). Sometimes, this process can go awry. Sometimes it's induced by a substance. Sometimes, experiencing stressors over and over can cause the malfunction. Other times, it’s genetic. It can be difficult for those of us who have not experienced this process gone faulty to sympathize with and understand those who have experienced this breakdown. But it’s important to comprehend the way this process works, if nothing else, so we can recognize that those of us who are of sound mind should step in and help.

We need to be able detect when the figurative wiring of another human being needs attention and repair. We need to understand it goes beyond telling them to just “suck it up and get it together.” Understanding our own neurophysiology can only improve us as a species. We are a social species. We’re thinking, aware organisms, and regardless of one’s worldview, it’s an objective fact that we must work together and help one another in order to survive and thrive. This is true on a macro-level. This works on micro-levels as well in the form of friends and family. We form tight-knit groups within our species and we come to love those individuals within the group. When we truly love another, we will do anything we can, regardless of circumstance, past occurrences, or how far they’ve fallen to get those neurons firing back on track. Sometimes, we will even allow ourselves to be dragged down with them in doing so.

It bears repeating: people we truly love are not toys we can just grow tired of and place back on the shelf after the novelty wears off. We must exhaust all resources in lifting up and restoring those we love.

An Exposé on Keith Flick... Um... By Keith Flick

I'm overcome with the urge to put my writing skills to the test for the first time in a long time. It's been one hell of a ride for the past year, and I've changed quite a bit as a human being as a result of it. I get the feeling that many people no longer really know me. I still retain some of my familiar qualities. I'm still a raging nerd when it comes to the fiction (literature and film) I love. I still love my metal music and I still play guitar, though it's been reduced to dabbling. I'm still a sports fan, although nowhere near as rabid as I once was. I've become more of a casual sports fan, where I pay attention to the standings and watch games here and there, but I'm no longer that guy who wants to sit and analyze every aspect of a game and discuss "what might have been" after a crushing loss. I don't care about studying offseason moves. I don't get angry when my team screws up or loses. I don't rush home from work to catch the game as if my life depended on it like I once did. I still like video games, but when the hell do I have time to play them? There was a time when almost all of my free time was spent either on a console or my PC, wasting hours of the day away living out my time in a virtual fantasy world. Gaming is a very escapist hobby, as is fandom of any sort when it comes to fiction. Hell, I may even be able to attribute how enveloped I once was in these two avenues of entertainment to my relative happiness at the time. Anyway... I'm rambling. My aim with this blog post (yes, some people still use these) is to update those who have known me for years but don't really know me as well now. Also, to discuss what has been going on in my life.

First things first. I'm not going to get too specific here, but I can't go without addressing one of the biggest changes that has occurred in my life. My relationship status...

Being in love is a funny thing. Falling out of love is possibly even more bizarre. It's an odd phenomenon when you still love someone (because I really, really do love her), but you're no longer in love with them romantically. There's a desire to resist regressing back into the relationship because it would be taking the seemingly easy road, but there's also a sometimes-painful yearning for the good times. It can pop up at random moments. In the grocery store when I pick out a certain food item or when a certain song pops up on my shuffle... movies, scents, phrases, places, etc... So many things can randomly trigger the good memories and it can hurt when it happens. When one spends nearly every day for over a decade with the same person, there are many, many good times to speak of. The comfort which results from such a long-term relationship is something I never noticed until it was gone. The comfort... that's one thing I really miss. In less than a year's time, I don't remember what it means to feel completely comfortable. Now, nothing seems stable. Nothing seems certain. It can be agonizing and anxiety-inducing at times to have such a thick fog obscuring my view to the future when the way was so astonishingly clear before things changed so drastically. It can be taxing to have to navigate forward, not having the faintest notion of what I might encounter next and how it might change my life for better or for worse. But the prospect of this uncertainty can also be significantly exciting at times.

How does one handle such a situation? I can say from my own experience there are many times when I am so optimistic about my future and so confident with what I'm doing, I'm bordering on cockiness. Other times, I feel so lost and hopeless that I want to do nothing more than crawl into my bed, curl up into the fetal position and sob the day away. It's a very bipolar experience, coming to grips with the loss of a former life. One thing I have done here and there (and it's a poor strategy) is place too much reliance on others to help maintain my confidence. Relying on others from time to time for reassurance is fine, I think. To a degree, it's essential for even the most introverted of human beings. But I've overdone it. I wrap my happiness up in the attention and approval of others far too much. It isn't fair to me, and it's not fair to the people I place that burden upon (there are a select few people to whom I owe great thanks for this). I still haven't attempted to discover what it's like to truly be alone. Sure, I've spent lots of time alone, but when I'm alone I find myself constantly pining for attention by either bombarding Facebook and Twitter with posts as if to say to my friends in the social media world, "Hello! I'm here! Acknowledge me! Like my posts! Reply to my posts! Comment on them!"... or I incessantly text my friends, waiting impatiently for a reply. The fact that I'm posting this blog post could just as easily be considered a ploy for attention. But hey, at least I'm aware I'm doing it. Awareness is the first step toward correcting the problem, right? Loneliness can lead to this desperation for attention. This desperation for attention is unhealthy when one becomes fixated upon it. This fixation leads to lots of overthinking and irrational thoughts... Why didn't he/she like my post? Am I uninteresting? Don't they notice me?! Are they ever going to reply to my text?! Did I do something to piss them off?!

So unhealthy! Such insecurity from a person who once coldly scoffed at insecurity and mopey behavior (this was quite ignorant of me)! What am I? 16?

Like I said. Irrational.

A little over three years ago, I made the decision to better myself in several ways. First, I stopped smoking (which I have admittedly slipped up on during these stressful times). Then, I decided to lose weight. Next, I decided to go back to school and study for a career I know I will love. Finally, and one of the most important things of all, I decided to stop pretending to be someone I'm not in order to keep the peace with some of those people who are very close to my heart. That last statement relates to my political leanings and religious affiliation. I've been of a progressive mindset since at least the 2004 election that I can remember, but I pretended to be a bit more conservative as not to rock the boat in certain family circles. As far as my religious affiliation, well... I don't belong to one and I never really have connected with it at any point from my late teens into my adult life. I'm what some would consider an agnostic atheist. For those unfamiliar with the nomenclature behind "labeling" one's belief system, my "label" basically means that I do not claim to know if a deity/creator/"higher power" of sorts exists, but given the empirical evidence available, I see nothing close to a compelling reason to believe that a deity/deities of any specific religion exists. My scientific studies and thinking in terms of the scientific method have only solidified this position. This is all I'm going to say on that subject. When I first compiled the courage to admit this to myself, my enthusiasm for criticizing religion bordered on zealotry. Though it's still one of my goals in life to encourage critical thinking, I will do it in a way that is diplomatic. That's my style. It isn't my style to insult, so I'm not going to do that anymore. My apologies to any of my nonreligious friends who feel my approach is soft, but it takes all kinds. Don't forget that. It's hard to remember when you're part of a marginalized group like atheists, but there must be some balance in how we approach the goal to become more accepted and also in opening a dialogue with those who differ from us. Ridicule may promote critical thinking with some, but not all. Sometimes, it causes people to strengthen their defenses and exhibit an extreme confirmation bias. Again, rambling... sorry. My views have come at a cost. They've made some people very uncomfortable. It's not my fault they're uncomfortable with my views, their uneasiness is their own issue, but it is my fault for pretending they didn't reside in my head for so long and blindsiding those who thought I was someone else. I don't apologize for where I stand, but I do apologize for being phony out of fear for so many years.

I find it very ironic that when I made these decisions to better myself, within the span of a few years, I find myself a separated, 35-year-old man in college, waiting tables at a restaurant, and living like someone several years his junior most days. It's both liberating and terrifying at the same time. Three years ago, I was working a 9-5-style job, Monday through Friday, making a great salary with all the benefits included. My thoughts were centered on very different things. When should we seriously start talking about having children (we had, but we were always wishy-washy)? How much longer are we staying in this house? Should we tear down and build or should we go back to renting? We have to consider the dogs too! When is the next time we're going to get together with all of the other married couples we're friends with? Where are we going on vacation this year?

I was an adult. I was a standard American, middle class adult. Now I'm rebuilding. I've toppled my very structure and now I begin to assemble from scratch. I come with new tools and materials, and thus far, I do it virtually alone.

But I am resilient. I am strong. I am capable. I am worthy. And I will succeed.

If you've made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read about me. I think being candid about oneself is therapeutic sometimes and writing this has been just that. I don't want pity. I don't need encouragement. I just want people to know me for me and no one else. If you're my friend and you care about me as I care about you (because if I call you my friend, you can damn sure bet I care about you a great deal), you deserve that.

Astronomy: A Humbling, Sobering Experience

Something inexplicable happened today.  I woke up at 9:30am on a Saturday to let the dogs out and I didn’t go back to bed.  I actually went to the kitchen, warmed up the coffee Amanda had brewed this morning and made myself a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich for breakfast.  Afterward, because my house always feels like a meat locker in the mornings, I decided to have a little soak in the bath tub to thaw out.  One of my good buddies informed me once in reference to men taking baths, “That’s gay.”  Every time I step into the tub I think of him saying that and it cracks me up.  I’m not sure how bathing habits denote sexual orientation, but hey. 

Last night was a good time.  I went to Tipton County for a little cookout/going away party.  One of my good friends, Greg, is heading to Georgia for fifteen weeks to train for the National Guard.  I definitely wish him the best in his endeavor, though I know he’ll do well.  Greg is a man of great character.  There were only about eight of us there, but we made the best of it and had a great time.  I hauled the telescope to the party and I think it may have blown some minds when I pointed it at Saturn (the Moon was pretty popular, too).  Some of the people there had never looked through a telescope in their lives and it was pretty awe inspiring for them.  My friend, Krystle, actually said something that made me smile quite a bit.  She said, “I feel so insignificant.”  That’s exactly what I felt the first time I gazed through my telescope and spotted a planet.  Astronomy is an extremely humbling experience.  It’s true that we’re insignificant to a point.  In terms of how important we feel we are here on earth and to existence itself, on the cosmic scale, realizing that we live on a tiny planet that doesn’t amount to a speck of dust, orbiting an average star within a spiral arm of a single galaxy amongst billions... if one isn’t “brought down to earth” by that, they aren’t thinking hard enough.  Or possibly they aren’t willing to contemplate this fact.  When we look to the sky, we see these tiny points of light strewn across a jet black background (or almost bluish-black in areas of light pollution).  Most everyone thinks it’s pretty, but beyond that they don’t give it much thought.  Rarely do people think of the simple truth that those tiny points of light are whole new worlds.  Almost every star in that sky has its own solar system.  Yes, a great number of stars likely (and in some cases definitely) have their own set of planets orbiting around them just like our little star, once called Sol or Helios (a Greek god that was the embodiment of the sun).  I'll bet most people weren’t aware that our star had a name once, as did our moon (our moon is called Luna, which should surprise no one considering all things moon related are referred to as “lunar”).  But some of those little points of light, those that shine consistently without blinking, are planets.  We all know they’re there.  We’ve seen the pictures in Science text books and online when folks have posted their own astrophotography. 

Despite the beautiful detail these photos reveal, nothing compares to viewing the planets with our own eyes through the lens of a telescope.  There’s just something surreal and core-shaking about the whole experience, especially the first time.  But even after multiple views of these planets, I still get butterflies.  Every time I see the shadow falling upon the yellowish sphere of the planet Saturn cast by its majestic rings, I am completely engulfed by the beauty.  If one allows the eye to acclimate for long enough, they can even detect the spaces between the rings, revealing them in yet finer detail.  Then, if one can take their eye from the amazing planet and look up from it just a tiny bit, they can easily spot Saturn’s largest moon, Titan.  Then as the eyes acclimate even further, other tiny dots of light appear, revealing more of Saturn’s moons (as far as moons go, the real show is viewing Jupiter).  Some might find it hard to believe, but I can sit in my yard and just gawk at a planet for hours and never lose interest.  The longer I stare, the more I see, the more connected I feel to this Universe.  This brings me back to the question of our significance.

Carl Sagan once said, “We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself.”  I think that’s such a wonderful quote.  Just think about those words for a moment.  The fact that we are in the Universe means that we essentially are the Universe.  If we are the Universe, then all intelligent life in the Cosmos is literally part of a collective brain.  Conscious life that is able to contemplate its own existence, then learn about and even begin to understand the natural world around it, is the Universe becoming self-aware.  I can only hope that one day our civilization can meet with another civilization, somewhere light years away, and our collective knowledge will combine with their collective knowledge.  Thus, the self-aware Universe will have completed a thought, and will have learned even more about itself.  I think of it as neurons in the brain firing off to form a thought.  When those neurons come together and work together, something of significance comes about as a result.  On a grand scale, intelligent species coming together would be relatively the same kind of thing.  Or maybe a simpler analogy would be the lives of ants.  A single ant on its own isn’t extremely intelligent.  When an ant colony is looking for a new home, they scatter off in relative chaos.  But when one ant finds a suitable habitat, it signals the other ants around it and they begin to work.  Then other ants, messenger ants, will go off to find the rest of the colony and in some cases even literally carry other ants back to the newly found location.  This happens until all of the ants are accounted for and eventually the whole colony becomes a collective thought process.  When I think of our place in the Universe in these terms, I realize that we’re not insignificant, but we’re very important.  We are the neurons.  We are the ants that roam and collect information and each time we discover something new, the Universe knows a little more about itself.  But fortunately for us, our brains have developed emotion (above all , love) and wonder.  Feelings that allow us to feel and enjoy the things we learn and experience.  We matter.  We matter and we should take care of one another.  We should take care of this planet we’re so fortunate to have come to be upon.  We should want learn about this world and other worlds not only to make life better for ourselves now, but for future generations. 

This planet won’t always be here.  Everyone has their own ideas on how this planet’s demise will come to pass.  For me, I can’t understand how anyone’s existential worldview could ever get in the way of the desire to take care of our home.  For that matter, I can’t understand how anyone could be so short-sighted as to oppose exploration of the Universe in order to find a way to create a new home away from this planet, if ever needed.  Sure, that sounds like science fiction, but so did the idea of something like a smart phone when we watched Dr. Spock and Captain Kirk communicate with one another on Star Trek.  Science Fiction tends to have the uncanny ability to become Science Fact.  To live “in the now”, is fine for a lot of things in life.  Things like family, work, hobbies, or anything else that enrich our lives as human beings should be enjoyed in the present and cherished.  But for something as incredibly crucial as taking care of this Earth, we must take the long view and think of future generations.  Would anyone really want to imagine their great, great, great, great grandchildren suffering for the mistakes of past generations?  I know that I would not.  Some deny the findings of Climate Science on this subject and refuse to acknowledge that we as a species have created any of these problems.  That could be true, however unlikely.  But even if we aren’t the cause, why is there so much resistance to at least attempting to call upon newer, cleaner resources that do less harm to our environment?  Are we really this duped by the capitalist, corporate mindset of consume, consume, consume?  Are we really unaware that this attitude only benefits those that are in it to line their pockets and live indulgently in the short-term while we watch gas prices soar and then have the gall to be outraged when we could do something to remedy it?  We’ve allowed this to happen over the years.  We were once ignorant, but no longer.

Call me a hippie.  Call me a “libtard”.  If caring about my planet and future generations of human beings makes me worthy of ridicule then, by all means, send it my way.  I’ll take that side effect.  How we got to a point in humanity where I feel I have to be almost ashamed of my views concerning the environment because of a mindset that states, as the great Louis C.K. put it, “I wanted to go faster… I’m not fast enough” (during his standup special in a scenario where a human was asked by a higher intelligence why there was oil spilled everywhere and why he took it from the ground), will always mystify me.  Technologically speaking, fossil fuels and other forms of energy that produce pollutants were a necessary step in our progression.  But now we're fully aware that there are workable alternatives.  There are cleaner, safer, and most importantly of all, healthier alternatives and we should utilize this knowledge rather than cling to old ways.  Just because we've always done something one way, doesn't necessarily mean it's the best way.  When we know better, it's our responsibility to do better.  So, let's do better.