Truer Words...

"I consider myself an atheist, but am pretty uninterested in convincing anyone to see things my way, mostly because I don't think that belief is a matter of choice. I can no more choose to believe in any sort of god at this point in my life than I can choose to believe in the tooth fairy or the moon landing. I assume the same is more or less true for theists."

As spoken, and well put, by Brian in the comment section of the previous post.

I've run the spiritual gamut from atheism toward eventual Catholicism. That is just how my life went, and to get into particulars right now would not make the point I'm trying to make here.

The point is: Brian is right.
I could not choose to believe in anything until I was capable of 'seeing' it.
At that point, choice was not an option.
As it was never an option at any time previous, whether I was an atheist, agnostic, exploring deist, Christian fundamentalist or eventually, a Catholic.

And I beleive this is true across the board, because it's not just Christians, but members of almost every other faith I've ever discussed or debated with (and both are forms of exploration and searching for the honest at heart) all claim, in some form or another, that their faith is a gift from God, or whatever other higher power they pay homage to.

What we do choose is what to do about it.

Whatever...

Following the atheist trend, 100,000 Britons have downloaded "certificates of de-baptism."

I find it strange that while atheists prefer to look upon believers as superstitious and irrational, they can't see how they themselves often behave in the same way.




If the faith you do not believe in is false, why go through the bother? Are you afraid you might accidentally end up in Heaven against your wishes?

God forbid!

Sweeter Than Applesauce

Two to three times a week, I meet with a therapist (or two) for "Oral Function Therapy". The trick is to urge back my swallowing abilities with a series of exercises designed to flex certain muscles in my throat and mouth.
There is also some type of electrical therapy involved that requires electrodes attached to my neck to deliver a massaging level of shock to the muscles. Kind weird,that one.

This has been going on for several weeks,now.

Toward the end of today's session, Mrs. Therapist decided to have me try swallowing a small amount of applesauce. Since the surgery, I've been able to get about 1/2 teaspoon of water/soda/thin liquid to go down, but no more than that. And nothing thicker than that,either.
After all these weeks of therapy, I was sure I must be in possession of some small level of improvement, so I was eager to give the applesauce a try, and cautiously swallowed about 1/4 of a teaspoon.
I tried to, anyway.

The applesauce stuck in my throat, just above my voice box, not going anywhere.
OK, it's not working.
I hocked up into a bucket and made two more attempts that ended the same way.
Disheartened, I made my way home.

It's been nearly five months now. The first couple of months were really hard psychologically. Probably it being holiday time didn't help, as holidays are always celebrated with food. But since the first of the year, I don't really dwell on it and take it all in stride.
After all, there are lots of folks out there struggling through far worse physical predicaments, and there is, truly, nothing I can't do but this one exception.
And in my favor: I've lost all that weight I'd put on since high school, and my cholesterol and blood pressure are back to normal levels.

So, it's no big deal.
I'm OK with it.
And it sure beats the alternative.
An aside:

A couple weeks ago, I was giving my neurosurgeon a playful hard time, commenting through my pathetically weak and raspy voice how great life was until he 'fixed' me.
He laughed along, and then turned to me, in all seriousness: "If we hadn't fixed you when we did, you wouldn't be laying here right now."
Yeah, I'd be at home eating breakfast,drinking coffee,getting ready for work...
"No, you wouldn't be going to work"
True. I always take vacation this time of year. How'd you know?
"You wouldn't be on vacation,either. You'd likely be laying somewhere else."
That bad?
"You're lucky we got it when we did."
But it wasn't cancerous.
"It didn't need to be."

So, there it was. The first time I got an almost straight answer as to how serious everything was.

Anyway,back to...
Things have gotten better. I can now pucker, blow my wife a kiss, and let out a small whistle when I want to. This wasn't possible just two months ago.
Yeah, this is a long slog, but the distance does grow shorter by the day.
And that is a good thing.

Despite my positive attitude, I still get a little down on occasion. I should say, "let down" , because it only happens when I have some expectation of 'better' that ends up not panning out as hoped.
And I'm usually over it in short order.

Today was one of those rare days.

But instead of feeling down, I was just plain pissed off.
And not pissed off at my situation.
I was pissed off at applesauce. Does this make any sense?
I didn't think so.

I got home, and after walking into the kitchen I see first, a package on the table, and right there, on the counter, glaring at me: a jar of applesauce. Tauntingly, saying: "Bet you want some of this."
No, I don't.
"Liar."
Why don't you go to hell?
"Face it,punk. I beat you."

Now I'm cursing at jars of dead fruit...

I turn my attention instead to the package.
Huh?
I don't remember ordering anything.
A glance at the return address brings a smile.
Still not knowing what, I tear it open like a kid.
Enclosed is a card: "A quilt is a hug that is always there for you."
Inside: a comfy quilt made from plaid flannel shirt material.
Somebody knows my style.
Feeling better already, I stretched out in my recliner and took a nap, pleasantly draped in the coolest. quilt. ever.

You've made my day.
Thank you!

A Bad Idea Made Worse

At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?


Let's forget that silly notion of mine that our government should not be distributing condoms at all, let alone in other countries where the people haven't learned how to police their own behaviors.
(Face it: these countries are 'third world' for a reason, and it's not due to a lack of free condoms.)

But it seems to me that if we can pump billions trillions of dollars (or whatever it's up to now) to bail out overpaid CEO's and politically favored unions (UAW), it only seems more just to buy our African's condoms domestically, instead of from China or South Korea.

And given China's propensity for quality control, does anybody really think it's a good idea to be passing out mercury-laced Jimmy Deans in lead-based packaging to a bunch of AIDS-infected Bantus who can't keep their britches on?

Not to mention that 'cheaper' condoms are notoriously reliable when it comes to being unreliable.

I mean, look at the reputation of the United States abroad. They already hate us, no matter what good we try to do.
Imagine their anger when poison condoms ruin their love lives even further than fear of AIDS.
(On second thought, if they really feared AIDS, I guess they wouldn't need all these condoms after all. Besides the point, I guess.)

These folks are gonna continue to kill each other off, doing through promiscuity the job machetes and AK-47's didn't finish in their last tribal war.
But this time, they'll blame us.

Stolen!

(via The Lumberjack)

Speaking Of Bastards

Here's the video of Octomom giving birth.

Not for the weak.

Bastard Nation

A record 39.7 percent of babies in 2007 were born to unmarried women.

I remember at one time actually being alarmed by such figures, pushing for government policies that might stem the tide of what I viewed as social decay.

I still see this as a form of social decay. One that will have far reaching complications later on down the road. Thing is, now I realise that there is nothing anybody can do about it.

Societies rise and fall. It is the course, and the curse, of all great societies throughout history. After a reaching an apex, a society allows its cultural mores to fall by the wayside, loosing the very thing that helped the individuals prosper through more difficult times.

Keep in mind,that before a people can become A People, they are first just individual people-persons doing what they do to get by: interacting with each other for selfish benefit as individuals are prone to do.

Societies and cultures work the same way. And they decline they same way: one person at a time, doing what individuals are prone to do, individually, selfishly getting by as they see fit to do.

We don't have a problem that governmental policy can solve even if it wanted to. What we have is millions of individuals making personal lifestyle choices, as others before them have done.