My 2 cents worth!

from Tazy - Tuesday, April 08, 2003
accessed 1601 times

Today is the 31st December 02. Today I have started to write a book about my three favourite subjects; Politics, Religion and Sex. This book is not for everyone, and very few will actually understand anything that I’m writing about. To simplify this will be too difficult, for we all have very different tastes, just as we each have different opinions about music, food, fashion etc. Each of us are very unique individuals and until we recognise why we are, there will be no peace on this earth.

If the whole world could agree on one thing, what would it be? That we are certain of only one thing: that we will die! How we go is the main concern of the majority of human beings, how will we be remembered, will we be remembered? Are we going to have a good life?

This is an article for contemplation and reflection and not to be taken after 10 glasses of wine. I believe all people are created good and that we strive to better ourselves through work, religion and better relations with other people. Why, if that is the common goal, do we argue and debate about it?

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ? (Politics)Have you ever had that type of dream that youve woken up from, knowing youve just witnessed the most horrible atrocities youve ever imagined, and you cant remember a damn thing?

Youre left with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach and youre not sure why. Sometimes you have dreams that are like premonitions in which one of these days the thing you dreamed about comes to pass in real life, and you wonder if that awful dream you had the other night is one of those. Maybe it doesnt exactly happen to you but you open the paper one morning and there it is in black and white baring your soul for the world to see and it all comes flooding back to you in garish technicolour.

The innocent bystander, a child just passing, ignorant of the danger into which he is strolling so nonchalantly through. All of a sudden, the baseball that he was tossing falls to the ground, in slow motion, silence deafening, until, as it hits the ground, a resounding thud and puff of dust as it slowing bounces and settles never to be picked up by that child again.

You question why these things happen, even are disturbed about how you knew all the particulars before even reading the article. You challenge yourself to find the answers, you even begin to fantasise that you may be able to predict the future. After a while, reality kicks in, doubt niggles at your logical brain, "it was just a coincidence," you give yourself a shake and say to yourself, "well, at least it didnt happen to me". But, it did happen to someone. "Crying never did anyone any good!" you hear the echo of your father. Neither does indifference!

If they can get away with it, why cant I? The eternal childish phenomenon of "its not fair", the excuse to avoid blame and responsibility for things you wish you got away with.

The chronic condition of the human species not to BE better people but to LOOK like were better people. To tear other people's reputation down in order to look like you are the paragon of success and virtue. Nobody wants to look like theyre failures, but nobody is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, its how we learn and grow from them, which makes the difference. The majority of people already knows this, and has known this for centuries. But why hasnt anything changed? Why do people still believe that taking responsibility for their actions is a mistake? Comparing yourself to another person to see if youre better than they are, and if it so happens that they are, seeing what you can do to make them look worse than you. Now whos not being "fair"?

What is "Politically Correct"? Have we become so backward that we actually have to have laws that tell us what to say and how to say it? Has a sense of humour become so unmanageable that it actually offends other people? Can we not have a good laugh at ourselves at the foolish things we do? Since when have we given up our right to express ourselves? I wonder if its because weve become so hard-hearted as to how our opinions can cause offence to someone else.Its not how life treats us but how we treat life!

What is "normal"? Most of us will answer that "normal" is how society rules as socially acceptable.

But lets break it down, "normal" is the average. Most people are widely different, have different opinions, different cultures, different beliefs. Nobody is "normal", we are all unique, thats what makes a world, it takes all types. We learn and grow from our experiences, memories and environment. The moment we believe we dont have anything more to learn, is the day we begin to die. We begin to stagnate and become a waste of space.

Respect we all want it! Some have it, some dont! How do we get it? We have to earn it; Rome wasnt built in a day. Lets face it! We all love to complain about this or that, it doesnt matter what, "Oh, what a bad day at work" etc. It just brings` you and the person who has to listen to you down. What if you tried to find one thing that was good or pleasant and focus on that and carry that feeling throughout the day.

Smiling helps! You may not believe it but it does. No matter who you work with, whether you "get on" with them or not, start the day with a smile and a cheery "Good morning", and begin to notice the results.Have you ever noticed that no matter where you work, live, play etc, theres always one person who rubs you up the wrong way? Try this, make an effort to talk to that person, smile and listen to them. Make your goal to try to make them happy, talk about the difficulties youre facing and try to come to an agreement about how to resolve your differences. See what happens!At the moment there is a conflict going on in Iraq; should we or should we not go to war with them? Well, lets look at it from a different point of view? Think of yourself as a child: you trade a toy (weapons) with another child for one of their toys (oil), they seem like they are enjoying the toy you gave them a lot more than you are enjoying yours, so you want the toy back but youre not willing to trade the toy he gave you initially either, you want it all for yourself, so you call the other children around and complain "hes got a toy that he shouldnt have, see the tag says not suitable for children 0-5 years old, well hes 6, he cant have it!" and all the other children go "well, I suppose, wed better back him up because otherwise hell throw a fit again. Look, why dont you give it back". "Absolutely not" child no. 2 says, "we traded fair and square, youre just trying to steal it for yourself". Child No. 1: "well if youre not going to give it back, ask an adult (UN) go put it on the top shelf, where neither of us can get it". And so on and so on!And they really think they are acting in the best interests of the rest of us? Hell, no! How many people have demonstrated and petitioned the government that "NO, WE DONT WANT TO GO TO WAR!" But do they listen? Now troops are building up in the Gulf again. Didnt they learn their lesson the first time around? Obviously not, if theyre planning on doing it all over again. War is NEVER a good thing, even if you win! A lot of people died and a lot more people died afterwards from Gulf War Syndrome!

WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKEN HEARTED? (Sex)Have you ever been in a relationship? Is that the same as being in love? How do you know youre in love? Is love over-rated? Is love old fashioned? What about Sex? Is sex and love the same thing? Can I really stay in love with the same person for my whole life? Do I have to have sex with the same person? Why doesnt anyone love me? Is there really one person in the world who is my soul mate? How do meet this person? When do I meet this person? Where? Who? Why?The eternal quest for finding the perfect mate and all the doubts and questions, decisions and consequences that goes with the territory. When really there is only one question on your mind, "Whos going to make me happy?" Get over yourself! The only way to be happy is to make others happy. Theres no point in waiting around for someone to come along and say, "youre the one Ive been waiting for". That doesnt happen in real life.My father once told me, "All good things come to those who wait". If thats true, Ill be waiting around forever. Some things have to be worked at. Relationships are one of them. If youre a quiet, shy person like I am, meeting people can be a painful process. Its hard to go out and meet someone, looking for something you have in common to build a foundation on. Expose your inner thoughts and feelings to another person, theres always the chance youll be rejected, and thats hard to bounce back from. And every time it happens it gets that little bit harder to face it all again.Sacrificing yourself on the altar of dignity can be a hard thing to do, so who said life was easy?Who has not talked about sex at all with anybody? A very small percentage. Its our favourite subject, we brag about our sexual conquests, we cringe at the memory of a particularly unfavourable episode. We marvel at how someone we knew would never have sex turns up one day with three kids in tow.The difference between men and women is not as much as we think, we all experience desire, pain, ambition, love etc. all to varying degrees. The difference is how we understand and accept each others faults. Its not a battleground in which we face our opponents and try to conquer them. Though sometimes it seems as if thats exactly what were doing.HALELUJAH! (Religion)Modern day prophets stroll up and down the high street, declaring in a loud and obtrusive voice that "THE END IS NIGH", you ignore either politely or rudely and go on your way.

Different religions and cultures club together to ambush you with doctrine, prophecy, "you are damned unless you come to our church/temple/social club". With all these messages coming at you from all directions, whats a person to do? Should you listen? Spend ten minutes to an hour contemplating the meaning of life? You know what that will lead to; shaving your head, fasting and praying for forgiveness of sins that you cant even remember doing anyway, sackcloth and ashes and of course, "donate" all your "worldly" wealth to "charity".

Or, you carry on your own merry little way. You know that youre a good person; you believe what you want to believe in. Its done well for you so far! Why disrupt a good thing?One of the things I was taught as a child, and that I believe is the common ground of every faith in the world, was to love God, love others and love yourself.If the most important thing is love and we practice love every second, there will be no more war! There will be no more heartache! There will be no more pain! For how can there be if we all love one another?Why is it that the root of every faith is masked and concealed by different codes of belief, of "doctrine"? We set up different leaders of faith to tell us what to do and how to believe. They try to interpret texts and prophecy then tell us what they mean according to their interpretation and add on a load of rules to make them seem so important that we cant live without them.What if we ever tried something different? What if we tried to interpret scripture for ourselves and try to apply them to our daily lives by ourselves? Are we so certain that we cant? Arent we smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong without someone telling us?Im not saying "tear down the churches, burn holy relics and get rid of people who have dedicated themselves to God", Im not saying that at all! All Im saying is that no "holy" person is going to be able to tell you what the best thing for you is! You have to find that out for yourself!