I knew it! There are still decent people in the world!

I had an interesting thing happen today. Some people reading this already know that the place I work is being remodeled into another company that appears to have no further need for me. Today at work I had a little elderly woman ask me, "Are you switching over to the other company?" I said, "Probably not. I don't think they will be keeping a lot of the full time people." She seemed genuinely bothered by this. "Well," she said, "I wish you good luck." I replied, "Don't worry about me. I'll figure something out. God is good!" This is where the exchange got interesting. She tells me, "Well, I'm an atheist. I don't think He's bad, I just don't think He's there!" We both had a little laugh over that. It would have been fine to leave it there, but then she really surprised me. She looked me in the eye and said, "But I hope He has a good thought for you."

The point here is this. I will never make any apology for believing the way I do. I wear my faith like a badge. The world is full of people who choose to be "offended" by it and go so far as to try to eliminate it from every place imaginable. There are numerous people who look for reasons to hate someone else. "You're Pro-Life? I hate you!" You're Pro-Choice? You're a murderer!" "You voted R instead of D? You're an idiot!" It's madness!! This woman could have chosen to be one of those people. Heck, for that matter I could have chosen to be one of those people. But the amazing part is that neither of us did. We couldn't have been any more different spiritually. But in that moment, two people chose to accept each other, and even more than that, to support each others' respective beliefs. That's the America I remember. Where the heck has it been?

A little slice of self discovery

All of my life I have been fascinated with superheroes. I'm still a bit of a comic nerd, but when I was a kid my thoughts were always consumed by heroic adventures of superhuman paragons of justice. I always wanted to emulate some of the same personality traits of my favorite heroes. Courage, it seemed, I had in spades, especially when it came to acrobatics and athleticism. I was doing free running and Parkour moves before they had a name. I was constantly putting myself in foolish situations just to prove to myself I could get out of them. (As a side note, it is possible for a human to outrun a dog. Don't ask.) Stealth I had. Even now I can get the drop on just about anyone, sometimes without even meaning to. Martial arts have been a mainstay with me in one form or another for many years. But I was always haunted by one thing in particular; my lack of overt aggression.

This is where I most envied Wolverine. One of his most famous quotes is this; "I'm the best there is at what I do. And what I do isn't very nice." Numerous times in my childhood I found myself in situations where it would have been so gratifying just to ball up my fist and break a jaw or two. There were times when it would have made so much sense. Times when I was ridiculed for not doing so. Nothing could be done about it. I simply did not have the killer instinct that many of my animated role models seemed to possess. I counted it as a character flaw.

But recently I had a realization after a trip to the local shooting range. While I was firing, trying to hit my target, I was visualizing an enemy. I always do. It helps my focus. But this time I paid close attention to my attitude about what I was firing at. I realized that I wasn't thinking about killing my target. Oh, I wanted to be precise with my shots. Indeed my clustering was tight and quite accurate. Many rounds actually landed in roughly the same spot, if not exactly the same, tearing a hole in the paper target about the size of a newborn's fist. But I was visualizing, not the heart, but the shoulder. The elbow. The knee. More of the same character flaw?

I realize now, no. It's not. This realization helped me define myself a little more clearly. I don't have the killer instinct because, simply put, I'm not a killer. How could that possibly be a weakness? I have proven many times in my life that I have the ability to make quick decisions. But those decisions lead to an outcome where everyone goes home, and no one to the morgue. I have the ability to be lethal if it becomes necessary. I know that without question. However, that is not who I am. I follow the path of knighthood, not the path of the mercenary.

I am a Crusader for peace. A Protector of life. Got a problem with that?

Hey. The eyes are up here, buddy.

I get it now. I know why people have such a hard time relating to each other now. It's such a simple thing, I don't know why I didn't see it before. Wanna know what the problem is? One word; Butts. Yep! That's it! We are constantly concerning ourselves with everybody's butt. Now hear me out on this! I'm not talking about any lustful kind of nonsense. I'm talking about what other people are doing to their butts. We are always worried about someone getting off their lazy one, lying it off, dragging it, or any other kind of activities. We are so busy worrying about them we aren't even sure what to call them! Is it a butt? A can? A booty? Is it that other word that used to be applied to a particular beast of burden but is now almost completely reserved to describe the top of someone's legs?

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the problem in understanding each other lies not in the activity level of other people's butts. It's what is in the heart. And not even really what is in their heart. It's more about what is in ours. We have a targeting problem, plain and simple. Aim for the heart and the effort will count for something.

Somewhere along the line we stopped caring about what we are supposed to be doing and started caring about what we think other people should be. Think about that next time you get upset about what someone is or is not doing. Try to remember that when you start to concern yourself with those things, what you're really doing is checkin' out their butt. (Metaphorically speaking.) Stop it. And if you catch me doing it, do me a favor. Tell me, "Kevin, quit being a butt-head or I'll kick the top of your legs!"

Priorities, man. Priorities.

So, I've been doing the full-time job / full-time school thing. A means to an end and all that. I have two classes scheduled to begin on the 25 of this month, both 8 weeks long. Recently there has been a little glitch in my student account and it looked like I may need to withdraws from those classes depending on how a certain review went. At first I was a bit irritated by that. After all, that would tack on an extra 2 months on when I can finally be done with all this stuff. But then I kicked it around for a couple days. I thought about last Thanksgiving and how I had to be holed up in my bedroom to work on school work for hours. I then though about last Christmas and how I had to be holed up in my bedroom to work on school work for hours. All of a sudden the possibility of maybe withdrawing from those classes didn't look so bad after all. Then I started thinking about all the time I have to miss with my family as it is because I have to be, you guessed it, holed up in my bedroom to work on school work for hours. Then I made an executive decision... I'm gonna just withdraw from the two stinkin' classes! Why not? They aren't going anywhere and it would be nice to just enjoy the holidays free from deadlines and assignments and grades and worry.

I don't feel bad about it, either. Not even a little bit. Sorry, L.U., but I'm pretty sure I'm trading up on this one. I'll see ya when the holidays are over and I have put on my annual 5 - 10 pounds of holiday grooviness!

Respect for the dead

I've been hearing a lot lately about this Islamic cultural center that is being proposed in New York. This proposed place is literally so close you could probably throw a rock from ground zero and hit it. That being the case, there are a lot of people up in arms about this thing, calling it a slap in the face to the families and friends of the people that died in the WTC attack that day.

Now, I like to think that I am a fair man. I understand that these plans were laid some time before 9/11 even happened, so it's not like this building was meant to mark some type of victory against 'the infidel'. But I have to wonder what might be going through the average Muslim's head if there were plans to big a giant Catholic church on a site where there was historically the greatest loss of Saracen life at the hands of the Templar knights. My guess is that they would feel greatly insulted by that. And I would be one of the first to agree with them! There are some things that, out of simple courtesy, ya just don't do.

It would not be difficult for the proponents of this Islamic cultural center to find another place to build. But they have dug their heels in now. Sure, they have the right to build there. Nothing illegal about the plans to build. But just because something isn't illegal doesn't mean it's nice. I think they would build a lot of good will with the community if they just switched locations. (I don't see that happening.) Barring some legal miracle, they are going to build. But they may as well design that thing to look like a giant middle finger, because that's precisely what those families are going to see every time they pass it.

Everything old is new again.

Alright. It happened. Ya know how there are just some people that go out of their way to exemplify every single thing that is wrong with the human condition? Well, one of those people sent me a friend request on Facebook. I can't for the life of me imagine why. He and I didn't exactly run in the same circles. In fact, some members of his circle literally threw rocks at me and mine. The experience created such a sense of hatred and anger within me that, even though it has been so many years, it all came rushing back to the surface in less than a heartbeat. I do not like that feeling. Hatred is the twin brother of murder, I'm convinced. And God forgive me, I hated him.

I ignored his request.

Maybe I shouldn't have. Perhaps this was a proverbial olive branch. Perhaps not. All I know is that it took a very long time for me to fight off that white hot stab of hatred I felt in my heart at the mention of one man's name and I do not relish the thought of inviting it into my world again. Maybe the problem is me. Maybe I should get over myself and realize that everyone changes. I know I have. Perhaps I should think this thing through more thoroughly and even send a friend request back to him. Perhaps one day I will.

But, God help me, today is not that day.

If you're the praying type, send some my way on this, will ya?

Religion and Chivalry

There has been an ongoing discussion in one of my circles of association about whether it is possible, or perhaps a better word would be 'reasonable', for an atheist to embrace chivalry.

Now, I have never made any apologies for the fact that I am a born-again Christian. Any view I have of the world is invariably going to be tinted by the lenses of that faith. And so it is with Chivalry. I see the chivalrous lifestyle as an outward expression of an internal belief.

But is a faith in Jesus Christ necessary in order to be chivalrous? Absolutely not. Anyone of any faith, or no faith at all, can treat people with that same level of respect (and regrettably, in some cases greater levels) and even share my views of right and wrong. But to me it makes a lot more sense to have that faith in God. To me, He is the reason we should treat others with respect and courtesy. To me, He is the reason there is right and wrong to begin with.

Does that mean I am perfect? Please. But what it does mean is that I have a 'true North' upon which to base the decisions I make. There's no way that can be a bad thing. For my non-believing friends who have chosen to take a similar Pilgrimage, my biggest worry is this; what is their 'true North'?