GOD, the infinite question and the quarrel of the masses for all the ages and still is apparently judging by the headlines. I don’t understand it and I never will. A caveat: I am not here to sell you on my God or to debate your God or anyone else’s. In fact, just the opposite. I have no interest in sharing my God with you, nor do I really have any interest in hearing about your God beliefs. My God doesn’t really go in for group sports, other than football of course, hence my 14 years of volunteering in that area. I am sure I will get a great seat on the heaven 50 yard line.
He- Yes, He -get over it, I am fine with ‘He”- doesn’t require me to go out and get a lot of converts. On the contrary, my beliefs are private and not shared with anyone actually. Think about this, I love to win arguments. I will argue and debate to the death till I am victorious. Why on earth would I have a debate with you on an issue that has no possible winner? No one has clue one what God is. Not the Catholics, not the Jews, not the Muslins and not even those nice Unitarians. I say that because I have yet to see a holy war started by that group. The only way to know God is to die and sorry the $40 bucks an hour mediums drumming up dear departed Uncle Tonoose, don’t have the answer either. For all we know God could be Dave from Wendys and the answer is a square hamburger. There has been and is, so much hatred and bloodshed and discord and disaster over a concept that has no one answer. Astounding it is to me.
I was lucky in that I had a Catholic Holy Roller mother and a Golden rule touting father who disliked organized religion of any type, especially the Catholics. He was fond of saying, ‘ if you want to see thieves, liars and sinners, go into a church.” This was the best of both worlds regarding religious exposure. I grew up making up my own mind and while I love the golden rule, I do still take a bit of dogma from my 11 years of Catholic school. You never know and that is precisely the point. Why, why would anyone try and get anyone else to believe exactly as they do. I don’t get it. I truly do not. I have no interest in your God and so please stay out of mine. I had both my sons baptized and that is as far as I went with the Catholic sacraments simply because I wanted to hedge my bet. As I say, I don’t pretend to know everything about the God I believe in and I chose to not mess around with the purgatory thing, that and the fact that Italians give great Christening gifts. It was simply a “what if” situation? What if purgatory was a real deal? I was not going to take the chance of my kids ending up there. Now it is ironic that I saved them from purgatory only to have them put me through hell as teenagers. But I digress.
Imagine. Yes imagine for just a minute or two if everyone kept their religious beliefs in their heart and head and soul where they belong and didn’t try to force them on others. There would be no arguments over abortion, immigration, gay rights, women’s rights or human rights. The basis of the discord and strife in all these areas are people trying to impose their God beliefs on others. Sounds simplistic I know but it is that simple. Why can we not fathom a world where you can congregate of course if that is what you need with people of like minded God beliefs and go no further than within those confines. You don’t have to engage with people of different beliefs IF those beliefs impinge on their overall personality and values and traits. I mean there are siblings who have very different beliefs and as long as those beliefs remain private and there is not a tug of war in trying to get each on the other side, you can co-exist peacefully. Nations can do the same. Remove religion from all decisions or at least as best you can and I think you begin to do a lot of things for the common good and not self-service to a particular group’s GOD. In those relationships that are chosen by you not fostered on you by birth, you choose according to those who best suit your temperament. Even very different God beliefs can possibly be overcome in a friend or acquaintance relationship depending on the degree to which those beliefs affect a person’s all over personality traits. I don’t believe they can be overcome though in a spousal relationship. Way too difficult. It would be a constant tug of war with no winners that will spill into other areas inevitably. This is an important area to choose wisely in and a lesson that if learned very early in life can save a lot of heartache. I have on occasion throughout my life discussed my own GOD experience with a very few others who I felt would be receptive to the discourse. Not for any reason of getting them to think like me but just to share a bit about myself to them in that arena. My GOD is a busy guy. I don’t bother him much unless it’s really important and he has come through when I have. That’s all I can say on the subject, other than the congregating I do for exceptional and wonderful music or theater is my equivalent of ‘church’. Now that is my GOD in action, especially at a Bruce concert.
I hope against hope that we can obliterate these kinds of arguments and politicizing in the future. The hope rests with the youth of this country really. I get a sense that their world will look very different than ours has in the past century. A few recent encounters with a few amazing girls in that generation has certainly left me with a lot of hope, a commodity we MUST hold onto in these fractious days ahead. Another post for another day. Thank you for reading. As always- to the right, have a blessed day, to the left, peace out and to the middle- thinker’s mercies.
POST SCRIPT: If you are wondering, and I am sure one of you eight who show up to read faithfully are, where Missive 1 and 2 are? They were originally only on Facebook but I’ll copy here in the event I actually get a new reader!!
MISSIVE FROM THE MIDDLE #2. Out on my very long walk this morning, I came across a headline in a newspaper in one of those amazing little boxes that LA has on street corners, which allow you to put in a buck or so and take a newspaper. This has fascinated me ever since I moved here from NY almost 30 years ago. The fact that we sell newspapers on the honor system and are sure that people will take just one is amazing to me. We never had these in NY ever as surely we would be putting in a buck, taking 10 copies and reselling them down the street. It’s a joke, relax. Humor hasn’t been outlawed yet. Anyway, blaring headline I saw that said: Trump to Build Wall Along the Southern Border. Right up there with the morning news that he just authorized the hiring of 5000 new southern border patrol officers. Well I guess instead of issuing guns and badges this time to the new hires, they will get picks and shovels and thigh high rubber boots and a nice bag of cement. Let’s hope they get it done in time to keep the last three Mexicans who actually want to come to the US contained. I hear they changed their minds and joined a drug cartel instead. A lot safer. Yep, no time to be quiet folks . Time to spotlight as much as crazy as we can. It’s a win win for me actually, this administration. Gives me so much writing to do and keeps those pesky but cute cat pictures off Facebook So to the right –have a blessed day. To the left- peace out. To the middle: thinker’s mercies. Not a clue. Just words that sound great together!
MISSIVE FROM THE MIDDLE-#1 Dear People, we only have so much irritation to expend over the next four years, so my suggestion is that we spend it wisely. The treatment by the Donald of his wife should be of no concern to us whatsoever at this point in time. What are we going to do? Sick the polite police on him? He has a trophy wife and as such they are in a business like deal with its own constructs. He gets to sleep with someone who wouldn’t give him the time of day at a 4am last call at Paddy O’Douls and she gets to never have to put her 10th grade education to use and lives in the lap of luxury with all expenses paid for the rest of her life. As I sit and peer at this pile of bills in front of me, O how I wish I could be anyone’s trophy wife. Unfortunately, they would have to be going for a last place trophy. So please stop getting all worked up over the Donald walking head of his wife for example. I have had two husbands who have never let me walk ahead of them without me actually pushing them out of the way first. If they did, I would have had them drug tested believe me. Ok bad analogy. In any event the big issue and biggest issue is what is going to be done with health care, specifically, the elimination of the 26 year old and under on the health insurance policy and the pre-existing conditions. Now because I don’t have a lot of time or patience today, can someone with some real facts and legislative knowledge explain to me like I am 2 year old whether those can be changed only through Congressional voting or can he change them via a stroke of pen in an Executive Order. It makes a real difference here. Thalia Commins you were our legislation guru in PTA, how about you be mine in real life? This is a huge difference and one place for now where our irritation should be exercised. Sorry if I offended anyone, sorry if I didn’t. There.
Midnight Missives and Musings 