Steph and I whipped out the Dogma DVD tonight for something to watch. Not only does the movie show that Kevin Smith can be a brilliant writer and director (as opposed to the dumb shit of "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"), but it reminds us that people generally miss the point with religion, and it's up to you to make it right at least for yourself.
When I think about that, the holiday season makes me happy, and glad to be a Pseudo-Christian. But then I look at some other things going on, stare up at the sky, and ask, "What the fuck?" For example, people on the road are generally more assholish than I remember, stupid sports fans are throwing shit at officials and stupid kids are posting outright sexual and disgusting things on my Web sites. Top that off in a year where people crash airplanes into buildings in the name of their god, and one can't help but feel a little uneasy.
That's when you start to take inventory and issue reality checks. As usual, I find that all of my fingers and toes are in tact, the sun is still rising and J-Lo still has the best ass on the planet. Yeah, things aren't all that bad when push comes to shove, it's just a matter of channeling all of the positives to the front.
Some days that's not easy. I know my tolerance to stupid people is at an all time low right now, perhaps because being unemployed shelters you from them until you get out into the world a bit. It's like you're not used to them or something. But at the end of the day, I still have a beautiful wife who loves me, a nice house, a bastard of a cat (I mean that in loving way), a brain smart enough to realize this stuff and the realization that society keeps on functioning, despite all of the evil and hate throughout the world.
I do think that people are fundamentally good, but unfortunately encounter environments that make them less than good. I mean, look at Americans for the last 200 years... none of them were ever born racist but there are still racists. I guess we just have to continue to evolve (provided we don't force our own extinction through mass-destruction or the gradual destruction of our habitat).
The old "shit happens" bumper stickers still hold true. In the mean time you have two choices: The first is to sit around with your thumb up your ass crying about how much the world sucks, the second is to maximize every minute you've got on this planet and rise above all of the pathetic mediocrity.
Which will you choose?
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