The first blog entry is always the hardest. With this being my first blog ever, my internet writing skills are far from refined. The course of the last couple months have been turbulent to say the least, especially the past week or so. A lot has been streaming through my mind at dizzying speeds often leaving me melancholy. I'm past the stage of depression for sure. But things remain on my mind that I just feel would be great to talk about.
Yesterday, while working at my physical therapist job (which is great, I'll have you know), a patient came in to work out and get treatment. You know, the usual. Actually, before talking about this specific patient, let me tell you that a wide assortment of people come and go through the clinic. We have high school athletes who come in to work out, fully grown adults who work out, elderly people getting therapy, and other interesting people, all with different backgrounds. For instance, there was a 24 year old girl who happened to hit on me quite frequently... however, it was hard to determine which of her 4 personalities was the one that found me irresistible... Lucky for me, she was discharged the same week that I was hired. No connection, just a glorious coincidence. Anyway, back to the specific patient mentioned earlier. This guy, a very nice guy as far as I can tell, happens to be a youth pastor for a church in Salem. One of the girls that I work with was keeping him company as we always do with our patients (remember, we serve with smiles and high spirits). She started telling him about a guy that she met and consequently dates now. The first thing he asked was if he was a believer... thus, the start of the theological interrogation. He asked her what church she went to, what they believed exactly, and the style of sermonizing. He rather invasively forced her to tell him exactly what she believed and how she went about her worship and beliefs. I hate that holier-than-thou attitude. I've come across the same type of thing at a small group one time. In fact, it was through the same church. The mindset of the church is to quiz the "believers" about the bible to make sure that they're Christian and to see how Holy they are. Now, I'm not Freud or anything, and this ic from the perspective of a 17 year old, and that's how I view it. Anyway, I feel more than uncomfortable at these types of "learning sessions." Needless to say, I never went back. By now, you're probably wondering what my point is, and I'm about to make it. I'd like to consider myself as a pretty deeply religious kid. Does it matter that I don't have 90 bible verses memorized? Heck, I don't have any bible verses memorized. Well, except for the most important one, and I don't even have that spot on. I thought that believing and being religious meant devoting your life to the purpose of your religion. That's a very difficult thing to word by the way, so cut me some slack. Since when is being a better Christian determined by the number of bible verse you've memorized, or how many kids you bring to church camp, or how many kids you make uncomfortable when forcing them to come to your church groups? I always felt that I was very uncomfortable when these small group leaders would ask me on the spot to commit to coming to their youth group every week. If I'd see these people at lunch, visiting my school, I'd do my best to avoid them. Well, anyway, I feel that my kindness and care speaks more volumes than the superficiality of these proclaimed "righteous believers" that many Christian people claim to be. Also, I do feel that people have every right to believe what they want, which also angers me when people try to force their religion down others throats.
To reiterate my beliefs:
-Be kind. It works wonders for people.
-Allow people to make the religious journey for themselves. It will mean more to them and it will happen when the time is right.
-I believe every person has a right to their own religion. I may not agree with it, but I will certainly love you the same.
-Don't quiz people about their own religion. It is both tactless and very egocentric and does not make you holier than the other person.
Hmm. As of now, I realize that this blog is already very long, but I don't really want this to be just a bunch of religous ranting. So I'll move on to another thing that I've thought about a lot recently: Politics.
Now, I don't mean I'm going to support or hate on any politicans right now. That's not really what I mean. I mean, what are my own political beliefs? I always thought of myself as a conservative. Growing up, I thought I was growing up in a conservative family. Certainly, there were conservative overtones, but as I grew older and start questioning beliefs, I really feel that my family and I are more moderate than anything. Even still, I've been left questioning my own beliefs the past few weeks. First of all, I have never liked the stratification and segregation that politics cause among the brotherhood that we all share as human beings. I still think politics cause more anger and separation than war. So, with that mindset, I'd like to be in the middle right? No one can hate me there, correct? As I've matured, I've realized that I'm more moderate because I believe some weird things! I don't know what I am.
I got paid yesterday. Paydays are great. Your hard work illustrated by 3 numbers (ok, so I only work part time). However, I couldn't help notice all of the taxes taken out. I mean, am I tipping the government for my services. This prompted a thought provoking question: how liberal am I? I had previously seen liberalness in me with regards to the desire I had to help people less fortunate than I am. I thought that taxes were a great idea. However, one visit to Wal-Mart will change that opinion of mine any day. When ever I enter Wal-Mart, I am reminded of the downfall of mankind. I see all of these lazy white trash with crying babies that they can't support nor parent, buying junk that they shouldn't be, smoking and being rude. And you know what? These people are collecting unemployment and taking our hard earned money away from us. Taxes enable lazy parasites to menace our society. I really admire liberals for their desire to help people less fortunate, I just think they are approaching it incorrectly and that something needs to change. Lastly, until hard-working hispanic people prove me wrong, I still believe that they should join the US work force and we ship out all of the lazy white people into Mexico. Is that a liberal idea?
Sorry about the strong feelings. Next blog entry should be a little bit more light hearted.
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2 comments:
I enjoyed reading the religion part of this; I wasn't previously aware that we think similarly.
Good entry. I felt just as uncomfortable with those youth groups at times. Now here is the real question: Do you think they push more people away then they bring in?
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