There is no afterlife. There certainly is no proof of it. Near death experiences have scientific explanations; there is no evidence for ghosts; there is nothing that can empirically prove that you have a soul much less something happens to it when you die. Now some of you may be quick to retort that just because the afterlife can't be proven does not falsify it's existence it just means we don't or can't know about it until we die. But That is proof enough to me that it is of absolutely no consequence to our lives. The only thing that should matter to us and our lives is the material world which we can observe, manipulate, and try to understand. People kill and are killed for something that may not, and probably does not, exist so I'm justified in my contempt for a belief in the afterlife.
You see, after I spoke at my father's funeral the eulogy was given by Sherwood Tidman, retired Captain in the Salvation Army. Besides being long-winded enough to earn an audible 'I'm bored' from my nephew this asshole used my father's memorial as a platform to preach his childish story of sin and salvation for what seemed like an hour. Maybe it was half that time but no less painful and even his wife was caught tapping her feet. My last opportunity to pay my last respects to my dad's body and to celebrate his life with family and friends and this guy tells us that we are "in danger" of losing our souls and glorifying a fantasy world while neglecting the most important thing in the world: our lives. Now before you admonish me for taking this personal let this sink in: when Sherwood arrived at the chapel and hugged me he whispered in my ear "now I'm going to step on your toes a little bit." Sherwood, thanks for forever staining an already painful day with your self-righteous idiocy and making me glad that I left your stupid, pitiful religion. I hope that your few remaining days are as worthless as your words. Your empty, non-existent god my forgive you but I never will.
Which brings me to KNOWING. This movie sucks and I trust that you will not see it. Here's the plot: alien/angels have warned an Earthling about these impending disasters, people get wiped out, and two dark-haired white children are brought to another planet presumably to repopulate the human species. And Nicolas Cage plays a sorry excuse for an MIT professor who finds his faith again before it's all over. Now that I actually have a sense for what life and mortality is I get pissed when I see something that treats the death of a living, breathing human being as an inconsequential event. Using things like 9/11 as a plot point to suggest that this is all a part of some holy, pre-ordained plan is revolting. Death is not the beginning of a new stage, a new journey when, as far as we know, it is the end.
Nothing is more important than your life and what you do with it. Value it. Treat everyday, even the shitty ones, as a treasure. Nothing or no one will give it meaning but you.
You see, after I spoke at my father's funeral the eulogy was given by Sherwood Tidman, retired Captain in the Salvation Army. Besides being long-winded enough to earn an audible 'I'm bored' from my nephew this asshole used my father's memorial as a platform to preach his childish story of sin and salvation for what seemed like an hour. Maybe it was half that time but no less painful and even his wife was caught tapping her feet. My last opportunity to pay my last respects to my dad's body and to celebrate his life with family and friends and this guy tells us that we are "in danger" of losing our souls and glorifying a fantasy world while neglecting the most important thing in the world: our lives. Now before you admonish me for taking this personal let this sink in: when Sherwood arrived at the chapel and hugged me he whispered in my ear "now I'm going to step on your toes a little bit." Sherwood, thanks for forever staining an already painful day with your self-righteous idiocy and making me glad that I left your stupid, pitiful religion. I hope that your few remaining days are as worthless as your words. Your empty, non-existent god my forgive you but I never will.
Which brings me to KNOWING. This movie sucks and I trust that you will not see it. Here's the plot: alien/angels have warned an Earthling about these impending disasters, people get wiped out, and two dark-haired white children are brought to another planet presumably to repopulate the human species. And Nicolas Cage plays a sorry excuse for an MIT professor who finds his faith again before it's all over. Now that I actually have a sense for what life and mortality is I get pissed when I see something that treats the death of a living, breathing human being as an inconsequential event. Using things like 9/11 as a plot point to suggest that this is all a part of some holy, pre-ordained plan is revolting. Death is not the beginning of a new stage, a new journey when, as far as we know, it is the end.
Nothing is more important than your life and what you do with it. Value it. Treat everyday, even the shitty ones, as a treasure. Nothing or no one will give it meaning but you.
No comments:
Post a Comment