I am not trying to be morbid, but there is a killer storm named Irma headed our way and I want to take this opportunity to share some thoughts now in the calm before the storm, in the chance that I will not be able to afterwards. I most likely will, but not everyone has this opportunity or takes it, I am taking it.
My biggest thought is THANKS. My family was not perfect, neither was I. We had a parting of the ways. But overall it was a pretty damn good family, better than many others. With imperfect parents who did the best they knew how to do for their kids, so thanks. My parents are both gone, but I still have three siblings and in spite of our differences and not talking to two of you in years, I love you and thanks. I am no longer religious, I don’t believe in God at all. It just doesn’t make since that a loving God would be invisible or send anyone to Hell for not believing in something invisible. But I actually have nothing but good memories of the religion and church that I grew up in. The church family (not perfect but good), pot lucks, picnics, the big old First Christian Church in Eugene Oregon that was great to explore and play in, Summer camp at White Branch (I loved that place) the Youth for Christ program I was in as a teen with the annual Scream in the Dark, so much fun. I even had great fellowship in the very fundamentalist church’s that I went to later. So thanks. Just remember if I don’t make it past Irma don’t use any of that religious stuff in remembering me, it’s a myth. Sometimes a comforting one, but a myth. I was sexually abused by neighbors as a kid, later I came across some old nudist magazines that helped me feel better about myself and brought much healing, I hate to think how messed up I might have been without that discovery. But that also caused a rift in my family and got me into what turned out to be a very bad situation here in Florida, still it made me who I am and I have to say thanks for all of it too. The situation that brought me to Florida was mixed at best, I thought I had come to fulfill a dream, it turned into a nightmare. But in that there was Bill and Alice Martin, while I had issues with the way Bill did a lot of things they where both still there for me, they loved and accepted me just as I was, even after I stopped believing in God, which I am sure was hard for them. So a deep thanks to my second chance parents, I love you both very much. It is in Florida that I really became myself, I didn’t have many friends growing up, but I have many here. I was absolutely blown away by the Friendship and generosity shown to me when I had my car accident last spring. I will not name names here as I know I would miss some, but to my friends in Suncoast Skeptics, SMASH (Sarasota Manatee Atheist and Secular Humanists), Husbay, at work, and more including online Facebook friends who I have never met, THANK YOU so very much! To podcasters and writers like Seth Andrews, Rich and Deanna Joy Lyons, Bart Campolo, Ryan Bell, Cass Midgley, Bob Pondillo, David Silverman, Micheal Dowd, Connie Barlow, and many others thank you for helping me wake up, find reality, and the best in humanity. There is much I know that I am missing but at the root of it all I am thankful for life and not life like a plant or an animal that doesn’t have what we associate as self awareness. I not only got to live, I got to enjoy it, be terrified by it, to laugh, to weep, to have joy, to have sorrow, to think deep thoughts, to think shallow thoughts, and for it all I say THANKS! If I do survive Irma (as most likely will) I aint taking none of this back! The next few weeks are likely to be a struggle for myself and millions of others in Florida. A big reason many of us aren’t leaving is that we can’t afford to. Or we have family that can’t (including pets) or it simply isn’t possible for millions to leave, we would all appreciate your continued support and friendship in the days and weeks after Irma, to that I say thanks in advance.
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