Tuesday, August 28, 2012

In The Negative

I really feel bad for neglecting my blog, but maybe this way someone can stop by my blog and get a little surprise because I finally posted. We like surprises, right? I have been a little busy lately with the house, the new job, the dead yard, and whatnot. What? You have no idea what I am talking about? Oh, that's right! I haven't written about any of that! Silly me. Well, the house is fine, except for the window screen that Bear devoured so that she could jump through the window. I didn't know she had it in her, but apparently a second more than nine hours away from Mike and I is just too much for her to take. She had to jump out the window to get to us. Which brings me to the next topic - the new job.

I was hired where Mike works for a seasonal job checking tax forms. I can't say it's exciting, but since it is full-time, the pay is enough to excite me. If you want to know more about it, just imagine reading tax forms all day and looking for things like missing commas and periods. Are you asleep yet? WAKE UP! I do, however, like working in the same building as Mike and being able to go to lunch with him everyday. On the other hand, Bear does not like it at all. She is a bundle of nerves when we get home. I guess she doesn't appreciate us bring home the bacon. She would rather just spend time with us. What's that all about? Geez, you would think she loves us or something.

As for the yard, we received at notice from our city that we have 15 days to green it up or we get a $125 fine. Never mind that is was already dead when we moved in, and that we have no secondary water, and that we have more weeds than grass, and that it costs $50 just for a few bags of mulch. NEVER MIND ALL THAT! We will just wave our magic wands and make it beautiful! If that doesn't work, all we can do is hope the city will work with us. It is tricky knowing if they will, since almost every attempt we have made to contact them has been ignored. So here's to hoping that 15 days from now, we won't be $125 poorer. (Oh yeah, plus all the money we have to pay to fix up the yard and water it.) I guess I have already passed the $125 mark.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Reasons

When I was growing up, I would always hear people giving reasons for why bad things happen to good people:

"That person died because God wanted to put him out of his suffering."

"That person died because God had a special plan for her."

"That person is disabled to help others appreciate not being disabled."

"I went through some hard financial times so I could learn to appreciate what I have."

"That person is terminally ill because God wanted to teach us to appreciate the time that we have on earth."

I have heard all of these phrases in some form or another over the years, and many other similar ones. I don't want to say I don't believe in God (although I don't accept his existence as readily as most people do). All I am saying is that people have no way of knowing these statements are true. They say things like this to make themselves feel better when they are going through hard times.

I have no problem with people thinking of reasons for their suffering, but I would also like them to realize that it is possible that there is no reason for their suffering. Most times, people don't want to admit that because it makes them feel worse. I understand that, believe me. But it seems crazy to me to believe anything you come up with as a hard and true fact. Some people are even willing to die for these ideas, even though they have nothing to show their truth.

I don't want to debate the whole "faith" issue because people get way too heated about it. I just want people to open their eyes to other possibilities. Is it possible you are wrong whether you think you are are not? Yes! But most people will never admit that, especially if they are very religious.

I know I am writing a loosing argument, so I will just say this - Think of reasons to ease your suffering if it makes you feel better, but leave a little room in your mind for other alternatives.