Sometimes the truth is a picture.
Sometimes, I miss you so much my heart threatens to cave in on itself.
Sometimes, I miss you so much my heart threatens to cave in on itself.
What is sacrifice?
Does that word conjure up images of a batter bunting a ball
as part of a sacrifice play? For me, I admire basketball players such as Steve
Nash because he is so unselfish in terms of assists: he will sacrifice
individual glory for team success. And although my exposure to volleyball has
been limited, one of the coolest things about the sport is the concept of a ‘dig.’
A dig in volleyball is what one does to stop the ball from
hitting the floor; the player sometimes quite literally dives to the ground to
preserve play. What a picture of sacrifice; he is falling to the
floor intentionally in order that his team may continue playing the game. This is
the image of sacrifice that I would like readers to keep in mind as I continue
with this essay.
At the moment of this person’s birth, the oldest person with CHD in
medical knowledge lived to age 30. CHD is not the kind of the heart disease
that gradually comes to be over time—it is inherited by a difference in genes
(perhaps epigenetics would fit here). Living with a pre-existing condition
means no health insurance for this individual; insurance companies have
rejected this person’s attempts to buy private insurance.
Wow. Imagine living with a disease that will shorten your life by at least a factor of two: to live to age 31 and to know you are the oldest person with your condition.
I’m sorry folks, but this happens in developing countries. Much of sub-Saharan Africa still battles HIV and AIDS; malaria has still not been eradicated; millions of children die of protein-energy malnutrition, diarrhea, and TB (http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/cause.php); coronary heart disease kills over seven million a year in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries combined (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf).
Death is a part of life. In 2002, 57 million people around the world died and 11 million of those were children (children being younger than 14; click second link above).
I am using decade-old statistics, but I want to emphasize a point that’s been emphasized since the beginning of time. I think we might need a dose of humility toward our respective life situations. I constantly want to strive to be a better writer; a part of me wants recognition and respect; another part of me wants to be renown and have a degree of fame. I created this blog as somewhat of a journal of my thought—to chronicle its progression or regression. But I guess I’ve now started to take a more pragmatic approach toward writing on this blog—it’s just a hobby that I like doing.
In the end, none of that matters. We will all die. Some of us will go to ‘Heaven’; some of will have reached Nirvana or spend eternity in other ways; some of us will have kept or tried to keep the Five Pillars and will see Mohammed pbuh in glory; some of us will enter the cosmic unknowability that Hinduism seems to describe. And we will all decompose in the ways biological organisms do as scientists tell us we do. I want to leave space here for atheists to say what’s on their minds: religion doesn’t make sense. And here I speak with a conciliatory tone: yeah. Let us then align ourselves with Kierkegaard and create meaning for ourselves; let’s emphasize individual choice and personal responsibility when it comes to religious faith.
Wow. Imagine living with a disease that will shorten your life by at least a factor of two: to live to age 31 and to know you are the oldest person with your condition.
I’m sorry folks, but this happens in developing countries. Much of sub-Saharan Africa still battles HIV and AIDS; malaria has still not been eradicated; millions of children die of protein-energy malnutrition, diarrhea, and TB (http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/cause.php); coronary heart disease kills over seven million a year in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries combined (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs310.pdf).
Death is a part of life. In 2002, 57 million people around the world died and 11 million of those were children (children being younger than 14; click second link above).
I am using decade-old statistics, but I want to emphasize a point that’s been emphasized since the beginning of time. I think we might need a dose of humility toward our respective life situations. I constantly want to strive to be a better writer; a part of me wants recognition and respect; another part of me wants to be renown and have a degree of fame. I created this blog as somewhat of a journal of my thought—to chronicle its progression or regression. But I guess I’ve now started to take a more pragmatic approach toward writing on this blog—it’s just a hobby that I like doing.
In the end, none of that matters. We will all die. Some of us will go to ‘Heaven’; some of will have reached Nirvana or spend eternity in other ways; some of us will have kept or tried to keep the Five Pillars and will see Mohammed pbuh in glory; some of us will enter the cosmic unknowability that Hinduism seems to describe. And we will all decompose in the ways biological organisms do as scientists tell us we do. I want to leave space here for atheists to say what’s on their minds: religion doesn’t make sense. And here I speak with a conciliatory tone: yeah. Let us then align ourselves with Kierkegaard and create meaning for ourselves; let’s emphasize individual choice and personal responsibility when it comes to religious faith.
Let us keep our religion to ourselves (ORTO). That means we
encourage atheists and love them; let them speak. Let them speak in churches,
in temples, and mosques. For me, that means that I support gay marriage. I will
not be silent; you will not convince me to support inequality. Come on,
Christians. Gay and lesbian and transsexual and asexual and pansexual atheists
can and do live good and moral lives. I would not be surprised to see all my gay
friends one day in Heaven. I believe in that. God will judge me according to
that. And if I am wrong, I will go down being wrong. I do not fear being wrong
when I am on the side of justice.
