Small Revenge

 The 3 people I see the most in my home life are in order: My wife, My Daughter and My mother in law. I am out numbered 3 to 1 in the battle of the sexes. Recently after losing yet another battle, for which I admit I do not put up the best defenses anymore, I found myself washing my hands in the bathroom and while my hands were still wet I lifted the lid of the toilet and let a few drops of water fall onto the seat. It matters not to me which of my Nemesis's use the washroom next I only know I had then and have now a big smile. The War rages on.

The Three Sets of Laws

I think there are three basic groups of laws that man cannot escape from and that once you cut threw the crap we throw up in the way reveal themselves if you think about it. They are Nature, Moral and Ethical. Lets skip the first for now and look at Moral. What does it mean ? Morals are the rules that you set for yourself they are the rules you have made threw your experiences that define how you perceive the world around you and interpret it. It is the code you live by. In the end most of us I believe reach the same basic rule set. Ethics, What does this mean ? To me Ethics are the rules you abide by in your interactions with others. These are not always the same as the benchmarks you have set for yourself. We are almost always better to ourselves then others. First tho was Natures Laws and these ones we fight with the most and they are the least breakable. We do bend them but there is always a price to pay in the end and it will always be paid. We spend allot of time and effort threw history bend and denying natures laws and we throw up plenty of our own to confound and confuse ourselves. It is my belief that any question can be answered by anyone if we can cut threw the crap and fluff we have throw up, examine the basics and using the three rule sets we have the answers will always be clear.

One of my favourite sayings is "History repeats itself", and not just on large scales it does so all the time and for all of us. It is how we come to learn the laws that define our existence. An example I like and one with which all of us could relate closely is learning the pan is hot. I think this happens to all of us perhaps not this exact example but one in which the same lessons are learned. Your mother pulls a pan of cookies out of the oven and places it on the counter. She says "Don't touch, Its hot". Now I believe that many process are being calculated at that very moment. There is a lesson here and you have arrived at the moment in your life to learn. You don't know just how hot hot can be you've been in a hot bath and that's tolerable, You love your mother but she has lied before you have seen it, In her own mind tho you don't know this it maybe to protect you or it may be simply to keep you Innocent like lies of Santa or the Easter bunny. You may have even witnessed small lies to strangers or on the phone she told someone she was doing something she wasn't doing. You may not even know you know but something inside you tells you she may be lying, She turns for just a moment. You may even think she only said that because she wants the first one. Child reasoning is cute but this is because they are still learning the laws. You reach and off course you burn yourself and you have learned more in the small amount of time then you understand. This is learned for some only once for others it takes a few tries and some even it may take longer. History tho has repeated itself. She knew the result, she warned you. Now this was just a basic example I am certain does not apply to everyone but I think in some form or another it is experienced by all. Natures Laws bit you but you learned one and there are many and you may learn the basics but I don't believe anyone will ever know them all. You don't need to know that it happened but it is my hope that mankind is coming to a point were we see and feel the basics and we stop trying to fight or deny them and we start, more of us to live in harmony with them and ourselves.

Religion, Yes I am going to go there. For thousands of years our moral and ethical rules have come handed down from the divine. Most of these are fine and right, some not so much and some try to deny Natures laws. Another nugget I like is the saying "Thank God". You put in that hard days work, so why do you thank him ?. Are you really ? is it now just an ingrained saying ?. We congratulate ourselves, reward ourselves but many of us thank him. Maybe it is still needed because like listening to your mother that the pan is hot you need to listen to something greater then your neighbor to learn the lesson. I think it is unfortunate to not be more proud of the great works we have done and perhaps thank man and thank your neighbor. I believe that is necessary for mankind to learn the moral and ethical lessons but I do not think we need cloak them in the divine. I hope we come to a point that we can weed out those lessons which are important and drop the ones that fight or deny nature's laws. Stop wasting time in the pomp and ceremony of divine that more and more people do not see anymore and embrace the rules without all the fluff. Organized religions have fallen past the times in western cultures most still do not even treat women as equals tho this has been the norm for sometime. Nature can not be denied forever.

Government, I know its to easy. They get allot of it right, and they get an equal amount of it wrong. We are distracted to easy and we believe we have so much to lose. I find I fail to understand how governments grow larger and not smaller and how there is always so many laws to debate. Once society has agreed that stealing in any form is wrong and the law is enacted and so on and so on for most things then what is left to debate or make law ?. We have put in a system of checks and balances that is in my opinion to much we over regulate and legislate. We cover everything with rules, regulations, levels upon levels and confuse ourselves. We don't in a nutshell trust each other and why should we. I think many think we could do better but it does come down to trust and we put in so many stages and levels to try in the end to get an informed, unbiased, fair and truth full result. But are we getting it ? have we over done it and thrown up to much pomp and fluff that we don't remember what it is we wanted in the first place ?. We do like to belong and we like to fit in and so we do tend to group ourselves and then we even stick with that group even if they have gone right when in your heart you wanted to go left, the laws made inside you by your life and experiences tell you this but you choose the purple flag to rally behind so long ago and you are now so caught up in the pomp and fluff of it all you forgot to make your choices for yourself. I admit I am stubborn as well but I do change my mind and I do so without guilt for past mistakes, when a greater truth is found and more facts are revealed to me I search inside myself and if the rules of Nature, Morals and Ethics tell me I am wrong then I embrace the new truth and try to spend as little time as possible dwelling on my former mistaken concept and move on. or I at least try to tell myself I do.

I think the world has big problems, Problems that have been building for lifetimes. I know in myself that I am not a perfect being that I make mistakes and sometimes I don't even want to own up to them. I do tell myself a better life is to own your mistakes make them yours and be proud of learning the lesson that came with them. Some I am sure I will learn over and over again some of the same lessons but as I mature and become wiser I hope I can become better at the process. Do I have all the answers ? No. But I believe the answers are there and if one is open to themselves and the truths and facts of the world that when they search for the answer they will find one. hopefully it will be the right answer on the first try but if it is not I hope you will be truth full to yourself, own it, discover the new truth and move on. I don't have answers to the worlds problems tho I have lent my wandering mind much time to contemplate some problems. In many cases I haven't come to an answer because I know so little of the facts or truths and I am to far from it to dig them out or have them revealed. I am sure in many cases the answers are already known to minds much smarter but they are drowned out by the groups and pomp and fluff thrown up because trust is not there and the laws that define those involved are not the same. Read the news to me I see so many times fluff that has been so complicated that we pile on solutions to fluff and then make things more complicated and we keep on this path over and over again. When I see this happening I stop looking because to many greater then me have thrown to much for me to see the truth from my seat. I do find this situation frustrating and I will continue to watch in the hopes those we have chosen to solve the problems will see the truths.

I always like to say that I had my greatest and worse day on the same day. Its a lesson, a truth and fact about myself that I learned and I believed it opened my mind to see things and do my best to understand more then I was inclined to do so before this day. It was the day my only child was born. Premature with health complications they raced my wife into surgery and in one day I almost lost my wife and child. I didn't. I don't think I have ever experienced before this day or on any day since the range of emotions that I went threw when one feels all hope is lost and then when everything swings back to you and there lives are saved. More then any other day this one day shaped so much of my life. For me one of the greatest moments of a persons life comes at being affected by another, your core is altered. A bad day at work for me is cured when I walk threw the door and your child turns from the TV looks at you and smiles. There are many days and many events that have shaped our lives, altered our rules and brought us to be who we are. Parenthood is one of the greatest of these and my life is richer for it.

What is it that we want ?. Deep down what are the things we want from our lives and each other and are we on the right paths to get them ?. Does our Governments and Religions provide the answers we are searching for ?. I'm not trying to bash them I just feel that perhaps they too have forgotten what really is important. Which brings me to another good saying "The road to hell is paved with good intentions". Also I don't want to be a person that only points out others flaws or problems without offering up a solution. Do I have the solutions tho ? not really I only bring my way of looking at problems and hopefully open the eyes of those who are in positions to offer solutions.

I would say I like to debate. Friends and family would likely say I like to argue. I will admit one of the things I do enjoy is debating the wrong side and make you prove your point to me. A few times debating what I thought was the wrong side has instead opened my mind up to ideas I originally had not thought of and perhaps explanations of that position. I have always been able to see my faults and shortcomings as a person and some I exaggerate in order to lie to myself that I am better then I am. I don't see my strenghts as clearly and more then likely am an underachiever and less inclined to believe in myself and my abilities. It does occur to me that this also may be all contrived in order to lie to myself so I believe that I am better then I am. See how it can go in circles. I took a moment here to ponder my own ability to be and see what I want to of myself.

Now is the point I reach every time. I start to think I think to much and that perhaps what I think are truths are my own ramblings and what I have learned for myself are self evident to everyone else and I am on the outside of an inside joke. Or worse that its all just nonsense and not even worth time thinking about and that somehow I am alone and lost. I am over that moment now so pushing off....

Religion

 The first big lie. It occurs to me that in the early stages of mans creation of a society how does one get there neighbors to agree to anything. There are no laws and morals and ethics are not even words yet let alone concepts. One knows right from wrong but what is to prevent you from making either choice. Well what if its not me who suggests such things but it came from something greater then you or I, something vastly superior that if not obeyed will rain down all sorts of bad luck, omens, plaques, locust and hell fire upon you. The invention of God/Gods etc and so forth begins and ethics and morals and general good get you and I to conduct ourselves in a civilized manner.

 All men were created equal. Its after the moment of that creation that we start to set ourselves apart. The choices we make and the opportunities that are available to us from birth, Our own physical and mental limitations start to separate us. We are all unique. All special. Every life is precious.

 I am not anti-religious. Some of us struggle with our internal moral and ethical balance more then others and if these people need prayer, structure and ritual that organized religions provide and if that is what it takes for these people to be happy and productive members of society then I will not begrudge them there choice.

 It is only when religion strays itself from its purpose that I struggle with whether its a good idea at all. War and conflict in gods names. This is men twisting our basic beliefs for there own purposes not for gods which I already know to be mans attempt to live together in good harmony. People like to say "Can't we all get along ?".  The simple answer is no. We can't ALL get along, the vast majority of us can and do but a small minority can and do exploit groups of us for there own purposes.

 Belief in a higher power is not the same as belief in religion. I can believe that there is something greater, wiser and more powerful then myself out there. Something that I am and may even remain unable to even comprehend or understand.

 I believe religion was started with a lie and tho the intention was good like any lie we reap what we sow. I wonder if the world is ready to drop the pretenses and just believe in the good words and good works of Man.