Childish Pursuits

You might not believe it, but once I was young. A couple things that are relevant to this blog were a part of being young, one is that I was raised by professional middle class parents in an environment that stressed broad education and striving. You might not think that as a white boy with those advantages growing up in smaller to mid-sized cities in Ohio that I'd take on the ideas that some people in this country are given nothing resembling a fair shake and that manual labor was honorable, valuable, and even attractive and even odder, that Religion was over-rated.

As a youngster I didn't find myself ostracized or odd for holding these ideas, despite having prayer in school and this being Ohio. Since I was born in 1953 a bit of math will tell you my age as things like Civil Rights and other happenings were going on. I can tell you that I found myself riveted to the reporting of the events surrounding the Civil Rights struggle, including kids in dikes, fire hoses, white German Shepards, all the stuff. Given my feeling that there were some who were actively screwed by our own governments and their neighbors the stuff happening burned into me a fierce anger.

I was always interested whenever some kind of work was going on, I'd be there if a tree was being cut, street work was going on, something was being built. No doubt I was a nuisance, always trying to see, asking questions, and trying to scavenge lumber for my own "projects" and, you know, I don't remember a worker ever getting mad at me. I thought it was amazingly cool that these folks were out there using their hands and tools to get something done that needed to be done or making something out of a bunch of bits and pieces. It never occurred to me that they were failures who'd not managed a better education or something. I thought they were an example of what to do.

I fell out of religion as I learned it and watched its "practitioners" in action. People talk when there is a kid around if they think their talk is over that kid's head. They will say things that don't begin to square with their "Book," not realizing that that kid is there measuring the two. More information about the Books started to poke me in that part that didn't think people were getting a fair shake and the idea that God was the instigator sat very poorly. I couldn't quite square the part where a good person of another faith got screwed by ... God. It sure looked a lot like those folks being beaten by police or spit on by their neighbors for nothing other than not being them.

I was young and there was quite a bit I didn't know about law or other religions or how people wind up cleaning a house. I know a lot more about it now - I haven't changed my mind. I will tell you right now that this country and its wealth are built on the labors of people who do things and that the screwing of people hasn't diminished (minus the cops and shepards out front) and that "Books" aren't the problem, but their readers sure the hell are when they take them too seriously.

If you think I'm FOS that's alright, but I do have to tell you that we are mortal enemies because I want to see your viewpoint stomped into the dust of history. I'll even admit that I've done what I can to ensure it. Sadly, I might as well yell at clouds for being there.