Crazy Busy

This time of year is crazy busy if you have kids.  There is scout award ceremonies, dance recitals, every day swim practice, school performancies, school award ceremonies, field day, class parties, costume fittings....or is that only me?   Even though there has been craziness, I got to go out for a girls night recently.  Had a great time, but let me tell you, I am great at being a wall flower.  We went to Coyote Joes, a rather popular country line dancing bar here in Charlotte.   It was ladies night and drinks were half price, need I say more.  Okay, now add to that equation a bunch of ladies that have been losing or lost a significant amount of weight and it might just spell trouble...with a capital T.    There was the mechanical bull, no I didn't ride it but it is now on my list of things to do.  Three of the ladies rode the bull, not too long granted...but hey I think at least one of them might have potential with a bit more practice.  And of course, with a country bar, there is line dancing.   Now I'm not very good with organized dancing, unorganized for that matter either, but I gave it try.   I didn't last but until they started turning...and with it I realized I would soon be a danger to myself and others and joined he other wallflowers at that the table.   I think I had as much fun watching the girls dancing with the regulars, and when not knowing the steps doing a pretty good job of ab libbing.  Of course that is where Mr Napoleon Dynamite comes in.  Yep he was at the bar...well at least someone doing a pretty good imitation of him.  He knew all the dances, but if there was a little tail wiggle or a hip thrust involved he was 10 times more expressive than anyone else on the floor.  I swore that by day he was an IT specialist, and no one had a clue that in his off time he was living this crazy country western persona.   I wish I could have gotten him on tape, I could watch him on You tube all day.  And then there was the kissing....she blamed it on the drinks, but I do believe she started kissing before she even had one.  Oh and there wasn't a cowboy in there that hadn't noticed her by nights end I'm sure.  One of these days, I hope to have half that confidence.

How may yous can you be?

Have you ever thought about how the people in your world and circles view you?  I was recently thinking about this.  So many of my friends only know one side of my personality.   There are so few people I know or associate with that see me for all that I am.   Some wouldn't accept all that I am.   Why is this?   Why are we all so judgmental of one another?  Why do differences in beliefs, lifestyles, and values really bother us so much?  Is it because we think we are threatened by others differences?  Wouldn't it be boring if we were all the same?  I know so many questions and I really have no true answers.  I could lie and say, from this day forward that I will always just be myself and fuck those that can't accept it.   But I know I won't.   I'll continue to bite my tongue in so many ways.   And the friends that can't accept everything about me, the friends that are so gay a phobic that think its horrible that I would go to pride.   Or the friends that would be horrified to learn that I don't believe in God, or the friends that know and think its a phase I'm just going through.   I won't confess all my differences from my friends here, because as I pointed out, its amazing how judgmental your friends could be.   Just think on this though, do you really know your friends, are you so set in your beliefs that they are afraid to be who they are with you?  And if this is so, are you really friends?

Religion Yikes! (yep I'm going there.)

I recently had someone ask me if Unitarian Universalist was some kind of cult.  Yeah, seriously someone asked me that.    So yet again, I try to explain the unexplainable to someone that believes in one faith, one god and everything else is false mentality.  It is very frustrating believe me.   It becomes very hard to explain when you know how diverse the beliefs in UU congregations are.  Where else will you go and find pagans, christians, Buddhist, atheist, agnostics, jews and more all together for spiritual fellowship?  Our children learn about ALL religions in religious education because we feel its important that they learn about them and respect the rights of those that follow them to do so.

There are 7 basic principals that Unitarians Universalist all adhere too that bond us together:

1. The inherent worth and dignity of every person (in other words, each person is important)

2. justice,  equity and compassion in human relations ( be kind in all you do)

3. acceptance of one another and encouragement of spiritual growth (we are free to learn together)

4. a free and responsible search for truth and meaning (we search for what is true)

5. the right of conscience and the use of democratic process in our congregations and society (all people should have a voice)

6. the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all (build a fair and peaceful world)

7. respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are all part. (take care of the earth and those that share it with us)

Does this sound like a cult?  Ahhhh but what about God.... Heaven ..  Hell ....gulp... the Devil.

Well this is sticky and hard to explain to someone that only believes one faith, or that only one faith can be true.   There is a joke...

"Why can't UU's sing?" ......... because they are always reading ahead to make sure they agree with the words.

As every UU congregation is different, every UU is different.   It is not our common belief in one specific god, or one specific doctrine that binds us together but the belief that we should all have that freedom to believe what we do and to do the best unto the world and the people in it.  Its our belief that even though we don't share the exact same thoughts, we can still learn from one another and work together to make a community that we are proud of.

Okay, I still haven't addressed what the person who asked "Is it a cult?" was really asking.   They were wanting to know basically how "moral" I was by comparing my personal beliefs with theirs, theirs of course being the bench mark for all that is moral.   

My beliefs are not concrete cut and dry facts to be layed out, so it is always hard for me to explain the concept to someone who believes that there is one god, in the sky, looking down guiding their every move and decision.  In some ways I wish I did believe in a god such as this, at one point in my life I did, life was simple then.  Everything was easily explained by "Its god will" or "God will know".   A lot more things were black and white, good and evil, heaven or hell.   Things are not always as cut and dry for me these days.

God:  I believe that all things are connected, me and you, the land and trees, everything.  I think it is this EVERYTHING that is the true power or spiritual seat.  I believe that all deities of the different religions are representative of that power.  Thats why I believe so many religions and so many Gods that are so different on the surface are essentially the same when you get down to their core beliefs and morals.

Heaven:  I'm not one to believe that there is a physical place such as heaven.  I believe it is more representative of connection we all share.   When one life ends another begins.  I believe our time on earth is but a small blink of time for us, but our souls continue on mingling with each other being kinda of recycled throughout history.   As they mingle with other souls through life experiences and friendships they grow and evolve, much the same as we humans have said to.

Hell:  As I don't believe there is physical heaven, it would be kind of funny if I believed in a physical hell.  I think hell is representative of our set backs our souls sometimes make when we don't live life with the respect of ourselves and others.

Bible:  I joke that my bible is on the shelf with the other mythology.   I don't mean any disrespect by this though.   I think its a great read.  (yes I have read it)  It has many good lessons and teachings.  But do I think this is the only religious book of such?  No.   There are many good lessons and teachings to be learned from all religions, why limit ourselves to one, why can only one be right?  I greatly admire the man that Jesus was, as I do Gandhi and many more great people in history.

I guess what I'm trying to accomplish here is not your conversion to my beliefs, but your acceptance that I have the right to believe what I do.  Your acceptance that I have morals, that you are not some how better than me.   

Is that so much to ask?

Politically Incorrect

It is amazing to me that a number of people I KNOW that are not voting in the primary.   I got a couple of  "It's just the primary"  HUH, WHAT?  Has NO one been paying attention.  With one of the closest Democratic races in like...before my time, every vote counts.   Now all my friends that plan to vote Republican, I could care less if you go vote or not.   If you are too lazy to vote just know this....next year, when you are fussing about gas prices, the war, the cost of groceries, insurance issues, or the quality of your kid's education, know that you will be lucky if I don't go ballistic on your butt.   I am so tired of people that fuss, but then don't research what the candidates are about, don't even know who their local officials are, aren't even registered to vote complaining.  Guess what, you don't vote, you have NO right to complain.   Thats the same as you not paying your cable bill, and then bitching because you have nothing to watch.   Now if you vote, and your candidate doesn't win you get the right to point out for the next four years to let everyone know how YOU didn't vote for such and such and how such and such is screwing up EVERYTHING.   That is how America works ya know.

Monogamy, yeah right.

I've been reading a lot of posts about the recent raid in Texas.   I find it interesting that so many people are bent out of shape about the polygamy part of it more than some of the other aspects.   If it was just the fact that they had more than one wife, I'd say leave them alone...who cares.   The things that I disagree with is the whole religious craziness.  And the fact that these kids are brain washed into thinking they HAVE to marry young, or marry someone five times their age.     What if Polygamy was made legal?

Oh there are those that think that it would tarnish traditional marriage, usually the same people that fight gay marriage.   Let the religious right keep marriage...call it something else.  Call it a union...or a partnership, or whatever if that is what they are all bent out of shape about.  Lets face it folks, how sacred is marriage.  Let us be honest.  How many marriages end in divorce these days?  How many of the remaining marriages can say they were completely monogamous?  We live in a country where baby mommas, baby daddies an ex and step are an everyday occurrence.   We also live in a country where sexually transmitted disease is rampant.  At least poly groups are open and honest with each other about whom they are sleeping with.  While alot of supposal monogamous couples are out screwing around in secret and bringing all that back to unexpected spouses.    

Now do go attacking me, I think children being forced into marriage and kids and wives living in fear is WRONG.  Maybe if we legalized group marriage, these people wouldn't have to "hide" from the world.   If they weren't hiding it would be easier to monitor their behavior.    Did we really have the right to go in and take all these children, rip them from their families.  Yes, there were some children that were abused, and we need to step in and make sure they are protected, but you can't convience me that all of the 400 plus children were abused.   Well unless you reason that religious brainwashing is abuse, but be careful there, because there are a lot of children in the world that religiously brainwashed.  This would be like someone coming in your community and because there were some children in the community that were abused all the children in the community were taken in the protective custody. 

 So what is so wrong about polygamy?  It seems a better alternative to some of the relationships I have been witness to.  Me I'll stick to the status quo..I'm not sure I could handle the stress of having to deal with extra spouses.