94 Too Much For One Day

The following letter was written in response to yesterday's rant. If you know me, I am not being patronizing or sarcastic. I call it like I see it. My cousin that I wrote it to has experienced some very amazing healing and other physical issues. She has been a lifelong friend and loving relative, so take what I say at face value....

I know that over the years you have experienced some truly amazing things. It would be hard not to feel like you do. The whole point of my rant was about tolerance. You've never said anything to me about how I might think, only offered to show me your side of it. I have all the respect in the world for those who have a deep and abiding faith. Mine just lies elsewhere. The biggest issue I had was with the other friends of mine that dont get the tolerance thing. Most have never pushed their religion on me, but can be very vocal about me being wrong. I have learned to appreciate some aspects of ALL religions, but I dont look down on any of them just because I dont agree with them. There are religions that are thousands of years older than Christianity, and there are those that come and go(cults). The bigger religions are mostly the same at the root: they preach love, tolerance and peace. While I will say it is wonderful and amazing that you had some awe-inspiring things happen to you, there is still the bad things that happen to other good people. And then, good things happen to "bad" people. Sometimes it seems that there IS NO method to the madness and when enough piles on, people lose their "faith", whatever religion that may be. I did not so much lose my faith as I gained a deeper understanding of MY world, of how I VIEW my world and how I want to continue travelling through it. That Spirit you talked about dwelling in you is something that many want to experience, but few truly do. Who's to say that the Buddhist that feels HIS god's presence doesnt feel EXACTLY the way you do? Or the way my other friend does? Or for that matter, the way I do? I feel an awesome wonder every time I look at the world. I see good and bad and I reconcile them in a way that makes my world and my self feel whole. You know I love all of you, and I would never put down how you feel. That is all I was asking of my other friends, it just bugged me that some of them could not see that there are always other sides of a coin. I'll probably rant many more times on this subject, so some of them are probably going to have a stroke!!!

Honestly, my cousin feels very intensely about her faith and I again have to say that I admire that. I feel that way about all of you, whether you have a faith or not, so long as you are comfortable with yourself. I am NOT singling out any one of you, I just think this subject will never be over, and I simply would like everyone to be tolerant of each other. It is an interesting subject, not just one to be argumentative about. I suppose that would be my goal: to discuss religion now and then, although I dont want this rant to become solely about that, and be able to explore all aspects of peoples' spirituality, no just one or the other.

Let's just say that those that have a religion to express their spirituality, all have intense feelings and opinions and I think we should all be able to explore them together, as a family. That is what we are, isnt it? We rejoice and comiserate together, we wish each other well and we keep the sick, dead and dying in our thoughts and good wishes. We commune daily, making each other laugh, cry and love. We make each other think and we ALL can agree to bitch about Farmville and the way Facebook keeps changing. We look at each other's pictures, we watch and listen to each others' music and we talk about daily life whether exciting or mundane.

Whether you like it or not, I consider you all my family. I care about you, I sympathize with you and I wish you well, every time I read your posts. This is not to be construed as an open invitation to drink all my wine, at least until this summer when I can make some fresh batches, crimony, I only have about 15 bottles left. A guy's gotta have his priorities....