It snowed quite a bit yesterday. A nice, fluffy sheet a few inches thick rested undisturbed on my car all day (hoorah for time off work to sit at home like a bump on a log!). I had heard a bit of rumble about the lunar eclipse, and since I was up in the middle of the night, I thought I’d go take a peek. Alas, the sky revealed nothing but solid gray, and no stars nor any moon was visible at all.
Not to be disappointed by weather, I decided to embrace an idea that sprang on me like a gazelle in heat (I hope they do that in real life). What if I wrote a little message on my windows to see what would happen? Many folks write phrases like “Jesus!” and “Wash me!” all over their cars. But what about something a bit more heathen?
4am is as good a time as any to spread the godless news!
Voilà! Happy with my snow art, I went back inside to bed.
Twelve hours later I decide to surface once again to take out the trash and see what happened to my car.
Ta-dah! Free window cleaning!
Lo and behold, it appears that some kind person had brushed off the snow for me! What a sweetie. I’m starting to think this might be an easy way to scrape my car every morning. I could just get some offended passerby to clean it for free! Ah, godless genius.
Editor’s Note:
It has been suggested that natural causes, and not an intelligent agent, were at fault for my clean car the next day.
I don’t know who you intellectual elitists think you are, but I’m sure you’re just in denial that an Intelligent Scraper exists. Clearly he/she could be the only cause for this result. One day it was snowy, and the next day it was clean. Obviously we have a powerful, purposeful individual behind this. There can be no other explanation than the Intelligent Scraper!
photo by Russell Harrison
What gets you riled up? Which topics of conversation, political positions, controversial ideas, social causes, (and I could go on) excite you? For a lot of us, atheism’s place in a religious society is one of our top issues to explore and debate. What other interests or causes makes you want to shout from the rooftops or throttle those who just don’t get it?
Examples:
Hunger, poverty, homelessness, fair trade, sex trafficking, child labor, LGBT rights, taxes and government spending, corporations, ethical food industry, gun rights/control, media bias/monopoly, sex education, net neutrality, disease awareness and research , disabilities, health care, religious persecution, alternative energy, pacifism, circumcision and genital mutilation, education reform, child abuse, rape and molestation, and on and on!
Pick some favorites and let us know what you think about them in the comments.
photo by hipposrunsuperfast.com
It’s really not.
When I began this blog, I had this sense of being part of a great discovery, a wondrous evolution of mind. I felt exhilarated and puffed up. In some ways, I felt like a new convert. My ferocity and passion about my new journey away from religion seemed so important, so radical.
But being an atheist isn’t a big deal. Not believing in one deity or a thousand deities doesn’t make me a revolutionary or unique individual. It’s actually kinda bland. My life isn’t packed with people flocking to hear what I have to say. It’s more or less packed with my everyday activities: I sleep, eat, goof around, work at my job, hang out with friends, talk to my boyfriend, daydream, read, enjoy entertainment and the internet, and sleep some more. Somewhere in there I might have a thought about someone else’s religion or a question about some philosophical idea, but more or less I’m just your average person living life.
Being an atheist isn’t a big deal. There are heaps of us … everywhere. I’m sure I see more atheists every day than I could ever guess, and these people aren’t any more cool or outstanding than I am. We’re just experiencing life in somewhat unremarkable ways, just like everyone else. We walk right past religious people all the time and no one explodes or runs away in panic. The world doesn’t end because we don’t believe in the supernatural.
Being an atheist isn’t a big deal. In fact, we’re all born this way. I’m not sure why we make such a fuss about it, especially here in the USA. In fact, atheism is so “ok yeah, whatever” that I’m not sure I should even need to blog about it. It’s just your average state of being. Atheism is just another ordinary trait. It’s a shame not everyone sees it that way. That’s why people think we need awareness campaigns and books and slogans and symbols and media icons and organizations and blogs and public speakers and rock stars.
But being an atheist isn’t a big deal. It’s actually quite… normal.
Which is more difficult: asking for forgiveness or forgiving someone else?
I think they’re both tough, so let’s focus on me for a second while you ruminate.
It’s humbling to ask someone to forgive me because it requires a public admission of wrong that could have otherwise been swept under a rug somewhere and forgotten. I don’t like bringing something to someone’s attention if they didn’t know about it already. Even if they are fully aware that I’ve done something stupid, it’s still hard for me to suck it up, swallow my pride, and focus on that mistake, blunder, or vile action. I fear embarrassment, and would really enjoy being right all the time (even though I rarely am). What can I say? I have a ridiculous ego. Asking for forgiveness means doing the hard work to repair a broken trust and relationship. It means owning up to one’s darkest behaviors and thoughts. It’s difficult.
Granting forgiveness to someone else challenges another part of my me. I don’t often hold grudges, but when I have been deeply hurt, I tend to pick at the emotional scar until it bleeds all over again. I have the kind of mind that dwells on or over-thinks words others have spoken or ways I’ve been treated. And when I scratch those painful scars, they never get the chance to heal even if I know that letting them fade away would be best. As strange as this sounds, I must want to feel angry and hurt if I keep rehashing those old wounds over and over again. Forgiveness means letting go completely that need to over-think and dwell upon old pain. It means taking the biggest step towards letting go. It means moving on and giving freedom to the person who owes a debt to me. I’ll admit that sometimes being able to forgive is hard.
So what about you? Which do you think is the most difficult to do: asking or giving?
Meghan on 
LeetheGirl on 
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