Before I let the subject of our right to death lie, I will share one more excerpt, in continuation from the previous post:

I hope I don’t  die,
We all, are going to die
Didn’t mean to remind you–
it’s on your schedule.
Maybe it won’t come when you want–
you never know when, how or why,
We are somehow supposed to be worried about dying,
We even talk about death often–
And the important question:
“Where do you go after?”
Do I care?
And I ponder on suicide:
A medium for those who can’t wait to find out
where we go after,
“Oh, I’ve been waiting for a long time.”
Don’t despair about where we’re going after,
Find out now and be there before us all.

I think about funerals
getting more flowers than I ever got alive,
People, saying all things nice
Even if they have to be made up.
“Oh, he was a mean guy, goodly mean though”
“How about that other?”
“Oh, he’s still alive, and he’s crazy mean!”

In class yesterday I think I stunned a few when I attempted to argue that living is not that special–I pointed out that life has no sanctity. In the medical ethics class (on the topic on Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Suicide), we where discussing the case of a man who killed his 12 years old daughter cerebral palsy who has developed extreme severity; ultimately ‘Latimer has consistently claimed that he killed his daughter, by placing her in his farm truck and connecting the exhaust pipe to the cabin, in order to relieve her suffering.’(please read the full story here) And the Professor asked we discuss the rightness or wrong of this; most in the class concluded life is too precious to be taken away.

I disagreed, with passion. There is nothing, I pointed that makes our life extremely different from those animals, bacteria or cancer cells we kill daily. You can expect that I will get more hate than I can imagine (some even thought I was going insane).

Since I couldn’t discuss the depth of the argument in this 50 minutes class, where I wish I recite this to them:

on the Sanctity of Life,
A bunch of Shit Talk.
Life is Sacred…says who?
God?
If you read history this God
is the leading cause of death
and has been for thousands of years–
Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Christians
all killing each other
‘the sword of God’, ‘the blood of the lamb’, ‘vengeance is mine’–
Millions dead.
The wrong answer to the God question:
‘You believe in God?’ ‘No’–dead!
‘You believe in God?’ ‘Yes’
‘You believe in my God?’ ‘No’–dead!
…for thousands of years
…all the best wars,
the brutal wars, the craziest wars all fueled on religious hatred.
Forget sanctity of life!
And if there is, not from God.
We, humans, made it up!
Why?
‘Cause we’re alive–self-interest
We, promoting the idea that somehow
our life is sacred.
Dead people don’t talk about this…
Why?
They don’t care, they are dead!
It all grows from our biased point of view
It is a self-serving man-made-crap
One of the things we tell ourselves
…to feel good
Life is sacred–making us feel noble.
Think of it:
if everything that ever lived is dead,
And everything that is alive will die,
Where is there sanctity?
We are hypocritical.
Think of it:
We kill mosquitoes, flies–’cause they are pest
Lions and tigers–’cause it’s fun
Chickens and pigs–’cause we’re hungry
Pheasants and Quails–’cause it’s fun and we’re hungry
People–’cause they’re pest and it’s fun
Cancer cells–where is their sanctity
Save the tumor!
Save the Viruses, Mildew, Bacteria, Crabs…
Aren’t they sacred?
Sanctity of Life is very selective,
We choose those forms of life we deem sacred
And…
We kill the rest
Why?
We made it all up.

There was Haiti and now Chile, guess whose fault it is…I’m guessing global warming, theologians, and academicians, I’m kidding about the academician part and the rest remains valid, global warming and theologians, faux alike.

Maybe I’ve lost my sympathy–but people are dying by the thousands everyday and the economist in me is saying: “maybe it’s a good thing.” Remember, we’re all going to die and actually that’s what makes us the lucky ones. Before I heard the news of the Chile Mag. 8.8 earthquake, I wanted to talk about the “littleness” of life, a lot like George Carlin would do. We humans are taking ourselves too seriously.

It perhaps comes to mind that I might be reacting differently if me or my acquaintance is involved in this disaster; I might, I might not. My heart goes out to those who might have been affected and for those who are not affected, I wrote this a long while ago and I’d repeat:

We are going to Die!
And that makes us,
the lucky ones.
Most people are never going to die,
because they are never going to be born.

The potential people who could have been here in my place
that would in fact not see light of day,
out number the sand grain of the Sahara.

Certainly,
those unborn greats exists.

Greater Poets than Keith,
greater scientist than Newton.
greater minds than Einstein.

We know this because the set of possible people
allowed by our DNA outnumbers the set of actual people.

In the teeth of this stupefied odds,

it is You and I in our ordinariness,
that are here.

We privileged few who won the lottery of birth against all odds

How dare we whine!
About our inevitable return
to that state which the vast majority never saw.

My uncle is convinced the spirit of God is using him, or is inspiring him, and helping him, preventing him from whatever has he–don’t worry, this isn’t a post about the rationality of religion; the irrationality has been discussed one too many times.

After our dinner where he couched me on the goodness of being a Christian, I got home and went into deep thought.

Can the world do without a man who walked on water, healed some sick people, cast out demons from humans and directed them into pigs, spoke in parables that most wouldn’t understand, thought he was one with some invisible being but not that invisible being, he was just his son. I know who you might be thinking it is, but don’t worry, it’s not Jesus.

This is a person I just thought about recently and I’m wondering if such a being ever existed at anytime in history. I wonder if the inquisition, crusades, or more recently (i’m thinking) hate will ever happen…I’m convinced it wouldn’t. This being I just imagined is in fact is the prince of peace, the only problem I have with justifying his peace personality is that this being’s [supposed] father is a sadistic serial killer and the soul behind persistent chaos if the book that I’m imagining might have being written about them is to be taken seriously.

I’m thinking this being would be the single cause of thousands of places where they talk about him and how awesome he is and the magical things he does; most of them so impossible to believe you need some special “thing” to accept these impossibilities–my imaginations are indeed wild!

I’m forced to think about how far forward and peaceful my ideal world is.

Again, I imagine some other being, much like the first being, except he isn’t claiming to be capable of doing magical deeds…what a relief. He however has radical beliefs I’m thinking is about to change the world he belongs–more interestingly, you either accept the beliefs calmly or violently, the ball is in your court, don’t worry, it’s not Mohammed.

Again I imagined an ideal world where this imaginary being wouldn’t have ever existed, a much freer world without any violence (how dare I imagine?),, a world where no one will be bond by wasteful and usefulness slavish traditions, barbaric? An ideal world I imagine.

My uncle might be right, being a Christian or religious might have it’s goodness after all, the bliss in ignorance.

February is Black History Month or as I’ve come to notice: Month-We-Whine-About-Slavery. As I attend various event this month, there have been strong emphasis on black slavery and the oppression blacks have faced over the years till now; the struggle of Dr. Luther, Malcolm X, Rosy Parks, etc. Yes this are all true and I wonder is that’s all there is to it, being black?

Yes, blacks are victims of racism and in America, blacks are wondering if the election of Obama puts us in a post-racial society–isn’t there more to the rich African-American history than the recent hundred years past? What happened to the Africanism before the ‘importing’ of blacks from their origin? Slavery is only a ‘bit’ of an overall goodness that the Afro-American has to share.

I’m thinking my excitement is because of my strong African roots. In one of my college classes (African-American Folklore), one Afro-American was presenting on the customary story-telling tradition of then African slaves–she has no idea! She even said she asked her mom and she advised her to just ‘lie’ to the class on the history because she has no idea either. I’m grieved.

The lost history is why the ‘nigger’ culture has stuck and is exploited in the American culture, and the blacks think they have a culture to hold onto–sagged pants, violence, failure (yes, the culture feels its fine to be a failure), and whatever it is the negative connotations attached to blacks. Maybe it’s not for me to say after all, I’m not Afro-American, I’m African.

I’m grieved. Africans even with the recent knowledge of their heritage are now turning Afro-American, killing off their rich culture. Maybe it because we have bought the lies that the white world have sold us: blacks are subservient: white good, black bad.

I’m hoping for that day when blacks will start seeing beyond slavery. Black History Month might have been established to have Afro-Americans reminisce the badtimes they had but then, its time we celebrate our ancestral power; the African spirit that has been lying low for too long.

A song composed by yours truly for Haiti (and still in the works):

Mon Ami, my dear hopes
My dear longing for you
Mon Ami my dear land
Land I wake, Spirit that Calls
Mon Ami, my dear home

Never dying, Strong Spirit
dear love, Never can we be hurt
Haiti, what do we see happen to you
Heart Cries,Left to Die, Mind strong
We carry our love on
Come, Come, lift heads up
ils trebuchent, nous serons forts
tete fret nou djanm
nap toujou vanyan nan nanm

Haiti we say ce pase
Spirit high-high
We hear Oui: Na bule!

Buildings dropping
sak Pase?
Oui, Oui, Nap boule!

Fathers, Mother, children, old and young
Ce Pase?
Oui, Oui, Nap Boule!

I’ve always wondered what the psychology behind prayer is; why do people mutter some words and hope that someone, somewhere will pay special attention to their specific needs–is this sanity?

I wonder how far we have evolved from the primitive man worshiping stones and fire. Hold on! I think they are even better off, they where at least believing in something they see, something physical, we, are spiritual and…I digressed, back to prayers.

….If prayer worked, Christians would be richer, healthier, more powerful than the rest of us, and have all of the most attractive mates. Yet, two of the richest, most powerful men in the world, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are atheists – and philanthropists who give away billions. If prayer worked, there would be no crutches, wheelchairs, hairpieces, dentures, hearing aids, eyeglasses, seat belts, airbags, etc. etc. We are absolutely surrounded by the evidence. We see it everyday….

This writer captures my thought best.

Through the two previous posts we attempted to first, deny love; and the next post took us through re-discovering love. You might be looking forward to Valentine’s day, and to this I’m asking, what does Valentine mean to you?

Approximately 259 A.D., Valentine was martyred for believing strongly in an unselfish love. The then emperor denounced marriage because we wanted more men in the military believing that if they weren’t married they would have no reason not to join the military. Valentine, being a priest cared less about this decree and continued conducting secret marriages. He was later found out and thrown in jail.

In jail, we was visited by many who also shared his beliefs. Those visited threw flowers into is cell, notes and more notably, on dying he left a note for a special girl who was his constant visitor (the daughter of his prison guard): “Love from your Valentine”.

Love is active. Love gives, unconditionally. Love shares, in kindness. Love is a verb, not a noun.

“I love you”, really? As you think of Valentine, forget thinking about that special ‘love’ of your life you could be spending Valentine with; there are always those who are waiting to receive from you unconditionally, who are waiting to be cared for, who are waiting to hear your voice, those who, can’t afford to give back…

Those who want to hear you say: “I love you” and you really mean it. Love is active.

Few days ago, I wrote about the delusion of relationships and the logical impossibility of love-on-first-site. However, my claims beg the question: what gets things started in the first place? After all, you don’t know the ‘inside’ of a person on first sighting, or can you instantly figure if this is someone  you will be liking or not–let me think deep about this…

While writing the first part of this post, I kept thinking if is is possible in the world we live in today, for a guy and a girl (assuming they are heterosexuals), to want to discover themselves without resorting to the sexualities. Reading the last statement, the quick response that might come to mind is, “you’ve got to be gay!” This is what our society has come to, sex. It’s all about sex, you are an object and it’s all about sex.

I‘ve attempted to understand the “getting” obsession. Not just sex-wise. We only get to help people we hope will help us sometime, we give to those we hope will give us back at some point, wait…I digressed. Wait, you may say, none of these answers the question I posed originally–when is the line drawn between thinking one likes, and truly liking?

Like the philosopher René Descartes who doubted all he knows to truly understand what he doesn’t know; I’m thinking it’s probably time for some re-learning; to forget [doubt] all we know about relationships. Forget ‘Sex and the City’, forget ‘People’ magazine, forget your mom’s tips on ‘attracting cool guys’, or your dad’s tips on ‘landing that chic’, whatever is that block we have erected in our head, forget them all!

Now they are forgotten. I’m thinking we can now start examining all we know about loving. What does a relationship truly mean to you? Can you handle one? Who are you? What do you truly want, in yourself and others?

As my friend and I continued the discussion (catch up here), I told her, we lie to ourselves a lot. And it’s hard to be honest as hard as we try. I continued, we can claim to ask ourselves important questions every now and then but, are the answers honest?


I have lied to myself and as i write this post, I’m struggling (maybe like you) to start giving myself honest answers and involving in meaningful relationships.

(Photo by mag3737)

My friend recently wondered why I would think it’s impossible to [truly] like someone on first encounter. She explained to me that sometimes you’d see that guy and be like, “wow, he’s cute, I like him”. Or, for the guy, he sees that girl and likes her. I understood her point(s) and as I mentioned yesterday, this form of liking is often delusional.

Richard Dawkins made an interesting analogy explaining delusion, he explained: if a person wants to play basketball like Michael Jordan, they could from a young age start training real hard, these person is being realistic, s/he might one day play like or better Michael Jordan. On the other hand, if a person decides that wearing the same pair of sneakers that Jordan wears will make them a basketball superstar, the person is being delusional. And as I see it, this is how many of us get to like people.

We see that person we think we like and start getting to know them, sooner or later we figure, we never really like them after all; we where just lusting in the first place. We might not want to believe it but truly liking someone takes moments of ups and downs, and of discovering, and of let down and putting ups–these all take time, time many of us would care less to spend.

Maybe we should blame the fast society [culture] we are in. We want fast food, high speed internet, 3G (4G) network, sleek and fast phones, video chats–we want everything right now! And this has trained us to think, we can either like that person now or never.

Or maybe we can blame the media. They tell us how imperfect we are, or how our perfect partner should be; they ‘recommend’ solutions to fix us and he dutifully fall into the trap and set delusional mental blocks.

Maybe it is our peers, family or friends. That close friend has a guy, or a girl; they pressure us into thinking we need one too and we dutifully yield to conformity, thinking every one we come across is a  potential ‘partner’.