Questioning the Reasons

 

“We awaken by asking the right questions. We awaken when we see knowledge being spread that goes against our own personal experiences. We awaken when we see popular opinion being wrong but accepted as being right, and what is right being pushed as being wrong. We awaken by seeking answers in corners that are not popular. And we awaken by turning on the light inside when everything outside feels dark.”

-- Suzy Kassem

Do you believe in the saying, "Everything happens for a reason?

Newton’s Third Law of Motion: “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”

Newton was discussing the motion of objects, but the motion of anything must be put into motion by something. If your marriage fails, you’re fired from your job, you get a promotion, the steaks burn on the baby, and such, everything happens due to something we, or nature, did or didn’t do. Yes, even not doing something is actually doing something - it is doing nothing. So, I would find it hard to think of anything that doesn’t happen for a reason.

What ethical values should be taught to the youth today?

For someone to teach our youth any of them, would be a plus. Businesses are hiring 8th graders because no one wants to work. These are 13-year-old children. Well, bravo for them! Anyone with a brain might figure out that this is a good time for a high school student to get out into the workforce and write their own ticket. The youth need to be taught all ethical values, and having a mandatory class in ethics wouldn’t hurt a bit. Since a person’s character is a reflection of their personal ethics, I found the following at The Six Pillars of Character | Character Counts:

TRUSTWORTHINESS

• Be honest in communications and actions.
• Don’t deceive, cheat or steal.
• Be reliable — do what you say you’ll do.
• Have the courage to do the right thing.
• Build a good reputation.
• Be loyal to your values.
• Keep your promises.

RESPECT

• Treat others with respect and follow the Golden Rule.
• Be accepting of differences.
• Use good manners, not bad language.
• Be considerate of the feelings of others.
• Don’t threaten, hit or hurt anyone.
• Deal peacefully with anger, insults, and disagreements.

RESPONSIBILITY

• Do what you are supposed to do.
• Plan ahead.
• Be diligent.
• Persevere.
• Do your best.
• Use self-control.
• Be self-disciplined.
• Think before you act.
• Be accountable for your words, actions and attitudes.
• Set a good example for others.
• Choose a positive attitude.
• Make healthy choices.

FAIRNESS

• Play by the rules.
• Take turns and share.
• Be open-minded; listen to others.
• Don’t take advantage of others.
• Don’t blame others carelessly.
• Treat all people fairly.

CARING

• Be kind.
• Be compassionate and show you care.
• Show empathy.
• Express gratitude.
• Forgive others and show mercy.
• Help people in need.
• Be charitable and altruistic.

CITIZENSHIP

• Do your share to make your home, school, community, and world better.
• Cooperate.
• Get involved in community affairs.
• Stay informed; vote.
• Be a good neighbor.
• Make choices that protect the safety and rights of others.
• Protect the environment.
• Volunteer.

Some people like me are afflicted by extreme indecisiveness, almost to the point of ruining what could have been a wonderful life. What can I do about it?

I’m not sure. Just kidding…

If you’re afraid of making choices or decisions because they might be wrong, welcome to the human race. Everybody makes mistakes or fails. If they say they don’t they’re lying. This is part of life, and the one reason we are here - to learn. The best way we learn is through making mistakes and failing. What do you accomplish if you make a mistake or fail and learn nothing from it? You have wasted an opportunity for growth. You might as well sit down and do nothing, and it sounds to me like this might be the point you’re trying to avoid, that affliction of doing nothing. Personally, I’m not sure I could walk around all the time with my thumb shoved up deeply where the sun never shines. I’d rather try and fail than never to have tried at all… and have to keep washing my thumb.

Make a choice, a decision, and if it’s the wrong one, well, step back and make a better one. If you don’t, you will never learn, and if you never learn, you will be doomed to live this life again until you do learn. This is life! So, make a choice…

“The man who refuses to judge, who neither agrees nor disagrees, who declares that there are no absolutes and believes that he escapes responsibility, is the man responsible for all the blood that is now spilled in the world. Reality is an absolute, existence is an absolute, a speck of dust is an absolute and so is a human life. Whether you live or die is an absolute. Whether you have a piece of bread or not, is an absolute. Whether you eat your bread or see it vanish into a looter's stomach, is an absolute.

There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil. The man who is wrong still retains some respect for truth, if only by accepting the responsibility of choice. But the man in the middle is the knave who blanks out the truth in order to pretend that no choice or values exist, who is willing to sit out the course of any battle, willing to cash in on the blood of the innocent or to crawl on his belly to the guilty, who dispenses justice by condemning both the robber and the robbed to jail, who solves conflicts by ordering the thinker and the fool to meet each other halfway. In any compromise between food and poison, it is only death that can win. In any compromise between good and evil, it is only evil that can profit. In that transfusion of blood which drains the good to feed the evil, the compromise is the transmitting rubber tube.”

-- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

What are the ethics of trying to force someone to do better for themselves?

My ethics prevent me from “forcing” anything on someone. If they want to do so, I am more than ready to help them, but I will not force them to be more than they are. Some people are happy with their lot in life, some people haven’t quite figured it out yet, and some people will tell you to mind your own business.

Do you question your intentions often?

Only when it comes to women, and then my moral ethics come up against my desires. My intentions are colorful and exotic, and I have been, on occasion, weak.

Can the meaning of life be found through philosophy?

It can, but you’ll have to find a philosopher that you can agree with. The “meaning of life” is different for everybody. I have read much, including the ancient Roman, Greek, and Chinese philosophers. I find the meaning of life in everything. I bring it all into my head, shake it up, douse it with bourbon, light up a cigar, and contemplate what I have before me. It usually makes me smile, which is a good thing because that is the meaning of life - happiness. I wish we taught this to our children in school, instead of “critical race theory.” Finding happiness with everyone around you will serve society so much better than relearning what we’ve been trying to erase. If you’re searching for the meaning of life, start with being happy always. It is a choice we are still free to make for ourselves.

“Life has no meaning. Each of us has meaning and we bring it to life. It is a waste to be asking the question when you are the answer.”

-- Joseph Campbell

Why can I only perceive situations as really good or really bad? Why can I not see the middle ground? Is this normal?

Nowadays, it is. Have you been listening to Congress? There is plenty of “middle ground” but no one cares to look for it. If the people we elect to do a job won’t even consider “middle ground” why should the rest of us try? It’s so much easier to ratchet up the shootings and murders in cities that are being burned down because we defund police and have children wandering the streets instead of learning something useful in a classroom than it is to find any kind of middle ground. Oh, and “critical race theory” isn’t useful for anyone but the political faction pushing it.

Well, bless your lil’ heart, I went on a rant. I apologize. I just noticed it’s “bourbon time” and my low-light is on.

Where can I get the AMU B.Lib question paper?

This is interesting. The question I’m supposed to be answering is “Libs are changing questions they don't like?” And, voila, just like that, the question changes to whatever this is (above), and just in case they try to change back, this is what I’m now reading: “Where can I get the AMU B.Lib question paper.” so, I guess the answer to the original question would be a resounding “YES, they are!” I’ve accused this site numerous times of playing these games but, then, it is everything I expect from the left.

Author comment:  They do it. fast!

My reply:  Fast and, yet, so obvious. It’s like they think everybody is asleep just because they are. By the way, did you notice your “upvote” is listed under the "new" question?

Author comment:  No. They do whatever they want and the site backs them, though. And they subtly threaten me. One yesterday was blatant! Their management maybe.

My reply:  I’ve always thought it was site management.

Who would be the perfect person in my life who could give me a reality check?

Talk to a friend who never bullshits you. Thinking who that might be? Still thinking? If you are, this is your reality check. Maybe you need better people in your life.

“Reality is far more vicious than Russian roulette. First, it delivers the fatal bullet rather infrequently, like a revolver that would have hundreds, even thousands of chambers instead of six. After a few dozen tries, one forgets about the existence of a bullet, under a numbing false sense of security. Second, unlike a well-defined precise game like Russian roulette, where the risks are visible to anyone capable of multiplying and dividing by six, one does not observe the barrel of reality. One is capable of unwittingly playing Russian roulette - and calling it by some alternative “low risk” game.”

-- Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Is there a name for actions that become more or less likely to occur after happening once?

Repetitive, habitual, a process, enjoyable, or if “less likely” it’s probably non-repetitive, non-habitual, never going to be a process, not enjoyable enough to think of doing it more than once so it’s certainly not going to become a process unless the boss is a sadist. Or, did I totally misunderstand the question?

Why do I have kids?

Birds and the bees aside, can you elaborate, maybe to the point of context?

What do you think is the best kind of honesty?

Odd question… true honesty, “honest” honesty, as opposed to false honesty, would probably fit the bill. Honesty is just being honest. There is no “best kind” when it comes to being honest, you either are or you aren’t. There is no “kind of honest” because that would be not honest. How do you trust someone who is “kind of honest”?

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”

-- Albert Einstein

Has anybody ever been in a situation in which doing the moral, upright, perhaps even correct thing has not been the helpful thing or something that will help somebody else?

Yes. My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was on the dock fishing. I asked him how he was doing and he told me he was tired of everyone asking him how he felt. “I have cancer. I just want to fish and not keep being reminded of it.” I told him that I can understand that, but I was more concerned with if the fish were biting. He smiled and apologized for snapping at me, but I understood how having everybody around you inundating you with platitudes could be tiring. Sometimes you have to consider whether you really need to add to someone being inundated with everyone’s concern, or just be there and let them discuss it if they want to. As it turned out, he beat cancer and it never came back. He died years later from his third stroke, outliving the men in the family by double. He passed at almost 90. I still haven’t really grieved for him, as it wouldn’t be what he wanted. He lived a full life.

Does a person who doesn't know the value of others, is one who doesn't know the value of himself?

This is self-defining. If you don’t know the value of others, it is evidence of a lack of concern. Not being concerned for the value of others shows that your own value is probably wanting. People like this might say they know their own value, but they will also find a way to excuse their lack of concern for the value of others. So, in reality, they have no clue of their own true value.

As an individual, what is the inherent purpose behind developing a skill or skills? Is it for the sake of the individual or to merge with other skilled individuals to create something grander for the betterment of society or what have you?

I think you should develop a skill because you want the skill. The skill you develop might be for personal use, like creating art as a way of relaxing. Or, it might be brain surgery, as a way of saving lives or making lives better. You might even decide to merge your skill with other like-skilled individuals in order to create a "consortium" to more efficiently “create something grander for the betterment of society” or, what have you. There are many reasons to develop a skill, some selfish, some intimately personal, some altruistic. But, one should develop a skill because they want to. In this way, you will continue to hone that skill into a sharp tool.

“The ability to make wise choices is the most valuable skill a person can develop.”

-- Abhishek Ratna

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as a chaplain at the regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony:  tolerantpastor@gmail.com