We have to go.
[ Archives ]
[ Links ]
Caroline
Nick
Sample link
Well, here's my attitude:
I don't believe in a malevolent force that makes people do bad things, I believe that people have darker tendencies in their own minds. Of course, my mom once tried to explain this really awful metaphor to me, about how my brain is a house and the devil is throwing bricks through the window, and I think that it means that my view of temptation is functionally the same as the average Christian's. You're sometimes tempted to do things that are wrong, and if you're a good person you won't.
But here's where we part ways. My view of what is "wrong" does not coincide perfectly with most Christians'. Where Christian morality is based on a complicated patchwork of biblical sayings, advice from pastors, traditional influences, and mass sentiment, I prefer to use a very clear and simple measurement to discriminate right from wrong. If I'm hurting someone else, or limiting their ability to be the person they want to be, then what I am doing is wrong.
This is actually almost identical to the core behavioral philosophy expressed by Jesus Christ himself, which I feel has been seriously corrupted by later influences. "Love thy neighbor." If you love other people, you don't want to hurt them or control them. For the most part, this dovetails nicely with Christian ideals. However, we run into trouble when someone decides that being Christian means forcing others to be just like them. That position rather neatly contracticts both my rule and, if you think about it, Christ's. After all, if you have to change someone to be like you before you can love them, the only person you love is yourself.
However, this goes both ways. It's the right of every human being to decide for themselves whether they think something is right or wrong. I'm fimly against marginalizing Christianity through censorship like prayer bans, and I'm certainly against forcing them to abandon their chosen code of morality. They can think and say whatever they want, and it is their right to try to logically persuade others to accept their views.
What I'm against is the idea that we should legislate a given set of morals. Law exists to create and maintain a stable society, not to codify one group's beliefs. Secular law should only follow religious law where the transgression is a logical threat to a peaceful civilization, like murder. Furthermore, our laws in particular are founded on the idea that different groups should be able to coexist if all are free to live as they please.
I know this is a bit long, but I'm simply trying to establish that differences of opinion need not be irreconcilable. The point is that even though I haven't accepted the currently prevalent Christian opinion on all matters, our beliefs don't have to conflict at all.
Nick @ 3:38 PM |
Bluh bluh blah, blih blih bluh bluh blah.
I will take you to a concert again someday. But you're going to have to ask me really, really nicely.
Nick @ 2:21 PM |
Wow. Our last few posts are angsty. We still love each other, honest. We're just moody and emo and...dorks. Yes. Well. It's a bit tough to blog when there's no conflict involved. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know.
Nick @ 12:45 AM |
Tonight I sat at my computer playing FreeCell and listening to Creep and cried.
How much does that suck?
Nick @ 9:41 PM |
I love *click*
...you.
Nick @ 12:59 AM |
Caroline has a scary net-stalker.
He seems to have gotten her e-mail address from MSN - of course, for some reason she has a picture attached to her profile. You'll have to ask her for the exact text of his messages, but they go something like "I'm an 18M who lives in Roswell. Let's get together and have some harmless fun. I saw your picture and I'd like to do some sexual things with you, although I'm not interested in a relationship."
His final e-mail reads, "By the way, nice-looking webpage. That's a great album."
I am sorely tempted to write back from my own addy. "Hi there! I'm glad you like the template; I worked pretty hard on it. Radiohead is a great band, aren't they? We sure have a lot in common! I even like to do sexual things with Caroline. Get the fuck away from my girlfriend, you disgusting, pathetic perv. Thanks, Nick."
Caroline, on the other hand, wants to reply and ask him for his picture. I think that'd be undesirably encouraging; how 'bout you?
This is Caroline. Now, the reason i want to reply is to see what kind of picture he's going to send me. Honestly, do you think that someone who sends such lewd emails (which i will post here after my comment) would send me a picture and it would be of some painfully gorgeous guy? Probably not. I want to see what kind of losers use the internet for the purposes of hooking up. C'mon... how funny would it be if he looked like Screech?
THE INFAMOUS EMAILS!!
To: Me
From: Him
Hey, this is an 18/m here from Roswell and I saw your profile on the msn search thing, just wanted to know if you would like to meet and mess around, just some innocent fun, lemme know I have a pic and everything, just write me back, thx
To:Him
From: Me
Wow. Has anyone ever actually agreed to do that?
To: Me
From: Him
Yea people have agreed, I have just never done it before. I'm not really looking for a relationship, just someone to do casual sexual things with, nothing more. I know it is kind of pathetic and it's not like I can't get a girl in real life, but I'm going to school in like a month and just wanted someone to mess around with some, especially if they live close to me. Know what I'm saying? Anyway, write me back
To: Me
From: Him
Nice homepage by the way, that's a great album
Nick @ 2:46 AM |
Hey everyone, Caroline has been feeling kind of down lately. It would be very kind of anyone who reads this to e-mail her, IM her, or call her and tell her how much he or she loves her.
Of course, she's going to kill me for posting this. But it's true.
Nick @ 11:07 AM |
Sometimes, people ask too much of the people they care about. They seem to forget that these people are just as human as they are, just as fallible, and just as helpless. They expect these people who care about them to know more or do more than is humanly possible. They are inevitably disappointed, and this hurts them.
In their selfishness, sometimes they do not even realize that the person who disappoints is just as hurt as the person who is disappointed.
Nick @ 11:01 PM |