Humanist Thought of the Week

Freedom of Belief

Yesterday, obviously, was the 4th of July. As an American Humanist, I love this holiday. It gives me an opportunity to consider the freedoms our country is founded upon. Obviously, freedom of belief is a biggie. To me, as a non-believer, it means that I am free to not believe without risking a death sentence for my heresy. And, that’s kind of a big deal. It’s amazing to realize that the death penalty was only abolished for Atheism about 200 years ago. And now, for most people, it’s really no big deal. We’ve come a long way baby! Happy Freedom Day!

Remembering the Dead

Yesterday was Memorial Day. I feel like I never do it justice enough. The problem is, like pretty much every other human on the planet, I don’t like thinking about death. Don’t get me wrong, I want to remember the lives that were lost in war. But then I get overwhelmed by the sorrow I feel over what seems like a massive and senseless waste of life. And I find I need to do and think of something else. But then I remember that there are people who aren’t so lucky. People who have lost a family member or friend to war, who don’t have the luxury of thinking of something else on Memorial Day. And my heart goes out to them and I cry.

I'm So Afraid

I went to a Humanist parenting workshop over the weekend. One of the sessions I went to involved us creating our own country. Our facilitator, Ms. Beth Ciesielski from Bridges for Education, mentioned that most decisions are made because of fear. We scoffed at this. After all, we are all educated intellectual Humanists, right? Turned out she was right. Our decisions about how to create a country were indeed based on fear. Worried about dictatorship and you design a democracy. Worried about a stupid conspiracy prone electorate and you tend to design a critical thinking skills test for citizenship. Even our decisions about agriculture and industry were based on our fears. The only decision not ultimately based on fear was how to design our flag.  Needless to say, that exercise was not only fun, it has given me a lot to think about. Learn more about Bridges for Education here: http://www.bridges4edu.org/

Self Pleasure vs. Spanking the Monkey

Last week I meant to talk about this but got sidetracked through a variety of interruptions. Anyhoo, I was at a Humanist picnic last week. And we Humanists don’t consider any topic taboo. So, naturally we started talking about masturbation. I happen to really like that word, but another woman said she hated it because “It’s so dirty.” She prefers ‘self love’ or ‘self pleasure’ as a positive expression of a natural human behavior. The lone guy present said, “What’s wrong with ‘spanking the monkey?’” Personally, I don’t think we should get caught up on terms when talking about something so intimate. Some people like it dirtier then others. Others prefer a gentler touch. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter because, when it comes to masturbation, the only person we need to please is ourselves.

Mixed Feelings

So, yesterday we found out that Bin Laden is now finally dead. Yay. Kind of. It turns out I have mixed feelings about this.   Yes, he was responsible for a tremendous amount of death, dying and destruction. That doesn’t mean I have to feel happy about it. I think what I feel most is relieved that one of the many people who wish to harm others can’t do that anymore. But I’m sure Al Qaeda will continue without him. Because the reality is that there is no shortage of idiots in the world who are so angry they just want to kill other people. So does Bin Laden’s death represent some sort of turning point in the fight against religious extremism?  No. It doesn’t. And that makes me sad.