"Good times, good times...want another Sour?"
So long and see ya later...
...Anita, Charles, Darriel, Jackie, Jimmy, Luvenia, Maria, Priscilla, Ronald, Steve, and Susan.
..."Rick James", "Will Smith/Michael Jackson", "Italian Stallion", Craig, and Chad.
...Mitsuo, Jonathon, Ben, Bennie, Jésus, Ricardo(s) 1, 2, and 3, the camera dude, "Mr. T", "Lieberman", Christy, all the Returns people, all the patient loaders and Delivery guys (even after dropping a palette on my foot!), Paul, Everett, and anyone else for who I made the job a little more cheerier. ^_~

I won't forget you guys or the things you taught me.

Ok, so I'm reading the "Religion" section in the newspaper today...
*BREEP BREEP!*
THIS IS A RELIGIOUS RANT WARNING! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

...and stumbled across an article about Christians helping people in Afghanistan (and boy, how many stomachs just flipped or shoulders cringe at that sentence?).

Well, not stumble--it was front page of the section. What the article basically broke down to was that Christian missionaries working as doctors are pushing their faith a little hard on the inhabitants; as a result, the Islamic people that work with them are "altering" (for lack of a better word) what they do to avoid a deadly risk.

Drama aside, it's quite deadly. People are getting killed for breathing anything about Christianity.

Before you start branding me as a one sided religious freak, understand this--I'm not writing this rant to talk about how wrong any side is. What I'm writing this rant about is how sad a state our world is in.

I understand how it feels to have someone to push their ideas onto me when they are attempting to help me. And when I try to react in kind just to share intellectual conversation, they quickly shoot down my ideas because they are different. (I'm also sick and tired to death of people acting like every religion except Christianity is an ok one--it's gotten to the point where some people are making me feel like I'm evil for being one.)

I also understand that, when someone is sharing ideas (be it a salesman or an evangelist), bulling in with both fists and pulling guilt as a sucker punch is one of the worst possible ways to make anyone listen. (Thus my preference of being a talker only when someone asks.)

What I cannot understand for the life of me is how certain people (who I will not recognize by any religious sect--I'm that furious about this) would deny any exchange of ideas outside their society by threatening death and following through on it. Being devoted and being forced to live a certain way are not the same thing. I thought I had a bad time of it at Fry's with office politics and wondering who was going to vocally stab me in the back for something I said or did. HA.

What's even worse is that this is not the first time in the history of the world. That it doesn't even had to be people of two different cultures; those even in the same defined group have killed each other for scant reason (Salem witch trials, to name one of so very many).

Our Creator gave us free will, not just in America (which, as screwy as it may be, is still the land that I love for letting me exercise my free will to a longer extent (though not its fullest) than most can claim), but in this entire world. The freedom to enjoy life, to make mistakes, to learn, and to continue living. The freedom to find our own path in life.

Maybe my mind is just all spaztic to how strongly I reacted to reading this article. All I know is, lack of tolerance (from anyone) in a black and white world will never grant it the peace it needs.

*bows stiffly* Thank you and good night.