Where is The Compassion?

A Syrian child refugee cries during the fourth day of school at Al Zaatri refugee camp.

In the wake of recent tragedies in Paris as well as the far less reported attacks in Beirut and Kenya, I felt the need to express my thoughts on the matter. I’ve been waiting and contemplating for several days now to determine what it is exactly that I really want to say. I suppose I’m still a bit confused because of my conflicting emotions.

You see, I understand the fear. I understand the anger. I understand the desire for hard-hitting retaliation against those who committed the recent atrocities. I understand the need to find blame with someone. I understand because I’m feeling all of these things. But I refuse to allow these feelings to guide my thinking or actions. Time has proven that ideas or beliefs rooted in raw emotion are never sound and decisions based upon those ideas lead to mistakes.

I’ve tried to think critically about all that has transpired and take a more reasoned approach to my analysis. In doing so, I am facing new emotions as I keep running into rampant demagoguery, xenophobia and fear mongering, mostly relating to Muslims in general and specifically towards the refugees from Syria that are waiting to come into the US.  It seems to be everywhere – comments from Presidential candidates, political leaders and social media.

I’m a Victim, You’re a Victim, Wouldn’t You Like To Be a Victim Too?

I’ve been told by numerous Christians that they are the most persecuted group in America and after checking the facts on this, I have to agree. For example, though it’s hard to imagine, there are still places in this country where loving heterosexual Christian couples are not allowed to legally marry. This is due to extreme intolerance from the gay community who feel that heterosexual marriage defiles the very sanctity of the institution and claim that marriage should be defined as one man and one man or one woman and one woman ONLY! The result of this is that many straight couples are unable to enjoy the legal benefits of marriage that their gay counterparts enjoy, such as being able to cover a spouse under health insurance and… wait… hold the phone. Let me just check something… Oh. Oh crap. Ok well… nevermind. Forget that first example. It seems I got my facts mixed up. Turns out it’s the other way around. It’s gay couples that can’t get married in some places and it’s Christians that are intolerant. Whoops. My bad.

An Argument for Agnosticism

Spin the wheel and win a prize

Ok, so if you’ve read my other posts you’ve probably decided I have a somewhat liberal view of the world. In my curious and inquisitive approach to life I have searched for answers that probably will never come. I’ve explored numerous religions and philosophies, from Christianity to Buddhism and from Socrates to Nietzsche. I’ve picked up bits of what I consider to be wisdom from all sorts of places. I like to collect the thoughts of others to remind me of all the little lessons in life. Mark Twain, Bertrand Russell, Carl Sagan… they all have contributed to my growing understanding of the world in which we live. And as I grow older I become more convinced that my pursuit of knowledge will never yield “The Answer”. I now firmly believe that human beings cannot, will not ever understand with any certainty the wholeness of life. Our greatest minds, Newton, Einstein, Hawking, Tesla and others have scratched small etchings on the surface of the great mystery but our poor amazing brains simply cannot conceive what the cosmos displays before us with such candor. We can speculate and postulate and observe and measure and test and retest and in the end if we are truly honest, we can only be left with the humble realization that we know almost nothing. And that is now why I consider myself Agnostic.