On gay marriage and religious freedom...

I am the first one to celebrate and jump up and down about the Supreme Court's decision yesterday, however I must admit that the decision did not surprise me.  For years society has been changing and moving towards a different direction than before.  Just like any other social issue, it comes time when the more accepting people of those things that were not as accepted before become the majority and so this pushes for change in laws and different interpretations.
For years though we have asked for acceptance and no hate towards people who are of different color, age, gender, sexual orientation, etc.  from those people that due to different beliefs have decided to make sure to spread words of hate and created animosity over this.
I am glad that anyone can get married to whoever they choose to get married to, I am not glad that there are people, business owners who are being targeted because they do not want to participate in marriages between two people of the same sex.  I am not saying these people were in the right, or that it is ok; I am saying that as the owner of a private business they have the right to do business with whoever they want and the right to refuse business to whoever they want.
This country was founded on free enterprise and religious freedom, I am not saying people should go ahead and insult someone because they are different, but if they are respectfully refusing to participate in something; government has no right to fine them or obligate them to do so.
Just like I as a consumer have the right to choose the companies I do business with so do these companies have the right to choose whether they want to do business with you or not.  This country is all about free market and free enterprise, yet right now we are seeing cases being brought up as discrimination because someone refused to participate in an event they did not agree with.
Which brings me to my point, respect has to come from both sides, you cannot ask for respect and acceptance of who you are and how you are if you are not going to accept others the way they are and for who they are, beliefs and all.  Now, I am not saying that accepting someone means you will go ahead and participate or believe the way they do, or even force you to be around that person.  It does not mean you will continue to talk to them, do business with them or have them around.  Accepting someone the way they are means that you keep your insults to yourself, you agree to disagree and everyone goes on their merry way.
Love cannot win if we are not accepting on both sides, if the hatred gets transferred from one side to the other.  If we gloat over our wins and put the others down, make people lose their businesses because they don't believe the way we do.  That is not love, love is accepting and if we want love to win, we need to stop people insulting each other, trying to push our beliefs down someone else's throats because we think our beliefs are better than theirs, hating each other because we believe differently.
I guess in a way I am a Utopian, I wish everyone would just get along rather than fight over differences of beliefs.

FedEx fucking sucks, when incompetence goes way too far...

I seriously can't make this up, after today I am seriously questioning how the fuck is a company like FedEx still in fucking business!!!
A package was ordered on April 3rd, 2015.  Said package was expected to arrive on April 8th, 2015 by 10:30am.  The arrival time was very specific, usually with carriers you see that the time of delivery is by the end of the day on a particular date. This morning I decided to check the FeDex website to see where the package was and if it was in fact on route to my house.  Their tracking system showed the package in Memphis, TN.  The package's final destination is Charlotte, NC.
I went ahead and I called FedEx and asked them where the package was, the response I got from their international department (package was coming from China) was that there were issues with customs and customs did not release the package on time, but now the package was released from customs and it was in a warehouse in Tennessee waiting to be transferred to cargo so that it could be shipped to Charlotte.
I asked when it was released from customs and the lady said it was released yesterday at 5pm.  I told her ok so it would be in cargo sometime this morning and it should be here tomorrow, she said yes it should be there tomorrow.  I said can you assure me that my package is going to be here tomorrow, she said well I cannot assure you of that because anything can happen and then she added: "the plane might not work and that might delay your package even more."
I said: So, you are telling me that the plane might not work and you don't have a different one that you can put the package on? She said: well, the package is waiting to be transferred to cargo so that it can be shipped to the final destination.  I said: Why is it just sitting there waiting? It was supposed to be express delivered and it's not like customs has it so it should be on its way to my house right now.
She had no answer for me other than no one should have promised the package today since anything can happen with the cargo and the plane might not work so the package would have been delayed even more.
I seriously cannot make this up and this is not where the story ends.  The tracking on the FedEx website says the package is in transit to Japan. So I called them again this afternoon.  The lady that answered me in the international customer service department said: Your package seems to be having issues with customs, and it is still in China.  I said: the lady that I spoke to at 9am this morning said that the package was in Memphis and that customs had released said package so it was just waiting on a warehouse to be transferred to cargo and it would be shipped to me so long as the airplane was working.  Cause I am guessing FedEx, only has one fucking cargo airplane that flies from TN to NC.
The lady said ohh no, it looks like your packages are in Anchorage, AK you are expecting two packages right? I said: No, I am expecting only one! She says: Ohh yes yes, it is in Anchorage and the representative you spoke to earlier should have started a trace  to see where the package is, that is when I told her that since the representative that I spoke with in the morning did not do her job and she seemed to have no idea what the hell was going on, to transfer me to a supervisor.
Exact wordings she used after I said that: "It seems like a trace for this package should have been opened this morning and since that did not happen this issue will have to be escalated to a supervisor, would you like me to transfer you to one?"
This is the part where you want to be able to reach through the damn phone and start strangling some sense into people... Finally I get the supervisor on the line, and the supervisor says to me: It looks like your packages are on their way to China from Japan, you are expecting two packages correct? I said: no, it is only one! He tried to fix that whole situation and said: ohh yes yes I was reading wrong, but your package is on its way to China from Japan.  I had to ask how the fucking hell did my package get to Japan, I mean one thing would have been for them to have accidentally sent it back to China right but the package had been in Memphis, then in Anchorage and then in Memphis again and from Memphis the package was sent to Japan, and now there was no estimated delivery time.
I don't know which one was the idiot that said it but at some point I heard: Well, the good news is that it did make it to the USA! Well, you fucking morons!!!! That it made it to the USA helps me fucking none because the package is no where in the USA...
Supervisor said he was going to finally open the trace and investigate where the package was so that I could get an estimated time of arrival, and that someone will be contacting me within 2 hours to let me know what is going on.
I got a call 45 minutes later and it seems like the more you fucking move up the chain of command of the Federal Express corporation the more incompetent they seem to get.  I asked where was my package, yet again... Ma'am your package is in China.  It somehow went to Japan and then back to China.  I said: are you going to tell me when the package will arrive here, cause it is not supposed to be in China, and could you explain to me how the package came to Memphis, and then went to Anchorage and went from Anchorage to Memphis and from Memphis it went to Japan and from Japan you are telling me that now China has it?  She said yes, it seems to have been human error and there is not much we can do about that.  I said so my package is in China now, she said: well we are waiting for China to open so that we can ask where the package is.  So you really don't know where my package is and you are telling me that you've lost it due to human error. She immediately tried to rephrase that, of course I did not let her.
So here is the bottom line:

1. A package was ordered, said package was being shipped from China to Charlotte, NC.
2. Said package made it from China to Memphis, TN in one day, the tracking of it (picture attached to this post) states that customs released the package.
3.  Package was then sent to Anchorage, AK. For those that do not know geography (like some of the people that work for FedEx), Anchorage, AK is on the opposite side of Charlotte, NC.
4. From there, the package was sent back to Memphis, TN to be shipped over to Japan.
5. From Japan it appears to be in transit to China and now we have to wait for China to open (because I guess China is close for business at the moment, even though it was 7am in China when I got the call from FedEx) in order to find if the package is actually there.
6. At this point, FedEx does not want to state that the package is actually fucking lost and they don't have the slightest fucking idea as to where the darn package is.
7.  For a company that only focuses on delivering packages all over the fucking world saying that this is fucking human error and counting it as just one fucking human error not the 4 different errors made while handling said package is beyond fucking unbelievable!!! This is not human error, this is fucking incompetence! Specially when handling a package that has a priority tag attached to it.  The damn post office does a better job than FedEx!!! That is saying something!!!!
9. The excuse that the airplane might not work and therefore it would delay my package a day or two, went out the fucking window when their tracking system states that the package had travel from one end of the country to another and then traveled to a different continent where it was not supposed to ever be in the first place, only to travel back to the original place... Looks like their fucking airplane (because it appears that they only have one) is working perfectly fine!
8. We have to give them credit for something, I mean they were even proud of the fact that the package had made it to the United States at some point, congratu-fucking-lations!!!

For such a huge company to have this mishaps happen so fucking often, is beyond unacceptable, they charge an extreme amount of money to deliver packages and they cannot even do their job right... This is not the first time this happens either, a while ago I had a package that was paid to be delivered on Saturday and said package was sent out within the United States and it was not even a great distance that the package was supposed to travel... Said package was delivered Monday afternoon, not even Monday first thing in the morning... Monday afternoon!!!!  That is the level of incompetence that this company has and in all this mess they cannot even admit the fact that they screwed up and they did it big time!!! All they can say is sorry for the inconvenience, you will receive your package soon... and what the hell do they mean by soon? Well apparently it means whenever the fuck they find it...

Just a small thought...

I was catching up on one of my shows today as I was eating breakfast and a Walt Disney World Resort commercial came on; those darn Disney commercials always make me feel warm and fuzzy inside mostly because I am too much of a Disney fan.  The commercial focused on what most people now call a "traditional family" (mom, dad and 2 children); suddenly it dawned on me that every single Disney Park commercial that I've watched focuses on families made of mom, dad and children.  Before I started to write this I figured I would actually look at other Disney commercials and see if I was correct; to my extreme disappointment, I was. 

Now a days we seem to be trying to keep focus on what society calls a traditional family when the "traditional family" is becoming more  and more non-traditional; yet we seem to want to keep pushing it through to everyone.  In 2015, it is extremely sad to see that when you search for images of family on the internet the first pictures shown are of a woman and a man with 2 children, usually all of the same race... And we wonder why it is that people are having a hard time accepting the changes that society is going through. 

Print ads and TV commercials have been used for many years to brainwash people into buying something or choosing something over something else.  Even though most of us seem to pay little attention to the commercials and ads we see; they are and will always be a subtle form of mind control and society keeps being pushed to look at things in a "traditional" way, a way that is becoming less and less traditional when we actually look at society and how it has changed throughout the years. 

Families are composed of two parents of different racial backgrounds, with science taking of we now have same sex couples racing children, we have single parent families being raised and by single parent I mean either a man who has decided to rear children on his own or a woman who has decided to do the same.  It seems a bit silly that we are still pushing ads for this "tradition" that is no longer one.  

When I was a child, I was one of two children in my classroom that had divorced parents, it was rare that a child would not have their parents together and even more rare that the parents were not around to raise said child.  I was raised by my grandmother and I remember people actually feeling sorry for me because I did not have a "family".  Truth be told, I had the best family ever! my grandmother and her sister raised me and my cousin (whose parents are still together til this day but because they did not have the means to send her to a good school my aunt decided to take her on and well, she lived with us and we were raised together).  To me, my family unit were two women, who had worked hard their whole lives and had managed to make it in the world on their own, they were not married and did not ever seem to have the need to have a man around the house.  In fact, if you ask my aunt why she never got married, her answer always was that she did not want to be washing clothes for some guy and she wanted to always spend her free time travelling, and so she did.  

My grandmother separated from my grandfather when the guy that I was taught to call dad was very little.  It did not work out so she moved on and made a life for herself and on her own.  Both these women love us so damn much, and always made sure we were taken care of.  The household I was raised in was a house where I always had a choice and whenever I made it I would have to live with the consequences that choice had.  Until these day I still don't understand why people felt bad for us, we did not know any different so for us, it was our norm.  

Seeing these ads keep the focus on a "traditional family" one that is quickly becoming non-traditional because really has Disney not seen who visits their parks?  I am pretty sure that there are just as many interracial families visiting parks as families that come from the same racial background.  What about couples that decide to adopt children from other countries? And same-sex couples? We keep wondering why it is that people have little tolerance for same-sex marriage, interracial families and single parent families.  Look at TV commercials, at print ads in newspapers, magazines and billboards, look in the web and see how many times we actually see an ad that is promoting a vacation or a celebration where an interracial couple or same sex couple or even a single parent and their child is portrayed.  There are very little, and most times if we do see an ad like that we see it for a campaign that promotes tolerance to it. 

Want to see tolerance towards the society we live in now? The change has to start with the soft forms of mind control we are all subjects to, those big companies that say that they support gay-marriage should be the ones to have their ads showing that support, what good does it do to just say it out loud and follow a campaign when all of your ads focus on not just the opposite of it but on something that is no longer a big taboo subject anymore. 

I would love to see Disney create an ad for their vacation packages where we see different kinds of families, because it is not sad for a child to be raised by one parent, or by two parents of the same sex, or of two parents of different races, or to be raised by two parents that are of different race than their child or children (and I could go on).  It is sad to see a child being raised by people that do not love said child and that do not provide a save and comfortable environment for the child.  It is sad to see children being put in situations that they are not comfortable in but because we follow outdated views we force them to be in those situations.  It is sad that our system puts children at risk every single day by sending them back for the third or fourth time to abusive parents.  That is what is sad, but a child who has a parent or two parents or more, no matter the race or sex, that care, love and provide a stable home environment for said child, is not sad; it is something that should be embraced and should be shown to the world.  Maybe if we did that, we would start to see a difference in the attitude towards what society calls "non-traditional families". 

PS: Look up images of family in Google, see what comes up first!

And Justice For All

Oh the legal system in the United States... We think of this country as one that is the most just but the reality is that it is not.  When it comes to family matters, the United States legal system is anything but... the law in every state suggests that when looking into family matters a judge should always think about the best interest of the child.  But what is the best interest of the child?
Each child is different and every person is different; when a case goes in front of a judge, the judge assumes based on presumptions that every child is the same and then makes a decision based on that assumption.  The judge also makes an assumption that because two parents show up to court they are both equally interested in the well being of the child.  Then we have this whole: get dressed for court... Another assumption is made here, dress nicely otherwise you are going to look like a crazy in front of the judge and well, more than likely the judge will prefer the other person.
Then we have the time a judge spends hearing arguments, sometimes it is just 15 minutes, sometimes less.  How can you possibly make a good decision based on that small amount of time? It's simply not possible.  What about those who are not able to afford an attorney that knows the law? Parties that go in front of a judge on their own, and do not really know their rights, or what they need or do not need to say.  The best interest of the child is rarely looked into in that case, no one is allowed to state what the child is feeling or explain the child's nature.  The presumption that a child is resilient and that they will eventually be fine no matter what situation you put them through is always there.
Then what about those that come in with attorneys and are in front of a judge and suddenly the judge says you better reach an agreement or I will have to.  Then attorneys go back behind the scenes and they use the "this is what the judge will do and you don't want that, so you better" in order to make the parties compromise into something that is more than likely not the best situation and definitely not in the best interest of the child, it's all merely legal bullying because even after being told to look at the benefit of the child and the child's emotions are put first, that is never the case, the child's emotions never come up in the discussion. 
Let me put it in a better way, there are two parents, one that has been gone for the entire life of the child and suddenly decides that they want to go ahead and be around.  They want to be call mom or dad, and they want to come into the child's life from one day to the next without easing themselves into being around them and getting to know them.  Their name on a piece of paper grants them legal right to do that it appears and because the basis of this system is still set up under the presumption that a child needs two parents in order to thrive, well we go ahead and grant the request.  A judge assumes that unless said parent is violent or has a psychological condition that is obvious to the world well the parent should be around. 
It never matters that the child has been happy and stable for their entire life, it only matters that someone that left and has never been around the child now comes in and says this is what I want and so it is granted because I have a right, a right that should not be called a right but a privilege.  The best interest of the child in a case like that would be to force the other parent to ease themselves into the child's life.  This is when we are faced with another presumption that judges make: if the case reaches their hands then it means the two people hate each other, that's why they cannot agree.  The judge never hears what went on and what each person was offering the other before they came in front of them, if they are there it means they hate each other.
We all proud ourselves in saying that we must protect children, they are the future of our country.  We assume that the law is there to do this for the children, but the truth is that the law is only there to serve the adults.  The children's feelings are never taken into consideration, it is hear say.  The children's stability and home environment being disrupted is not a big deal because hey! They are resilient and it is thought better for them to have two parents and not just one.  The law never looks at the rights of the children, they look at the wants of the adults and if one adult is wanting to speak up for the children, the adult is not allowed to do so because hey! That adult is related to the children therefore they want what they want for them not for the children.
The system is so flawed that we have put children to be with parents who are abusive and neglectful.  We send these children with a parent thinking that because they are related to the child by blood they will protect and care for the child.  This is how we put children in situations that they should never be put in, but that is the system and it will take a lot to change it.  Maybe it will be the new generations that will actually change this for the better.  The new generation that will shed light into the fact that a child does not necessarily need two parents, that if a child has not known anything different than having one parent in the house then it is not in the best interest of the child to suddenly force the child to be around someone they do not know.
The system we have put in place to protect children does not protect them, it rarely does.  It is a system that uses the word right when it should use the word privilege.  It is a privilege to be a parent not a right, and as such a parent should not be allowed to walk in and out of a child's life however they please.  There should be a limit to how many times a drug addict gets their children back, a limit of how many times a convicted felon gets a child back.  How many times must we send back and forth a child to an abusive or neglectful parent before we understand that at that point we are putting the rights and wants of the adult before the rights of the child.
In order for this system to work we have to move it forward from the thinking of our ancestors.  We have to have people who actually take their time making decisions for children and that make an effort to not just look at what the adults want but that actually look at the best interest of the child.  The best interest of a child is to life in a stable environment, happy and thriving, not to be put in a situation that they don't want to be put.  Every case should have a third party present, one that has looked into the child's life and that can speak objectively for the rights of the child, especially being that a judge assumes that two people hate each other and that's why they are in front of them, and if that is the case then send them to counseling.  It will not just help the child but it will help them.  Then look at the track record, if a person has not been in the life of a child and suddenly out of the blue wants to, what are the reasons behind it? Why now and not years ago? Has there really been a change, make it hard on them to get what they ask.  We make it too easy and there is not many people that are out there willing to change the system to truly protect the children.
We spend so much money protecting people that do not deserve protection, making sure that those who have broken the law are treated "fairly".  But when it comes to children, the future of this country, the people we can shape into good citizens, we do very little for.  Then when they turn into criminals we wonder what we did wrong.  It is like that throughout the country and it is a damn shame.  Maybe one day things will change and we will stop seeing news of children being abused and neglected by the same parents that the system sends them back to. Maybe one day we will have people on the bench that are not so closed up and caught up in an old way of thinking, one that does not work anymore.  Maybe one day we will truly see a just system, one where in every case the child's rights and feelings are truly taken into consideration.  Until then, I guess we just need to settle for a sub-part system; the one where convicted felons get a slap in the wrist only because we don't have the money to give them a nice well ventilated and lit cell with three meals a day.  The punishment that for most is not a punishment, they seem to actually not mind it and that is why they keep on committing crimes.  The system where children are constantly sent to abusive and neglectful parents or parents that really could care less about them and are only around because of some other ulterior motive.  Maybe one day we will see justice for all and not just for some.  And maybe one day we will actually truly protect the lives of children and not just pretend that we are doing it.

Teachers...

I don't even know where to begin so I guess I should begin by stating that I was raised by who I believe to be the best teachers I have yet to meet.  With that said... I don't know why but I have always had some issue with at least one teacher, most times the issue is them treating every single student like they are all the same, they all learn the same way and they all do things the exact same way.  The problem I have is that the reality is that not everyone is the same and this false idea of equality does not go well with me.  Some students are more intelligent than others, there are some students that are extremely dumb, and others that no matter what you do, you just can't teach them anything. 

Yesterday I had one teacher piss me off to no end, it probably did not help that I am sick and it's hard for me to tolerate her when I am healthy, it's even harder to tolerate her when I am sick.  Wednesday I left her class early stating: I don't feel well, I have to go.  Yesterday, I got my quiz back with a long ass note stating: You owe me an explanation because you cannot just leave class telling me that you don't feel well and that's it. 

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Then yesterday she decided that even though everyone else was on their laptops and she had no idea what the hell they were looking at, I was going to be the one that she would say: put down your phone because you are distracting everyone...

She got a really long e-mail today, nicely stating what I wish I could have add a few curse words because the reality is that she pissed me off!!!! 

1.  She is fucking teaching a college class not fucking grade school, adults go to college, I am an adult and there is nothing that states that I have to give anyone an explanation for leaving class early, arriving late or not coming at all.  If there is an attendance policy then it is my fucking responsibility to show up to class and if I don't then I take whatever grade I get because hell, I did not do everything that was expected. 

2. "I don't feel well, I have to go" is explanation enough, add to that the fact that I barely had a voice which added to the statement of how terrible I was feeling. 

3. If she is stupid enough to not realize the obvious or she is too into her own damn world that she cannot perceive how sick I was when everyone else was perceiving it.... Well that is not my fucking problem, it is hers! Now, if she has some sort of disability that does not allow her ass to perceive things like other people do then my fucking apologies, I did not know you had a disability but now that I do I will do my best... But still you are not getting a fucking explanation other than: I don't feel well, I have to go. Now if it is that she does not care about me being sick, well I understand that because the reality is that it is none of her goddamn business!!!

4. If the little 18 year-olds in the class are distracted by my looking down at my phone then they have a fucking serious problem.  Life is fucking full of distractions and if someone looking down at their phone is distracting them from doing their work while they are also looking at their damn computer... Well let me tell you something, reality check! you are not going to go anywhere in life if you get distracted by such little things. 

5. The truth is that the only one that was distracted was the fucking teacher, why? Because she has an intense need of attention, she cannot bear anyone not looking directly at her at all times, so she did not like me looking at my god damn phone and when I told her why I was looking at it she decided to tell me it was not her fault (which no one was telling her it was) and that I needed to tell her this before class... Yet again, NO NO NO and fucking NO!!!! I don't have to fucking tell you my whole life story, it is none of your god damn business!!! I am an adult and if I am looking down at my phone there is good reason for it. 

6. How fucking dare you say anything to one of the very few fucking people in your class that walks in there and gets an A in every single test she gives out... Because as I stated to her, this class is just a fucking refresher for me, I already know what she is teaching and I don't even have to open the damn book nor do I ever have to study for it, so another reality, she is pretty damn useless to me because she is really not teaching me anything... (ok, maybe she is teaching me a valuable life lesson of being tolerant to fucktards, but that is another story). 

With all that said to her, without the curse words, I ended my email by letting her know that I don't tolerate her, so I will be happy to drop off my homework for next class if there is any and I will see her for my final exam and then I hope to never fucking see her again... To which she replied: Please schedule a time to meet with me and then proceeded to give me her office hours... ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??? Which fucking part of: I DO NOT TOLERATE YOU! Do you not fucking understand? 

And so I have said my peace, and spent an extreme amount of time trying to nicely tell a fucktard to just FUCK OFF!!! I don't fucking like you and I don't owe you an explanation for getting out of a class early because I was sick! In fact, the I don't feel well, I gotta go was way too fucking much! 

Religion, religion, religion...

What a wonderful topic this is!!! I just love it when I bump into someone that loves to try and feed me the Lord Jesus Christ against my will.
I was on the bus the other day and this guy was trying to convince another guy about finding happiness. I sat there listening to him talk about a book he was holding (no I had no idea what the book was about) then suddenly the guy states how people are so depressed and angry all the time because they are worried about how much money they are making, they are worried about getting a better car, better house, better things and that stress just takes the life out of you.  I had to agree with that statement, we do tend to put a lot of emphasis on certain things that in the end won't really matter, but then he decided to add that one piece of advice that makes absolutely no sense to me, the one sentence I have the most fun with as soon as it comes out of someone's mouth because let's face it... Whether you are a believer or not in a higher power, you can't prove or disprove its existence, therefore when it comes to God, no one out there can say for certain that he/she exists or that he/she doesn't exist.  He went on to say: In order to be happy you must first find God....
Sitting there I just looked at him and said: You must first prove that there is a God, otherwise how can you find something that you don't know for certain that exists?
And so it began, of course he was not able to do that, however his argument did not end there... He decided that he would use Robin Williams as an example of someone who had everything and decided to end his life anyway.  Mr. Williams had bipolar disorder and was also diagnosed with Parkinson's which ended up making things even worse for him.  Education is key when you are trying to argue a point, I don't think people understand that. So then he added: Who gives you the power to go ahead and take your life, who has told these people that you get to choose when and how you die?
Free will my friend, that is the power I've been given, according to the God that exists according to the book a lot of people follow for guidance, we are all given free will.  Free Will means we decide what we are going to do with our lives, not anyone else. As sad as it is to hear that someone was in so much pain that they thought there was no other way out but to kill themselves... well, that is one choice every single person in this planet has, the stigma that you will go to hell when you kill yourself needs to really stop because again first you have to prove that there is such a thing as a hell, and then you have to prove that hell is a bad thing, neither of which can be proven.
On that same note you will also have to prove that there is a heaven and unfortunately its existence cannot be proven or denied, so why do we continue to have arguments over things like this?
The idea is that people need to believe in something, (disclaimer: I do believe in God but I also know that since I cannot prove his existence I have no business trying to convince other people of his existence) we have an innate need to want some sort of certainty from life.  When things are not going the way we might want them to be going we need to try and find an explanation for it, when there is none we resort to things like this.  And that is ok, trust me I am not saying it is not, what it is not ok is to try and change everyone else's view of the world with a view that cannot be absolutely proven, this is to include science (yes I know I will be pushing some buttons here) but hear me out (or in this case, please keep reading)...
Scientifical knowledge starts with an observation, this observation is usually made by a human being, this human being then decides to go ahead and come up with a question about what they are observing and after that they come up with a hypothesis which they then have to run a series of tests in order to prove... Now in order to say that this pattern can give us answers that are absolutely certain, answers that have no option of being changed in the future, one must first believe with absolute certainty that humans are unable to make mistakes.
Some people might believe that scientists are unable to err, there is no justification for someone to believe this because I have yet to hear someone not use the words: "human error" in their vocabulary, and unless scientists are something else other than human, they are just as capable of making a mistake as any other human being.  If scientists are not human then I would like to know what they really are, maybe they are some higher beings in which case we would be coming up with a name other than scientists and would be calling them gods, at which point we would have the ability to say hey gods do exist and these are it.... Being that there has yet to be someone that would actually believe and say that, I am going to stick to the theory that scientists are human and being human means that you are bound to make a mistake.
Anyhow, this wonderful guy on the bus kept at it (I tend to love it when people do that) while he believes there is a heaven and a hell, and that hell is bad and heaven is good, he wanted everyone else to think the same and the only proof to it was "God's word" in this case that meant The Bible.  Humans are so faithful to this book, it is amazing how they don't think about how this book came to be.

1. The Bible was written several centuries ago, by humans nonetheless. I think we have established that human beings are capable of error, therefore believing in the words of this book is to me absolutely illogical. 
2. The Bible was also written in a language that is pretty much dead and then has been translated in I don't even remember how many languages now, by an extreme amount of people (also humans) who have translated it based on what they believe makes the most sense of what they are reading from a language that is not their original language. 
3. After being translated so many different times, the Bible is a book that can be interpreted in so many different ways, which is the reason why there are so many different religions based on that same book, each person read the book and each person decided there was a different way to interpret this book, each came up with their own set of rules and their own view created a new religion based on the same book.
4. To believe that there is only one truth and that you are the only one that holds said truth when there are possibly the same amount of people, if not more, that believe in something slightly different based on that same book is freaking ludicrous! 

I suppose I could list more reasons but really I think these 4 are enough to show that when it comes to religion every person needs to understand that whatever you want to believe in is a personal choice, something that makes sense to you, if someone is looking for their own answers then by all means tell them how you have come up with your own justifications for your beliefs and then let them come up with their own ideas and their own views.  No one has a right answer, not a certain answer and that is ok, the world needs to come to terms to being ok with the fact that the only certainty of life is that is so freaking uncertain. 

Family

The past few months have been a true test and one question has always come to mind: what does it mean to be family and what makes someone your family?
I guess there is a conventional definition of family where family is someone who has some sort of blood relation to you or a legal relation to you through a piece of paper.  The bond, especially the blood related bond has been taken into a level where no matter who you are, if you are related by blood to a person whose views or actions you don't agree with then it does not matter that you don't agree with them or that you don't want that around, the convention states that because they are related to you by blood that you are supposed to put up with all that bullshit!!!!
Unfortunately this is not something I agree with and this is where society and I collide.  In the past few years I have learned that those who are blood related to me are people I don't necessarily want to be around, they are people I can't change and that have different views or ideas about life than I do.  This disagreement has caused a constant battle between these people, one battle that I realized I will never be able to win, and while it is sad because some of these people I love with all my heart I also realize that if you are going to be in constant battle with someone then it's better to stay away.
There is a saying: "You can't divorce your family", I was told you can't say "I am your ex-family", the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard and read.  For one, you can divorce a family, there are many different ways that a family is created and one of those is by marriage of two people from two different families and if that marriage does not work then the two people file for divorce and well you divorce the family you created.  Now, if we are talking about family that is related by blood to include: sisters, mothers, fathers, brothers, grandparents, etc... Well, no you can't literally divorce them, but you can stop being around them.  You can just say: I have no family.
And yes they will throw a tantrum because they are being ignored and for some reason whenever they need anything from you they use the: "I am family" card to try and guilt you into helping them.
That "I am family" card is one of the most overused and illogical emotional blackmail moves I have ever fucking heard in my entire life.  This is something that comes up when the sister that decided to be a fucking loser felon gets out of jail and suddenly mom and dad want the other sibling to spend time with the family and accept the sister back making believe that everything is fine and dandy and she did not do anything to get herself into trouble, so let me go ahead and say: well, she is family, she is your sister... and? So what if she is my sister? Has she actually proven that she has learned her fucking lesson or is she going to continue to be a fucking felon? I can forgive someone but that does not mean I have to let them into my life and sorry but the "they are family" card is not logical enough to make me change my mind.
Or the son that is a drug addict, has stolen numerous times from his parents and suddenly comes back asking for help, the parents are told well... he is your son and he is family, you have to help him... mmmm how about: he is your son and you have tried helping him by giving him money in the past and that has failed numerous times so the help he now needs to is to actually fall flat on his face and maybe he will actually find his way into becoming a good member of society.
I've had my family blast my fucking phone because they needed something from me and when I did not answer right away I was seen as the bad guy and as the person who always wants to create problems.  These people don't realize that they are not priorities in someone else's lives and when they figure out that they are not a priority they get pissy and they use the "well I am family and I should come first" mmm NO!!! NO!!! NO!!! AND FUCKING HELL NO!!!! Here is how I see family and people may or may not agree with me and that is fine and dandy...
For me family are just people, they are persons you came to know not by a personal decision you made when you were finally able to make a decision about who, what, when and where people would be allowed in your life; therefore you got stuck with them until you are finally able to say look these are the kinds of people I want around me, and if they are not one of them then tough fucking luck for them.
The people you surround yourself with should be people that add something good to your life not drain the good you have going from it.  They shouldn't be people who drag you down and try to emotionally blackmail you because "they are family".  You should be surrounded by people who love you, the good kind of love the one that does not ask for anything in return, not by people who are constantly throwing it in your face how much they've done for you; yes this is to include your parents!!! As a parent it is my responsibility to provide for my child, make sure she is fed and clothed and well taken care of.  Having a child is a choice you make and you don't get to grow older and say to said child: ohh I did this for you or that for you! That was your fucking responsibility so if the child grows up and decides to not show any gratitude for it, then suck it! It would be your fault for not raising a child with manners although, they don't have the obligation to say thank you to you for anything!!!
So, if your family, those blood related people are causing you more pain than anything else, then stop talking to them, go out and find people that are like you, build a new family, there is no need to keep people that drag you down around, seriously, in life there will be enough of those that you might end up being forced to deal with because of a job you want to do, or a school you decide to go to.  Family is not people you were able to choose at the beginning of your life but they are most certainly people you can choose not to have around when you get older, if they don't bring anything good out of you, why the hell have them? I mean I could see keeping them around if they neither added or took away from your way of life and from how you want to handle your life but if they are taking away more and giving you more pain than joy then don't feel guilty about not talking to them. It is not an obligation to be around people you don't really want to be around, it is not an obligation to try and make their lives better, make your life better by getting rid of those who, as much as it hurts to say it, have done nothing more than hinder yourself from moving forward.  Let the guilt go and go form new relationships with people that are actually worth your effort, the people that don't ask for anything and that don't use emotional blackmail to get their way.
I promise that after the hurt of realizing how useless it is to say one has a family, it will get better, you will attract people like you, people that have same values and eventually you will have the opportunity to make your own family and instill those good values in it, however when your kids grow up and they decide that they do not want to be like you or go with the values you have taught them, then... let your kids be, they are only given to you to care for until they are old enough and capable enough to care for themselves, you will always love them but that love is not something you should ever ask in return.