I am in Djibouti and will have easy internet access till tuesday when we leave for the ship. So far Africa Trip II is going pretty good. We are actually staying in rooms with beds (instead of the tents we were promised). There is a nice little coffee shop, an ok NEX, and the chow hall food rocks the house down. Also, Djibouti is a funny name for a country and I laugh everytime I think about that.
Dear Ladies,
First I would like to wish you a Happy Italian Ladies Day-keep up the good work of cleaning, cooking, and looking the other way when your husbands or boyfriends cheat on you. Second, I beg for one of you to please have sex with me tonight as It is very important that I win $5 dollars american from my friend Mark.
Respectfully,
Lucas
I went for a late run again tonight along the Pozzuoli Boardwalk. I made the mistake of running only a bit off the main side walk and spied two steaming parked cars. The first had its windows obstructed enough to allow me to pass unnoticed (though it was obvious what was going on inside). A few minutes later I passed the second, which had nothing blocking the windows. The dude was in the driver side-jacket over his lap- a women in the passenger seat (well at least half of her). The other half was leaned over with her head buried under the jacket . There was enough light from his stereo we actually made eye contact, which I thought to be very intrusive. He obviously didn’t care as much because he smirked and gave a friendly nod. I didn’t know what else to do so I gave him the thumbs up and kept running.
This may be a depressing topic for a
blog but don’t worry guys, nothing to worry about, so put the phone down-no
need to call the suicide hotline on my ass. Just read on.
I don’t believe in an after life and I know most
people do--- despite what reason tells
them (granted they use reason). And I also realize the idea of no
afterlife is so unnerving to them that they almost feel they HAVE to believe.
Thus, anyone who does not believe “must” live a horrible
existence, well, this couldn’t be further
from the truth.
I don’t bash those that believe, and I
certainly wouldn’t loudly proclaim my lack of belief to a mother just mourning
the loss of child (or a similar situation)- Perhaps believing their loved one
is in “in a better place” helps them get through these traumatic
experiences---at least initially—I’m not sure. But there is no question in
my mind the dangers and evils of these beliefs when taken to
extremes. Whether it be the Christian Scientist denying medical care to
their children because God will be mad and not let little bobby jr in heaven OR
the dudes flying airplanes into buildings because it brings them an
eternity of fucking hot virgins….well you get the dangerous picture. And
I’m not even mentioning those who think (at least subconsciously) that they may
actually be doing bad things… “Sure I’m making bad decisions, maybe
I am acting like a selfish hedonistic pig, but oh well…..I can always pay off
my sins in the afterlife.”
So, I submit NOT
believing in redemption or afterlife is
the virtuous approach…. life becomes more precious this way……I know I
will try my hardest to do the right thing because in the end, all that’s left
are the memories of those closest to me. This is not to say
believers don’t live virtuous lives too. I know many religious friends
living wonderful honest lives. But as my buddy Mark always points out, its
not their belief that causes this, it is how they choose to live—its their
humanity. I firmly believe the
good Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc.. would continue to live wonderful lives
without the belief in an afterlife. --------I also want to point out that
If you hold truth and the search for truth as virtues, the realization
there most certainly is no heaven is almost reason enough not to believe (or at
a minimum, take a more agnostic viewpoint). But that’s another topic-------
Anyway, the reason I started writing this
blog is because I started thinking about death today…I mean really thinking
about it. Its not the first time, it comes and goes, and it won’t be the
last. Even as a kid I remember many a
night of silent pondering of death, which sometimes led me to confusion,
depression, and a horrible feeling of anxiety. That feeling you get in
your gut when you realize this is most likely it- that is a feeling that
warrants avoidance. No one should spend extreme amounts of time in this
frame of mind; you should Focus on living, its simple, that’s what we are doing
after all, but when I do find myself thinking about it, it doesn’t have to be
scary. If I thought about the years
before I was born, those were years that I did not exist. Its not scary to
think back to how it felt in 1901, I did not exist then. It wasn’t scary
because I had no point of reference, I couldn’t, I did not exist,
so why should I stress about the time after I cease to exist. If I live a
good-honest life, the memory of me will speak for itself.
I still suck at writing so I will conclude with
the words of Anne Druyan -widowed wife of the late great Carl Sagan The
following are her thoughts about death and her adored husband, this always
makes me tear up a bit:
“When my husband died, because he was so famous
and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still
sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a
belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see
him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought
refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other
again. I don’t ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great
thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a
vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized
the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every
single moment we were together was miraculous- not miraculous in the sense of
inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance…That
pure chance could be so generous and so kind…That we could find each other, as
Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and
immensity of time…That we could be together for twenty years. That is
something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful…The way he treated me
and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family,
while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see
him someday. I don’t think I’ll see Carl again. But I saw
him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was
wonderful.”
I am writing this blog to the people I know will read it, and we all have kindles = ). Anyway, I'm thinking at least one of my next books be one we all read together, and it be a new book to us all as well. So, I propose a very casual book club. We don't have to physically meet, but I think it would be cool to talk about ideas that are fresh in our minds (and see each of our takes on it). So , what do you guys think?
I went for a little jog this evening and noticed
a crap load of kids walking around in costumes. I am curious as to why that is? I was going to go to the store and buy candy just in case, but I
realized they probably prefer meatballs, pizza, and things of that nature. So if they do come around trick or treating, I will
be empty-handed. And if it is Italian Halloween, you know what that means: No treat equals a trick. For
American kids this doesn't bother me-worst-case scenario, you find your place covered in Toilet
Paper. But now I fear finding a bomb under my car or some 5-year-old Italian girl waiting in the ally for me holding a baseball bat. I guess those would be some funny tricks though.
The most difficult obstacle usually is actually starting something and since I don’t
have a desire to write anything right now, I write about how I don't feel
like writing anything right now. And boom, just like that, I am
over the first obstacle-at least as it applies to starting my blog page.
As for other areas in my life, I will get into that later = )
Anyway, I'm sure I will actually feel compelled to write something in here
soon: not sure if it will be therapeutic or if it will intrigue anyone else or if anyone else will even read what pops
out. I just don’t know? Its only a couple bucks a month so lets just see
how this plays out
