& Jesus indeed.
2012-12-29, 6:33 p.m.

I sit here and view people�s comments on Facebook and wonder why all they focus on is the negative over the course of the past 365 days. Why can�t people find something positive in their life lessons? Sure, there have been some unpleasant situations, but if it weren't for those situations, those people wouldn't have learned from those situations, grown, and moved forward to achieve better goals.


I�m glad I don�t look at the past year as a form of regret; it�s a lesson for me. I've learned a lot over the last year, especially through the eyes of others, like Leticia, Kirsten, and Natasha. Perspectives are meant to help, not control, right? So why do people become so defensive when someone else offers a different opinion, and rather than taking things as a sense of knowledge they feel like every other personal opinion is an attack on their beliefs? It�s a wonder our society makes it through the struggles we have every day, week, month, and year.

I was asked, today, what my thoughts were on religion. Although I didn't feel pressured to answer in one fashion or another, I was selective in my wording because I was afraid of offending that person. Somehow, though, I ended up lashing out at them because they told me I didn't love Jesus. How can it be so difficult for others to understand another person�s point of view without feeling the need to be judgmental?

Sometimes I feel when people ask me what my thoughts are, rather than listening to me, they are already deciding on what they�re going to say next. I don�t have to love one thing or another to be an upstanding citizen. I don�t need religion to guide me in life when I�m already aware of the differences between good and bad and what�s moral and immoral. I don�t understand why individuals don�t understand that their redundancy in trying to convince others they need to lead a life with Christ to be better. People don�t need religion to be better; they just need to be better! Religion isn't going to stop someone from doing what they want to do.

Everything, I swear, is based on perception (insight, concepts) and behavior, on our own personal belief system. I am so sick and tired of people trying to thwart my theory of perception. I�m 43, and damn well know the difference between good, bad, moral, immoral, ignorance and stupidity; every time another person tries pushing their beliefs off onto me, in a form of trying to redesign me, it becomes more and more difficult to retain my anger when all I want to do is punch those people in the face.

I just want to be clear; my opinion of religion is just my opinion. It isn't meant to fashion or disrupt another�s point of view. Religion is a form of guidance, much like the Bible. It is used by others who feel the need to utilize its wording to fulfill their life, as a way of maintaining control over good and evil, by their beliefs. Everyone, beginning at a young age, is taught the difference between good and evil, morality and immorality, and self-discipline. As we continue to grow and learn we develop our own way of observing � forming our own perceptions. We make our choices based on our own decisions, not by what is relevant to other people�s beliefs.

I wouldn't be who I am today if I didn't pay my dues. I am who I am because of my own personal experiences, whether they be good or bad. If it wasn't for those experiences I would be nothing more than a robot conformed by today�s societal rules. If you don�t like who I am, what I am, and who I continue to be, then toddle on off somewhere else. I don�t need people to change me; I can do that well enough on my own � and, no part of any religion, or believing in Jesus, is going to change my point of view. I respect others and their opinions when they�re supportive, but if you�re going to use your beliefs as a form of trying to change me, you�re wasting your time. I�m only going to fight back and become that incessant reminder that religion is just a tool for guiding those who choose to use it. It isn't set in the Constitution that religion is mandated by law. So, therefore, I will remind you, I don�t have to love Jesus or have religion in my life to be an upstanding citizen, and I don�t have to go to church to be religious, and I certainly don�t need Jesus to save me.

I�m the only one who can, truly, save myself from my own destruction. After all, I am the one that contributed to it, right?

last - next