Nathan Slatter

I don’t understand people. Many, many people.

It seems that, overwhelmingly, people are willing to give up their freedom for a bit of security.  They wish to become slaves for a bit of free money in lieu of working.  I find it strange that people not only accept, but embrace and are enamored with not working for a living and wishing to bring down those who do.

Work is over-rated, evidently. Along with freedom and liberty.  After all, no one is capable of thinking, of living, or of enjoying the money that they work hard for; especially enjoying the money, or any sort of production, they work for – that’s just greedy and unhuman.

There is some silly enthusiastic love for Utopian ideology which denies that all people, while created equal, are not equal.  If you are able but not willing to work hard to make a living in this life, the problem is yours. Not mine.

It is not my job to pay for your idiosyncrasies, it is yours.  It is not my duty to sacrifice the food that is to feed my children, so that you may have food which you do not get out and work for.

I may be a greedy bastard, but you… you are a deplorable excuse for humanity. Why should I sacrifice that which I work hard for so that you can stay home and steal it from me? Why? For the good of humanity? Which means that you  alone are humanity and the good is that you don’t have to do anything but use the federal government as a tool to steal from the rest of contributing humanity. The good of humanity are those who give more than sitting on their rears waiting for the actually contributors to provide for you through your extortion and theft.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for charity. Private charities; the ones where people who want help have to actually mingle with those that they get help from. It’s amazing what a little peer pressure will do when it’s time to receive more and more charity without actually getting out to work. The answer is not to give a fish but to teach how to fish; anyone who doesn’t know how to fish should starve until they figure it out.

I’m all for helping people – I am; but my time and knowledge are worth a lot to me. I worked hard to get where I am and I expect that you do the same. And, frankly, I’m proud of what I do, have done, and the contribution I make to society. Can you say the same?

And, no, I won’t be nice and kind so that you can feel better about your life.  Your life is your life; and your life is a result of your decisions and philosophy on life. If that life sucks, maybe it isn’t my fault but the fault of your decisions and your philosophy and I should not be forced to pay for your failures. It’s called self-responsibility. Learn it; love it; live it.

I try to be rational. However, my spirituality is irrational. I consider myself a Christian in that I strive to follow the words of Christ.  Hence, my irrationality.

I’ve struggled with this tendency within for years. More than anything, I struggle with the fact that I have friends who view my spirituality, and inherently, my Christianity as illogical and irrational. And as an intelligent, rational person, I understand this. My belief is illogical. My belief is irrational.

I try to be honest about those facts. I do not attempt to prove that illogical belief is logical. I do not attempt to prove that my irrationality is rational.  And for people to do so is rather silly.

I mean, seriously, what is logical about the idea of a creative entity, which has no form, no body, and is impossible to see with the naked eye, planted sperm within a virgin, who had a child from said action from a virgin body, and the son, which was also the father, lived for 33 years and died on a cross for the sins of humanity; then he rose again and rose into the sky saying that he would return.  It is, frankly, rather illogical.

So, why do I believe? It could be that I was raised within Christianity since a baby. It could be fear of rejection. It could be fear of hell. It could be any number of things. I truly believe that there are things that we can not explain that is, perhaps, outside the realm of our understanding. I have seen miracles. Can I prove it? No I can’t. I only know what I’ve experienced and nothing that is logical will, or can, explain.

Irrational and illogical — and I have no idea where that fits within the circles I run in. Most of them are intellectual, logical, and rational. They are atheists and agnostics — and, strangely enough, I’m more comfortable around the unbeliever than I am most believers. I’m not sure why.

What is your irrationality?