Ignorance

Gusby,

I've had enough. I can't take it anymore.

The Christian Zealots (CZs) have gotten to me. They preach from 2,000 year old words that not only have been inaccurately translated, but have been redacted, edited, and otherwise twisted by power-hungry tyrants.

They claim that their bible dictates that marriage can only exist for a male/female joining. As if their version of God has a copyright on marriage? Did He patent it nearly, what, 10,000 years ago when societies started recognizing the permanent joining of two people?

A man and a woman, joined legally by the State, without a single word or piece of rhetoric about God or Christ, are married. A judge performs the "ceremony", which can be as simple as asking each in turn, "Do you enter into this union willingly?" Two questions, two answers, two minutes, marriage.

Do the CZs claim that this marriage should be called a civil union? No, because it's a man and a woman. The hypocrisy is baffling! That anyone can be so small-minded and ignorant, especially in this day and age, is truly astounding!

And yet, when two men or two women want to legally recognize their love for one another, they are met with open hatred and disgust! By people who supposedly espouse the teachings of a man famed for his compassion, understanding, and acceptance of all creatures on this planet! Were there no gays 2,000 years ago? Of course there were! Homosexuality has been present in homo erectus for over 20,000 years!

The old clichè, "Money is the root of all evil," has it's basis in truth, but I would dare to take it one step further: "Christianity is the root of all evil."

Until Christians came onto the scene, nearly every last civilization on this planet had a very limited concept of money. The vast majority of cultures operated on a trade and barter system. You bring me some wheat, I'll bake you some bread for it. But there's enough bread from the wheat that I can also trade it for that new spoon, or some yards of cloth.

Hell, even the original Church was based on trade and barter. You give me food, build me a castle, dress me up in fancy robes, and I'll save your soul. It may not have been the original con (I think that was the whole, "Which of these three coconut shells has the rock underneath?" thing), but it was certainly the greatest.

"Listen up, folks... make me rich, and suffer through this life, and I promise you eternal salvation." Tons of gold, given away by idiots who didn't want to think for themselves for fear they'd be prosecuted as witches and blasphemers, for a couple words. The best paying con in the world.

But I digress. The CZs need to be ignored. We all need to teach our children to love and accept. Black, white, yellow, brown, gay, straight, male, female, tall, short, fat, skinny, blonde, brunette... none of those classifications and labels truly gets to the meat of the matter: We. Are. All. People.

Christ's Golden Rule wasn't "Treat other CZs the way you want to be treated, and enslave the rest."

Give up your tyrannical hatred of Others. Seek the light, love and harmony that your savior promised you... not through blind obedience, but because treating everyone fairly is the most honest and "good" way to live.

If a person treats you well, return the favor... regardless of any visual labels.

I need help!

Gusby,

I am seeking, desperately, a career that I can be happy with... for more than six months.

In classic Western astrology, I am a Virgo. Analytical, observant, helpful, reliable, precise, skeptical, inflexible, cold, interfering, independent, highly intelligent, dwelling too much on the past, straight thinker, truthful, loyal, determined, emotionally detached, living in my mind, retreat rather than discuss personal issues, excellent memory. I need to be organized internally, which often leaves me frozen by indecision, since internally there is too much going on to achieve perfect organization.

"Virgo exists in the mind, everything is inside. To the world, Virgo presents a calm and collected exterior but on the inside, nervous uncontrolled intensity in the mind, trying to figure things out, how to improve everything, analyzing and thinking. Virgo can tire itself out without even moving! Virgo has a constant drive to improve and perfect."

After quoting this paragraph, my first response was to apologize for the lack of sentence structure and proper grammar. In fact, it was extremely difficult for me to type the quote exactly as written, rather than to edit it for perfection.

All of this is true about me, and it's frightening in its accuracy.

The two major career paths that most astrologists agree upon for Virgos are teachers, and anything dealing with numbers (mathematician, accountant, etc.). I agree with this completely, as I am at my most serene when I am dealing with things that have static, irrefutable meaning... or showing someone how to do something they couldn't previously do. You can't argue when 2 = 2, and the look that people get when they finally understand something new is incredibly rewarding.

Other common careers, though not quite as widely accepted, are writers, and customer service. An innate talent for words and communication, as well as the ability to read people's needs and desires lend very favorably to these choices. Let it never be said of me that I lack the ability to communicate effectively.

In Chinese astrology, I am the Rooster. Quick thinker, practical, resourceful, keenly observant with a fine eye for detail, straightforward, places high value on honesty, perfectionist, controlling, excellent people skills, logical.

Again, all of this is true and frightening.

This zodiacal sign also promotes numbers and teaching as career paths.

According to the Mayan Tzolkin calendar, I was born under the energy of N'oj, the symbol of learning.

Intellect, knowledge, wisdom, spiritual learning, education, humanities and psychology are all governed by this energy. "It is the power of thoughts and ideas, the brain, development and earthquakes." This energy champions nobility, patience, prudence, love, clarity, communication and extreme trust. They are faithful by nature, enjoy calm relationships, and give their partner room to develop. [Perhaps by being so trusting and independent?] They are idealists and dreamers, students, whose greatest challenge is to come down to reality. Visionaries and initiators of change, unhappy with the status quo, marked by the search for the profound. Tireless investigators and avid readers, eventually coming to art to communicate and express. Extremely honest, conceited and proud, arrogant, verbose and inflexible.

They are primarily known for becoming healers, defenders of justice (Roosters and Virgos are also well-known for becoming lawyers and judges), artists, a deep-seated desire to perform services for others and having a deep concern for children and the elderly.

Once again, truthful and frightening.

All of this, every last bit of self-enlightenment, leads to one solid conclusion. I should be a math teacher, and I should teach it to K-12 students.

But I don't feel it, not entirely. I feel that I would be happy teaching, and not just K-12... I would enjoy teaching anyone who wanted to learn (which means I should focus on either the very young, or the old-enough-to-want-more-education... teenagers are out.).

There are multiple problems associated with pursuing this path for my life.

First, teaching requires education... and in our society, that means formal education from an accredited higher learning organization.

Second, acquiring that education takes time. While I am certainly not afraid of taking the time to become educated (3.95 GPA and >99% attendance in all of my post-secondary education), I am unsure where I will find that time, because of...

Third, education is expensive. Extremely expensive. In addition to the requirement of earning enough money to pay for the education, I also need to earn enough money on top of that to support my family. Boiled down to hard numbers (which I like), I would need to bring home $3,500-$4,000 per month, after taxes, to support my family and continue my formal education.

Fourth, earning $5,500-$7,000 per month would require having a full-time job that pays $66,000-$91,000 per year. Of course, if I also wanted to attend school, I would instead need a part time job that paid $64-$89 per hour, for 20 hours a week. Do you, dear Gusby, think it's possible for me to get a legal job that pays me $75/hour, would work with my flexible school and home-life schedule, without the benefit of even an Associates Degree? Doing something that I could, at the very least, tolerate for more than half a year?

That sort of pay is entirely possible for me, once I have an advanced education... but in this case, the egg definitely came first, and it has yet to be determined whether or not it's fertilized. Do I get to eat once, or do I get to eat for life?

I am relying on you Gusby. I am relying on you to provide me with the opportunity that will help me get my life moving again, down a path that I can feel pride in walking. I promise I'll try very hard to step outside of my own brain long enough to notice it.

-A

P.S. Having a boat-load of cash from the lottery would make all of those problems disappear... just so you know.