Optimistic
in spite of it all
I find it most horrifying that humans can kill another human solely as a consequence of of the difference in their beliefs. Most often, this is about things that are utterly unprovable and taken only on faith. Because these things that people believe with the conviction that God has spoken them are actually the happenstance result of to whom and where an individual was born. Take any righteous Islamic fundamentalist, for example, and if at birth were sent to be reaised by Baptist parents in the southern US, would not grow to be an Islamic fundamentalist. The visa-versa is true in all cases. So that a righteous Christian fundamentalist who at birth was sent to Tibet and raised by Monks in a monestary would more likely be a devout Bhuddist than a bible-thumping preacher. The need for humanity to rise above this inspires me endlessly. The Atrians have crossed this threshold.
I also find it distressing, from my studies of religious systems, that we humans seem to have long longed for escape from earthly existence. That we have come to believe that this earthly existence is just a stopping-off point. What if this is all there is? Living for the afterlife is comforting, because it promises restitution for the suffering here. The truth of earthly existence might be more discouraging than we have any idea.
WIDS = "WIndows Denial Syndrome" -- a severe affliction that affects hundreds of millions of people causing them to live in denial of the truths about Windows™ computers and the evilness of the Evil Empire. At its core, the syndrome causes them to believe that the ill-health they suffer (viruses, crashes, anxieties) is ordinary and unavoidable. They live in denial that computer use can be free of these ailments, and view the Macintosh and its devotees as despicable in order to justify their continued addiction to their ailments. The truth is: the only way they can free themselves from bondage is to... oh, forget it, there's no use trying; the syndrome is chronic, debilitating, self-reinforcing, and fatal.
