Friday Five

for today

1.) Do you believe in God or a higher power?
Yes

2.) Are good and evil just concepts, or real powers in the universe?
They are real, but not in the "Devil Made Me Do It" sense. More in the Evita "there is evil ever around, fundamental."

3.) What is your view on forgiveness?
My view is that it's a good idea. I mean forgiveness that frees you from obsessing over all the mean, horrible things people and/or life has thrown at you. It's very hard work, forgiveness. I suck at it, especially right now. But not forgiving (and doing it completely) poisons your life.

Forgiveness does not equal forgetting, my childhood babysitters credo of "Forgive and forget" notwithstanding.

4.) Do organized religions do more harm than good?
If people would just follow the precepts laid out in the religions, we'd be fine. But people have to reinterpret the rules to make them "theirs." All (of the major religions that I'm aware of) religions are based on love, but it's very hard to live that out, so humans insist on adding limits, footnotes, addenda, and exclusionary clauses.

I guess my answer is yes, sometimes. And sometimes, no.

5.) If you had a day to spend playing God, what would you do?
I'd hide in a f*cking corner or under the sheets in my bed. What kind of a horrible job that would be: listening to arguments and complaints all day, sorting out disagreements, allowing bad things to happen because people didn't listen, being ignored/unappreciated/forgotten. I supposed there would be a few times when someone would actually be grateful or say something positive, but generally...NO THANKS!

Wait. Sounds like a typical day in the life of a parent.