What's the alternative to a theology of cynicism?...

Alasdair Palmer writes a brilliant and terrible opinion piece for Great Britain's Daily Telegraph, this morning:):):)...

Wickedness shouldn't be treated as an illness

And Laughing Wolf writes the brilliant and terrific rebuttal:):):)...

Lost

Alasdair's headline is right...

But his conclusion -- that there are just irredeemably bad people in this world -- is wrong...

And people just like Alasdair have been wrong for the entirety of humanity...

And Laughing Wolf is largely right (though I think there is a still more hopeful view of humanity than even this very hopeful view:):):):)...

Jesus was right...and so was Martin Luther King...and so was Ghandi...and so were all those goody-two-shoes that cynics of the world all over wish would just go away so that the task of finally ending all that wickedness can finally be undertaken...

People do bad things...they make mistakes...and they are redeemable...

And it is only that faith that makes our stay on this little planet possible...nevertheless bearable...

Because humanity has cursed itself and perpetually curses itself every generation...

And it always finds redemption...

Because it's the only thing that takes us forward...

And it's kind of sad and frustrating, really, that the self-righteous like Mr. Alasdair Palmer...

Can't see what a terrible thing it is to permanently foreclose on the life of another...

How this line of reasoning is one long rationalization for what an asshole a guy like this must be...

And can't see that his is a life completely riding on the back of the stronger of humanity...

To make the world better...

His load is heavy...

But Laughing Wolf...and I...and the rest of those who choose the stronger, more courageous, more compassionate route...

Will carry him as long as he needs...

But it would be nice if he could learn to walk for himself, someday...

Just saw Magnolia again, tonight...highly recommend it:):)...very intense...so intense that the first time I watched it with my then and still brother-in-law (then, technically, since he was still married to my sister, at the time)...we joked about it all the way through:)...because it was just too intense and quite a bit over the top to take in one sitting:):):)...

But if you can get past the drama and the hyper-intensity:):):)...

It's a pretty good little flick, actually:):):)...

There's a scene in the movie...after watching for most of the movie the very fucked up lives of almost all of the primary characters...

That a plague of frogs falls from the sky to cover the city below it...

Very biblical:):):):):)...

Do people really still think that it will take a plague of frogs to make humanity better?:):):):):):):)...

Or that humanity just can't get better:):):)...equally as naive...and foolish...and lacking in the very faith that is the most important base of theology...or lack of it, depending on your convictions:):):)...

It takes exactly what Jesus and Buddha and King and Ghandi and all the wisest people have said over the long course of humanity:):):)...

Forgiveness...compassion...decency...learning...growth...and love:):):)...

...and better ideas:):):)...

We better come up with better ideas than the lazy theology of Alasdair, here:):):)...

Because we are in a world of fuck and hurt if Alasdair's word is the last one on this planet:):):):):):):)...

As Laughing Wolf says:):):)...

"If you really and truly believe that, why are you alive? What purpose does your life serve?"

Good goddamned question...

We all might want to answer that one for ourselves:):):)...

Have a good weekend, everyone:):):)...

Love,
Ben