Assholes and cowards never care for facts and truths. They care for conventional wisdom and social etiquette and political correctness. In short, they care for common sense and survival at all costs.
I am a different bird. I don't give much import to, and neither do I ascribe much significance to conventional wisdom and social acceptance. At an early age, I had deep suspicions about rules and figures of authority and the "truths" they espoused. I am forever proud to say ad nauseam that all by myself at the age of eleven, I discovered that there was no God that took an interest in me. A few years later, I realized, also all by myself, that God didn't make Man in his own image, but the other way around. Then as my reading increased, I learned that I was not the only human who had these insights, but I was perhaps very rare among humans to have those at an early age.
When I entered the workforce after college, I realized that earning daily bread was a boring chore that any moron could do, and that life was more than living by daily bread alone. I then hungered to do things that only a very few could do while preparing myself to die at any given time. In time I guarded myself against smugness, complacency, and cheap gloating.
I have made many mistakes along my chosen journey, but I didn't really have regrets. My mistakes showed who I was and where I needed improvement. I have been lucky that none of the mistakes was fatal, so far. Yes, I was also guilty of Schadenfreude, and I was not proud of having that attitude. Schadenfreude cheapened me, and I am working to get rid of it.
My wife recently said something that shook me, "you, perhaps, are like so many other Vietnamese that I have seen. If the VC government offers you a bone, you would gladly jump for it. You like power and fame, like everybody else." I didn't say anything to her after she made that stunning remark, but it has been over three months since the remark was made and I have been thinking about the veracity of the remark. I have taken pride in valuing honesty and truthfulness. That was why I didn't at once protest her remark. Today, I am going on record to say if I ever am offered a position by the VC government, I would never gladly to "jump for the bone." My pride and self-respect would never allow me to do so. I have criticized others for engaging in ass-kissing VC officials in order to curry favors and gather left-over bones. I will not behave like those whom I have harshly criticized. I am no hypocrite.
By the way, if a Jewish businessman engages in nefarious ways to enrich himself, I would tell him that what he's doing would earn him the sobriquet "Dirty Jew". And what I say would be correct. Facts are facts. No amount of whitewashing would take away facts. No amount of anti-Semitism leveled at me would take away the truthfulness of my statement.
I value facts and truths. That's why, in my current estimation, I think those who believe in the existence of a Personal God delude themselves.
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