Well, time to speak

[bluejeans07]

When I was in high school, I chose to be baptized. I chose to be a lot of things in high school and college and I look back now and think that oh, it was nice. It was good for me then, perhaps. But a lot has changed for me overall and I think because it's the time of the year where we all hope for peace on earth and goodwill to all that I can say this freely.

I don't identify myself as a Christian any longer. I still hold spiritual beliefs: I do believe that there's a God that loves me, that Jesus Christ walked the earth, that there's a Heaven, etc, but I don't feel like I hold the lifestyle that a Christian is expected to live and to try to live that lifestyle would be a lie. I respect anyone who can live that kind of life though, it's a hard life, lots of efforts, standards, and a strong degree of unselfishness. But to be honest, even when I tried (and I tried really hard for many years), I never felt like I fit completely. I don't believe that there's a devil, I believe that the 'devil' is a scape goat that people blame their mistakes on and that people can control their own desires and temptations through responsibility and strength of character. I'm a feminist and believe that women are equals to men. I like to ask questions because that's how I learn. I fight for the right for a mature adult to marry another mature adult for love and not to separate them because of gender. I don't think porn or sex is bad as long as the people who view porn or have sex are responsible about it. I don't think abortion and stem cells mean killing 'lives' at all. And I like shrimp! A lot!

For me, I realize now that I live my life slightly offbeat, I hold true to what the great Al Hirschfeld once said, "Life isn't a science. We make it up as we go." In the end, all I can do is try to be the best person as I can be and try to treat everyone and everything with respect, hold onto an openness to learn new things, and that everyone is free to find their own truth. The closest 'religion' to that would be Unitarian Universalism, but the great thing is that it's not something that I have to keep going somewhere to find, it something I can uphold and learn and mature on my own or with my friends.

Overall, I wiggle my butt to the beat of my own drum and there's lots of room for everyone to dance their own unique dance along with me. ^^