Yes I’m back! Things have muchly improved for me over
the past couple weeks. After getting my medications
stabilized, I was finally able to restart my Physical Therapy.
The doctor thought it was best if I tried swimming pool
therapy and I must say I am REALLY enjoying it! I go twice
a week to the Timberhill Athletic Club and spend about 45
minutes doing water exercises, and then about 90 minutes
just walking in the water. I’ve even been able to start
backing off on my pain medications. It feels good to just get
out and get moving again. So life has definitely improved
for me! Reed and I are MOST pleased with my progress!
It’s been very hectic the past few months. A good friend of
mine died a couple weeks ago, his name was Paul. We met
10 years ago on the Internet and after a couple years we got
to comparing our genealogy and discovered we were fifth
cousins! He was a wonderful man who helped me through
a lot of hard times in my life — I’ll miss him terribly.
Paul grew up in the deep Bible Belt of the South and as one
would expect he was VERY Christian. We would disagree
on these issues a lot, but they rarely caused us any
problems. I think he always thought that I would someday
“come around”. He would sometimes mention how he
would pray for this to happen. (Well, as Dan Barker would
say: Nothing fails like prayer!)
Paul and I had many conversations about life, the universe
and everything. He was a Vietnam Veteran and said that
his experiences in life only served to strengthen his “faith”.
He said he could not live with all the horrors he saw unless
he thought there was some “greater plan” to it all. I felt just
the opposite. I have never seen, nor needed there to be a
“greater plan” to life. Paul had a hard time understanding
this about me. I think, like a lot of Christians (especially
those raised in the Bible Belt), he just could not wrap his
head around the idea that someone simply did not need
God or religion to live a happy life. He did not understand
that a person can indeed not worry about “greater
meanings” and simply live life as it comes along and do the
best you can for yourself and your fellow inhabitants on
this planet.
After a lot of observation of the religious folks I know, I
think this is definitely the thing that separates us. As an
Atheist/Secular Humanist, I don’t need there to be a
“meaning to life”. I don’t need there to be some “mystic
plan” or some “invisible man in the sky” to feel that life is
worth living. In the end, I would venture to say Christians
are rather insecure for needing to drag all this baggage
around.
Yet, also as a Freethinker, I believe that people have choices
in life and it’s not up to me to make those choices for them.
So, if it makes them happy and they feel they need it, then
who am I do deny them this piece of their life? What I do
know is I will miss my friend and will think of him fondly
for many years to come.
Email comments to
Angela C. Byers
Copyright © 1996 - 2006 Angela C. Byers