This was written as an assignment for my grade 12 religion class, which I recently re-discovered. Interesting for me to read, to see how it aligns with that which I believe now, but likely boring as hell for others. Enjoy at your own risk.

Friendship is very important in a person’s life, no matter who they are. It is practically a human necessity to have someone’s shoulder to cry on, or to talk about absolutely inane things with. To me, friends are of great importance, even though there are aspects of friendship that one must be careful of.

Since I was young, I have always had a smaller group of friends. I believe this is because I would rather have a few good friends than many acquaintances. Maybe I’m just cheap and don’t want to buy lots of birthday and Christmas presents. Either way, I have always believed that friends are like so many things in life: quality is more important than quantity. Sometimes, I just need someone to talk to, and I am much more comfortable talking to somebody I know well. Sure, having a lot of close friends with whom you can talk would be nice, but friendship does require a fair amount of effort, and that probably would not be easy.

Friends are very important in my life, but there are certain aspects of friendship which can be somewhat dangerous. When you get to know someone really well, you tend to share rather personal information with them. This is why I prefer to have a smaller circle of friends: the fewer people I tell sensitive things to, the less chance there is of it becoming public. Although real friends would never reveal secrets about you, some will turn against you. This sort of action, whether done through malice, revenge, or envy, is one of the dangers of having friends. I have never had this problem. Perhaps this is because I am a very mellow person, and so are many of my friends. Perhaps it is because I rarely talk to any but my closest about sensitive things. Perhaps it is a combination of both. Either way, I have never broken up with a friend- for example, I have been friends with Johnathan since grade 2. Friendship is a very important thing to have in life, and even though it has its risks, just like everything else, it is one of the surest recipies for happiness.

This was written as an assignment for my grade 12 religion class, which I recently re-discovered. Interesting for me to read, to see how it aligns with that which I believe now, but likely boring as hell for others. Enjoy at your own risk.

When defining our philosophy on love, it is important to first define our philosophy as to what love is. To me, love is a deep respect and understanding between two individuals. It goes deeper than a friendship, deeper than idolization, deeper than lust. I do not believe that love conquers all odds, nor do I believe that you can only love once. I don’t even believe that it is only possible to love only one person at a time – in fact, I love many people in my life (assuming I use my own definition of love).

For some people, love seems to be their goal in life. If they do not find a partner, get married and have a family, they will consider themselves unfulfilled. Although these things are nice, I do not believe that they are necessary. In fact, I am closer to believing the opposite, especially when it comes to marriage. I believe that marriage is an old and outdated ritual, and there really is no reason for it anymore. Hundreds of years ago, it may have made sense, but it is now obsolete. Two loving individuals should be able to be together without a ring and piece of paper to legally bind them. In fact, I see marriage as a weakness in a relationship- almost as if those involved feel they need a contract to prove that they do love each other.

Some say that love is extremely rare, or that it only happens once in a lifetime. I hope this isn’t true, otherwise the rest of my life could prove to be loveless. Do I believe that I was in love? Yes. But again, this is according to my own definition of love. If someone else had analyzed the relationship I once had with somebody, they probably would have made a very different conclusion.

Although I believe you can love more than one person at a time, I would not describe myself as polyamourous. I believe that love is much like friendship, in that it is possible for it to extend to several people in your life simultaneously.

This was written as an assignment for my grade 12 religion class, which I recently re-discovered. Interesting for me to read, to see how it aligns with that which I believe now, but likely boring as hell for others. Enjoy at your own risk.

For me, my beliefs are based on logic and facts. For this reason, I do not follow any established religion, nor do I believe in any sort of omnipresent being. I believe that the universe and our world are controlled and exist by the laws of physics and human decision. However, even though I believe this, I have no objection to what others choose to believe, so long as they do not try to convert me to their method of thinking.

Since I was young, I have always been curious, and have always sought answers. Anytime something puzzled me, I sought to know the truth about it. In light of this, I never completely warmed up to the idea of a god. I found that a being watching over us and controlling the universe was completely absurd, and I therefore discounted it as a myth. Since then, I have not changed my views, although I have become more understanding of why people choose to be religious. Some seek safety – they believe that the afterlife will welcome them, no matter what they do in life. Some seek answers to the questions that science has not yet been able to solve.

Others, though, are essentially forced into religion by the teachings of their parents, teachers, and peers. This irritates me. Much like advertisers, religions tend to go after youth, as they are the easiest to influence. Many people, when asked why they became religious, will simply say that it is because their whole family is religious. Is this really a reason? If my parents love to drive motorcycles, does this mean I should too? In my mind, no. In my mind, religion should not even be introduced to children until they are at least 12. By this time, they are generally mature enough to decide for themselves whether they will choose to follow a religion or not. Although this will likely never happen, I would be curious to see how the number of people who are religious would change.

Another problem that I have with religion is the tension it creates. The Crusades, the Salem witch trials, suicide bombers. All of these are caused by misunderstandings and intolerance between religions. Even though most religions teach non-violence, there are those who misinterpret these teachings and cause suffering. Although I do believe that religion helps some people become more upstanding members of society, it has the opposite effect on others. I do not believe that godlessness is the solution to suffering, but it may help some people become more tolerant of others.

This was written as an assignment for my grade 12 religion class, which I recently re-discovered. Interesting for me to read, to see how it aligns with that which I believe now, but likely boring as hell for others. Enjoy at your own risk.

Whether we know it or not, everyone has their own philosophy of life. What we do, think and say is guided by our views on certain matters of importance. These views are all part of our philosophy. Sometimes, these views come from a classroom, sometimes a church, but more often than not, these views come from our own experiences. When we are young, we do not have a clearly defined philosophy. We are mostly told what to do and when to do it. As we age, though, we experience more and more situations where there isn’t a teacher or parent around to tell us what to do. These situations, where we must decide things for ourselves, and ultimately hold our own fate in our own hands, are what help people more clearly define their philosophy of life. For many people, these situations begin to happen a lot more in high school. Greater liberty and more responsibilities, both at school and at home, result in youth having to make more of their own decisions than ever before. Because of this, what better time is there to organise our thoughts on specific issues into a well-organised paper?

To be continued…

“Hey Bob, we need to make a wall here.”
“Aight Joe, you want to move that sign?”
“Nah Bob, seems like too much work.”
“Aight.”

Every day on my way to work, I bike past an elementary school. When I’m running a bit late (which happens all too often), I bike past right before the bell rings. I hear laughing and yelling, the usual jovial sounds of youth and whatnot. I see kids running around, having fun, hitting each other with baseball bats with nails in them (it’s a tough hood). Basically, I see and hear the very definition of being carefree. I know this question has become cliché to the point that saying it is cliché is clichéd, but seriously – what happened to us? When did the world’s problems become our problems?

I can’t isolate when it was. Sometime in high school? Maybe sometime after, perhaps before. I don’t recall. At some point, the biggest problem in our lives went from eating sand, to what that cute girl thinks of us, to applying to university, to jobs, and finally to the spread of malaria in Africa. But hold on a minute – when we moved onto these big, wide-spreading, world-changing problems, did we even bother to solve the ones we had in the first place? Did we get the sand out of our teeth? Did we find out if she likes us? Did we make a final decision on whether that’s actually what we want a degree in? Did we get the cushy job we’d always dreamed of? I’m going to venture way out on a limb here and answer all of those at once: Nope. A full and resounding negative, captain. So why not? If we moved onto other tasks at work before finishing the previous ones, we’d soon be out of a job. That, or we’d be swamped with unfinished business that would weigh us down. So why do we think we can do it in our personal lives?

On a small scale, I see many people taking on the problems of friends and lovers as their own. Their friends are having a bad day, so they are too. Their friends are stressed, so they are too. Don’t get me wrong – it’s good to care. That’s what friendship and love are about. But don’t ever, ever, ever take other people’s problems on without first solving your own. Taking on problems when you are not completely stable and secure in yourself is a bit like loading cargo onto a sinking ship. Sure, it’ll stay dry for a while, but when that ship finally sinks, it’s all going under. For those not so metaphorically inclined, think of the number of therapists that off themselves. It’s hard to take on other people’s problems if you’re not prepared for it. So, if not for yourself, do your friends a favour, and don’t support them with weak arms, bound to fail.

On a larger scale, I see this in entire societies. We donate money to charities to help with who knows what in who knows where. Are we blind to the problems we have right at home, or are we just stupid? Again, I’m not saying caring is bad. I’m just pointing out the irony in thinking the lives of those in another country or on another continent are miserable, when there are thousands right here who have also had their fair share of misfortune. Do I think that we are more important that people in other countries? Of course not. But again – how are you supposed to drive trucks across a bridge that’s only half built?

This may seem like a very selfish idea. Don’t be fooled – it is. It absolutely is. It is a selfish need to feel better about yourself, so you can feel more secure, so you can go about your life being much happier. But if anybody asks, just say you’re doing it to better help people. Just to seem like a bit less of a dick.

Billy: “I see you drivin’
Round town with the girl I love
and I’m like: ‘Haiku’ ”

me: I do not think that
You’re a very good writer.
Also, that’s not yours :P

Billy: Hence the quotation marks, twatface.
You used a haiku
To send me that last message
Just realized! Derp.

me: Your quotation marks
Were not to show quotation
Your grammer just sucks.

Billy: I’ll have sex with your
Mother. Syllable. Syllable
Syllable. Fuckface.

me: You completely missed
My bad spelling mistake
Your spelling sucks too.

Also I should note
That it is five-seven-five
Lurn2Haiku, bitch

Billy: :(

me: Don’t you frowny face
This is basic high school shit-
Important for life!

Billy: :(:(:(:(:(
:(:(:(:(:(:(:(
:(:(:(:(
Shit. five-seven-four

me: You are just the worst
Help me, I’m stuck in haiku!
This doesn’t feel good…

Billy: C-C-C-COMBO
BREAKER HAHAHAHAHA
NEED MOAR SYLLABLES

me: I was going to
C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER
But this was too good.

Billy: I’m bad at haikus.
Don’t want become better
I fear I am, though.

me: Four six and a four
Don’t make no fuckin’ haiku
Count your syllables!

Billy: That was five,sev,five!
Are you counting from zero?
Computer science!

me: “Don’t” == 1
“Want” == 1
“Become” == 2
“Better” == 2
1+1+2+2 = 6

Billy: I forgot to say
A single word, ‘to’. Dammit!
That middle line is fail.

me: You are full of fail
So your haikus are as well
Which is no surprise…

Billy: Could you do me favor?
I need to test video
for conference sys.

Skype me in five min?
Would be appreciated.
Please and thank you, sir!

me: I am going home
In about 5 or 10, so
Can we wait a bit?

Billy: Yay! TYVM.
May many women touch you!
Or men, if you choose.

Billy: Ready for Skype yet?
Would you like to continue
To speak in haiku?

me: On my way home now
So give me about 10 minutes
Then I will be good.

Billy: Aight Aight Aight Aight Aight
Aight Aight Aight Aight Aight Aight Aight
Aight Aight Aight Aight Aight

Billy: This is not structured
As though it were a haiku.
Four syllables.