Thursday, June 10, 2010

Dressed up in my Sunday best...

People suck. Well, maybe not all of them - there are a few good ones out there. But for the most part, yes, they can be very disappointing.

And, there are certain places where I've foolishly assumed that the people I know through that association would be of a certain moral character - silly me for thinking that belonging to a Church means that a person would operate with integrity and in a forthright manner. In fact, some of my worst experiences, particularly in business, have been with people who call themselves "born again" Christians. The term, and its implied sense of superiority, makes me shudder.

I respect people who are the same - 7 days a week. I don't know a lot of them, but I find myself drawn to those who are "the real deal". Maybe its because I am, that I can sense it in others. And because I am consistently the same, flaws, positive attributes and all, I find that people love me or hate me. That works really well for me as long as they have the strength of character to be honest about it.

One can be all prayerful and religious all day every Sunday, and fail to realize that  the rest of the world really judges the thoughts, actions, and attitudes which manifest themselves through every day living during the other six days. A million hallelujahs, hail Mary's or whatever on one day of the week just doesn't cut it.

I think this applies to every extreme form of religion. And here's the funny thing - every single "religion" in the world was formulated by people.

Whether you believe in God, or some kind of supreme being; whether you just chalk it up to "karma" or "the universe", what it really boils down to is making the choice to operate from a place of being genuine. And maybe a touch of honesty thrown in for good measure.

I guess that once I got past being so disappointed and angry with all the religious people I know, I started feeling sorry for those who wear their religion like some misplaced badge of honour, only to behave in a way which would repel others from ever wanting to join their ranks.

Where's God in all that? Nowhere. Just as I suspected. The building's real pretty though!

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