Thursday, January 30, 2020

A few words on insignificance


If you're like me, you're still shaking off the effects of Kobe Bryant's passing. The news of his death was made even more horrific when we heard his daughter was aboard. And then, impossibly, grew even worse when it was revealed there were 9 people on that ill fated helicopter.

As a husband and father of two daughters it naturally rattled me. Put things in perspective. And, as these type of events always do, made me confront the notion of my own mortality. And yours too.

Because that's the way this script ends. For all of us.

That and the fact the counter guy at Wing Stop will always forget to put the Blue Cheese dressing in the To Go bag is a certainty.

Everything else is a question mark. And it's why at this point in my journey, and for a growing number of young people, I have discarded the trappings of religion. The Abrahamic Theories, including the flavor I am most familiar with, just don't cut it for me.

I'm not sure they ever did.

If they work for you, fine. I mean no offense.

I prefer science. And reason. And perhaps even a little nihilism.

This is my personal choice and I know I don't need to argue my case, but I have a blog to write, so I will.

That's why I'll start with the simple and remarkable eloquence of Carl Sagan.

Consider those well-chosen words and tell me how silly we are to believe that God has blessed America, or chosen a people, or given one human being the right to pry a child away from its mother and stick her in a wire cage.

Maybe you're not a word person.

Maybe like my old Chiat Day partner John Shirley you prefer images.

"I'm a picture book guy."

Take three minutes out of your day, consider the possibility that there was no creation. That the universe always was and always will be. That time and space are infinite in all directions. It's incomprehensible right?

So is this:



Now, someone's going to have to explain to me why I can't eat bacon.






1 comment:

george tannenbaum said...

Hi, Rich,

I feel much the same as you on all things religious.
I'm also the dad of two daughters.

Recently I read Timothy Egan's latest book,
A Pilgrimage to Eternity.

Egan writes for the Times and has won a
Pulitzer and a National Book Award.

The equivalent of winning an Addy for best b/w ad
under 600 lines in our business.

I do think you'd like the book. I did.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/books/review/a-pilgrimage-to-eternity-timothy-egan.html