I believe

I’ve always been someone who believes that people should be judged on their actions, their morals and their beliefs. The true make-up of an individual — and their character, I guess — ultimately comes down to what they stand for.

In the course of writing this blog, a couple of things have become blatantly apparent. One is that I’m basically I’m a three-trick pony. With few exceptions, I write about my autistic son (1), obstacle course racing (2) and politics (3).

The second is that I don’t think I’ve really given a glimpse into what it is I believe; to better give the three or four readers of this blog an indication of who I am and the thoughts that flow through my mind.

Of course, I have opinions on a lot of things as well deep-seated belief in others. To list them all would be impossible (and highly boring.) So I’ve chosen a few VERY random topics that comes to mind — courtesy of SyFy and The Discovery Channels, I guess…

UFOs and Aliens

I believe in them and it’s utterly stupid to think otherwise. Are they little green men? Or the greys? I don’t know. Did ETs crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947? Meh.

Still. To think that among the billions of stars and tens of billions of planets in a universe that’s billions of years old — that only Earth has produced intelligent life forms is pretty damn arrogant of us. We may (or may not) have been visited, but we are most certainly not alone.

The JFK Assassination

There was a conspiracy to kill John F. Kennedy in 1963. While I won’t discount the possibility that Lee Harvey Oswald was, at least, involved, I believe that he was too much of a dumb-ass to have single-handedly pulled off one of the biggest political assassinations of the century. Maybe there was someone on the grassy knoll or in the sewer or on the overpass or all of the above, but don’t give Lee all the credit. Or any of it, really.

The Bible and Religion

First off, I believe that religion is a good thing. The world needs more values, a greater sense of community, charity and to be able to hold on to the notion that there has to be a reason for our existence. However, humans have totally screwed it up. The number of deaths “in the name” of religion is sickening and for governments to rule over their people based on made up or misinterpreted words from thousands of years ago is a joke.

Religious texts are filled with contradictions often explained away by those with with power, seeking power and/or claiming to have a first-hand relationship with God.

As George Carlin once quipped: “War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed. Results like these do not belong on the resume of a Supreme Being.”

Logically, I can’t say he’s wrong. Listen. I believe in (a) God. I just have a really hard time believing he’ll get pissed off if I get a tattoo…

Ghosts

Yes. I believe in ghosts. Although perhaps better said: I believe in more than just our human bodies; more than just what we can see and feel. There just seems to be too much evidence from just about every known culture of energy or spirits or some sort of other-plane existence.

I’ll leave the ideas of alternate universes and string theory to guys like Sheldon from “The Big Bang Theory” but just know that even though talking to dead relatives might get you put in the loony bin, the after-life — in whatever form — is real.

So there you have it: I believe in aliens, conspiracy theories, biblical flaws and Casper the Friendly Ghost. Four things that most certainly will prevent me from ever being elected to public office.

Yet I know I’m a good person. Maybe not perfect, maybe a little rough around the proverbial edges and definitely immature, but I’m still a decent guy I think. At least I’d like to believe that I am…