God Sent Me an Email and Threatened My Life in It

Today, I get an email from a co-worker with a picture of Jesus...or at least it says Jesus in the picture. The message is that some people got this picture and did nothing. Then God got all Old Testament on them and did something bad...one example was death. The email foretold that if I fail to send this message out to 10 people, I would have something wicked this way come.

Seriously? Really, seriously?

If god is going to send me an email, I'm guessing it would be something like "Do unto others as you would have them do unto yourself", "Don't worship any other god but me", or "Don't forget to feed the cat." Not to send threatening emails. Not only did I get this email once, but I got it five times. Now, I'm not the most ardent believer nor am I biblical scholar (for if I were, I would understand how they can be two creation stories and how people still believe it to the be absolute truth...did God have a do-over...but I digress) but this doesn't prove the sender is a believer. Myspace was awful for this a while back. If anything, it is blasphemous for you are speaking in the place of God. It's emails like this that make realize why I wouldn't go to church: there are people there.

Exercise in Evil

Evil comes in many guises. To me the purest form of evil is evil absolute. I'm reading Blood Meridian at the moment. The character of Judge Holden is this type of evil. The Joker in The Dark Night is another example of evil absolute. What I mean by this is that their evil seems to be wholly formed within them. It has no beginning, and it has no end. It has no cause, and it never can be cured. It is just pure unexplainable evil.

While I have read of this evil in history, only once have I seen this evil in person. My aunt was murdered five years ago. The police found the man responsible, and he pleaded guilty with a sentence of life without parole. The day the sentencing was formally passed, I was in attendance. I looked the man in the eye. I could hear Robert Shaw's Quint in my head "he's got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll's eyes." It was the most chilling moment of my life. As far as I know, he wasn't abused as a child. He was in prison most of his life attempting murder at seventeen. The only conclusion I can come to is he stopped being human at one point. If he ever was.

Busy Sidewalks

I recently read an interview with Enrique Penalosa in the New York Time Magazine. For those that don't know, he is a former mayor of Bogota, Columbia. He brought up an interesting point. For democracy to exist, major cities need sidewalks. The more I think about it, the more I agree. Sidewalks allow for mobility of people. Roads allow for the mobility of people with cars. Roads automatically exclude people. This is especially true in developing countries according to Mr. Penalosa. My own small hometown doesn't have many sidewalks. When people walk along those rodes (in non work out clothes), there seems to be this idea that these people are lower class since they have to walk on the road. Inequality, while it will always exist, should not be tolerated in societies. At least we should fight to improve them. Also, sidewalks are good for us. I've been walking around New Orleans a lot lately (why? well read my new blog). I feel better doing it. Now, do I think having more sidewalks will change the world. No, but having more sidewalks might change more people which will then change the world. I know, a strange little return blog that doesn't make much since, but most of the time neither do I. However, I will try to upload this blog more often by commenting on ideas that I come across and find interesting.

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Now playing: The Cure - In Between Days
via FoxyTunes

One of my favorite prayers

A Franciscan Benediction
May God bless you with discomfort,
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger,
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness,
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Amen.

I didn't even think people did that anymore

So the flag burning amendment didn't pass. It was close. It was also silly.

I know it's the symbol of our country. I also believe in our country you have the right to be as stupid as you want to be as long as it doesn't hurt people. Yes, flag burning is stupid, but it doesn't hurt people. What does hurt people is with all the problems our govenment could be trying to solve, this should be at the back of the list (if it is to be on the list at all). I was against the war at the start (for I predicted exactly would happen; it pays to have studied history), but we can't leave now or the whole area will collapse. We are stuck in a situation where we have to choose the right wrong. But I'm kind of confused on what kind of message this sends to our troops. I know they love the flag and are fighting for what it represents, but wouldn't they appreciate Congress looking at spending money that could make them safer, or discussing ideas that could bring them home sooner. Instead, they are debating something that I would be almost 98% of the population as never seen happen in person. As one talking head said most Americans would run to a burning flag, stamp it out, and then give the person doing it a piece of their mind. But do we really need to have the government get involved in this?

I have too many blogs

Shane and Brian, this is Kurt. Your liberal friend. I won't blog much on here b/c I have a myspace (all my friends have it, but it is under a fake name b/c too many students were messaging me when it was under mine). I also used to keep a livejournal. If you want to read those, sign up and go to:

http://www.myspace.com/burningpics

www.livejournal.com/~crummwatertowr