I just finished reading Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris and I don't think it's helping much. I mean, I'm familiar with Harris, but for those who aren't I think he makes some good points, great points, in fact, about why we should stop protecting people from irrational beliefs so much. I don't know exactly how much. I'm a big fan of protecting minority rights, and I'm looking forward to the day with the United States will join the rest of the civilized world, and religious people WILL be minorities.
I can just imagine the Christians I know reading it. I can imagine their anger. I don't think that's how to make them listen. I so want them to listen. Reading the book this feeling that the US is really being held back by religion, and the feeling that we could be so much better overwhelmed me.
I left Grand Junction on Memorial Day after arriving on Cinco de Mayo. Those 20 days went a long way to understanding "the other side." I thought about writing about my time in GJ, but I didn't until now. I think I figured out why. I'm an interaction junkie. I need a dialogue. I enjoyed talking to my father no matter how much we disagreed or how little I understood the reasons behind his beliefs.
Writing like this generates too little dialogue. You need to be famous for something you write of any length to really make a return on your investment. I can always just play games. Games are like books. Someone created them and if they are any good they will reach a lot of people. People like me, who get to explore what was created.
Maybe I'm just too selfish. I mean if I tried hard enough I might be able to put a good description of the hummingbird situation at my parents house. My mother keeps 4 feeders going at all times. She's done this for years. I wouldn't be surprised if she's actually influencing the evolution of all these hummingbirds. They certainly know about the house I grew up in. The back yard especially (3 feeders) has become a hummingbird restaurant. It's cool there is one feeder in front though, because it hangs in front of the big living room window, and you can watch them easily. I guess it's not too hard to see in the backyard, I'm just not used to my beloved fireplace of my childhood having been replaced with glass patio doors.
The truly amazing part is sitting under the feeders. Then you can hear as well as see the birds. I was thinking buzzingbirds would have been a better name, actually. Once one flew so close above my arm I could feel the air blown from it's wings.
I guess that's not more amazing than when they fight. Hummingbird dogfights (what a cool pair of compound words, eh?) are quite entertaining, and the feeders add a king of the hill element to the struggles. I'm also convinced that the sounds of pod races from that crappy Star Wars movie was inspired by hummingbirds.
Okay, so that was my typical one draft description of something, and maybe some people who read it enjoyed it. I suppose I'll never know for sure. It's possible a friend of mine will say something to me about it, as I've started, and will continue to, link my daylogs to facebook.
Think of it this way: of the number of people who end up reading and enjoying this daylog, how many will get back to me? See playing games and dialogues and what not are much more selfish endeavors.
So why am I writing? Well I thought about writing about my time with my parents like I said. Then I probably thought about writing about this book I just read. I guess the thought that I was slacking crossed my mind. That there were these things I could have done but didn't. And the truth is I like reading old shit I've written too...reminds me of times in my life.
Dates are so good. I wish everything I watched on TV had the date it first aired on it.