TEMPEST ADORE EXPLAINS IT ALL: HOW TO BE HAPPY

I ask a lot of questions in my job and no one can ever say that I am not opinionated. I am an unapologetic Progressive/Socialist. I think women should rule Terra for the next 500 just so they can formulate a plan to fix all the ills that men have done in the first 6000 years of civilization. I believe no child on Terra should ever go to bed hungry, thirsty or in fear that someone will come to their home and take them away. My beliefs motivate me to attempt great things every day but in the great scheme of thing I have no idea really if I have the right answers. Like everyone else I just know what makes me feel good–in the present. I say all of this begging a question, “Why can’t there be peace on Terra?” That’s a question lawyers, politicians, doctors, priests, rabbis, imams, the blind, the lazy, the rich, the poor, men, women and children have been asking since time immemorial. I still look for some clue to the answer to that nagging question everyday. This morning I got a fleeting glimpse of the shadow of the answer as is escaped out a window on the Internet from a young woman Tempest Adore:

This was originally meant to be a Facebook status, but I got so into it, and 6 pages is a bit too much to post on Facebook. Honestly, I haven’t read over it, I just wrote it and posted it. I also started to falter towards the end, my mindset seemed to have changed, so I might go back and edit. And it’s not complete, I stopped mid-sentence, so I have to add the ending.

Seriously, what is going on with the world lately? America especially. I have witnessed more racism, homophobia, religious intolerance, bigotry, hypocrisy, and just plain ignorance and hate more lately than ever. We are all people.

When it comes to homophobia.. gay, straight, bi, trans, pan, poly, whatever: we’re all looking for love. Where we find it shouldn’t matter to anyone else who isn’t directly involved. It does NOT affect you, STOP affecting them. If you don’t like it, don’t engage in it. Don’t gawk at it. If you go to an art store and don’t like one of the paintings, do you FIGHT to have it removed? No, you move on and let others who think and see differently enjoy it. Love is Love. In a world full of war and hate and violence and despair, we should be promoting and fighting for EVERY kind of love, instead of fighting against it and causing more anguish.

When it comes to race.. we’re all fucking human. I understand being patriotic, but EVERY race has done amazing world-changing things; EVERY race has done horrible, evil things; EVERY race is just trying to live, the same as every OTHER race, just in their own way. Who cares?!

When it comes to religion.. faith can be a very powerful thing that saves lives and helps people find themselves and be at peace with themselves. However, faith is personal. EVERYONE’s faith is different, even if you share the same religious beliefs. If people are at peace with themselves, that is all that matters. Just because they don’t believe the same as you, or the same way that you do, does not make them wrong. We only have so many years to live; let people do it their own way. THEIR afterlife is not YOUR concern. And, even if by some chance one specific religion is right and all the others ARE wrong, let those people find that out themselves. I’m sorry if this offends anyone, but I do not believe ANY god would turn someone away simply because they lived their life believing in their own way, finding their own faith. There are SO MANY different religions, they ARE NOT and should NEVER BE law. No matter WHAT, it is never OK to force your views on others, and make them live their lives YOUR way. Nor is it OK to hate them, or shun them, or disrespect them, simply because they are finding their happiness a different way than you.

When it comes to bigotry.. everything I’ve said above applies. If everyone were the same, we would not have come this far. And honestly, if you have so much hate, or fear, or sadness inside of you (which you must to be so disapproving), maybe you should take a step back and realize that those people ARE happy, why aren’t you? What are you missing from your own life that you’re trying to fill by controlling, judging, or sabotaging others’?

As for the hypocrisy.. seriously? No one is perfect. And the main point of this, NO ONE IS THE SAME. You cannot blame someone for making the same mistakes you have. Even if you made them in different ways. We all sin, and no one sin is greater than any other, mainly because no one person is greater than any other. The world, and life, is not simple; it is not black and white; it is not meant to be simply right or wrong. Life itself is a gray area. Don’t justify your sin and disparage another’s, because everyone has different reasons and thoughts and beliefs and feelings. What is right for you may not be right for another. You can not forgive yourself without in turn forgiving others.
 
 

By far this is the best explanation of a path to real happiness that I have ever come across. It has brightened my day and it is early here on the East Coast of the United States as I wrap up my vacation in DC. So today I, while among the Living, will share the love. You never know I might be the guy who buys you a cold drink on a day when it’s going to be a sweltering 100 plus degrees out. Or I might just be the guy who thanks you and listens while we ride on the Metro. Either way from what tempest Adore has written I understand that love is more than desire it is a willingness to give up a little of yourself to learn about another.

Pax Terra!

Fredrick Schwartz, D.S.V.J., CS, O.Q.H [Journ.]
Managing Editor—Research
The Dis Brimstone-Daily Pitchfork
64 Colnu 2 AS