TOLERANCE AND RESPECT 1 (NO EMBEDS)

FROM GLOBAL DISCORD TO GLOBAL HARMONY: CAN WE ALL GET ALONG?

The book, The Age of Homo Sapiens Sapiens: Heaven or Hell, is about the human condition and humankind's future on Earth. Continuing with the book's theme, on this page, I wish to revisit the subject of human survival and the preservation of life on Earth.

At the national level, when it comes to harmony between citizens, and at an international level, when it comes to harmony between nations, perhaps Rodney King put it best when he asked, "Can we all get along?" Surely, conflict and fighting are not the wisest ways for humans to proceed into the future, particularly, when you throw things such as guns, bombs, and ever-more-lethal weapons of mass destruction into the daily mixture of human life.

Angry humans coupled with egotism, guns, bombs, and weapons of mass destruction can make for a volatile and lethal combination. The journey into the future for humankind begins with national and international harmony. As harmony leads to human unity, the human species would be better equipped to tackle the many challenges that it faces. The "Education for All" page of this website introduces some of these challenges.

Why must it be unsafe to travel to some parts of the world? Why must it be unsafe to visit certain neighborhoods within certain cities? Humans have got to find a way to stop this sort of madness. Humans have got to find a way to elevate their conduct to the highest ethical plane. Humans ought to be able to freely travel the world or to visit any neighborhood without having to be constantly worried about or concerned about their physical safety. As of 2015, some adults have so much mess stirred up across Earth until it's virtually impossible to tour the world with total peace of mind and an absolute sense of security.

MOVING THE WORLD FROM A NEGATIVE TO A POSITIVE KARMA

When you get right down to it, while there might be well over a trillion stars out there in the broader Universe and while there might be well over a billion galaxies out there in the broader Universe, there remains only one planet Earth. There remains only one human species. There remains only one atmosphere to support life on Earth. There remains only one air supply to support life on Earth. There remains only one water supply to support life on Earth. Within the context of the broader Universe, this one lonely planet Earth, in essence, is stuck spinning on its axis, dangling in the middle of nowhere, and tucked away in a remote corner of the Milky Way galaxy. This one lonely planet Earth is the only known heavenly body that humans have to sustain them. Given that planet Earth is sitting in the middle of nowhere within the broader context of space and time, one another is about the only things in life that humans have to cling to with 100% certainty—coupled with them having the other life forms on Earth to cling to and also with them having the material comforts of a humanly created artificial world to cling to.

The implication of this painful reality is at once jarring and sobering, that is, the reality that planet Earth is the one and only known habitable home for humans. The implication is this: There is no second chance. There is no alternate plan of survival for humans. If humans blow it now, that is, if they squander the Earth, then they have little other recourse except perhaps to kiss their existence as a species good-bye.

If humans do not biologically take care of their planet, and if they do not sociologically and internationally stop the madness and mend their ways, then, like the dinosaurs before them, surely, they shall perish from the face of the Earth. There are so many ways for humans to mess things up. There are so many ways for humans to go extinct. Three of these ways for humans to mess things up and to go extinct include:

1. the unleashing of a nuclear holocaust on Earth caused by bickering nations.
2. an uncontrollable biological catastrophe or pandemic across Earth caused by science and technology gone amok.
3. an irreparable breach of the atmosphere caused by un-regulated production standards, haphazard production practices, and the existence of little to no global air, water, and soil pollution standards and controls, say, leading to an irreparable breach of the ozone layer, an irreversible breach of air, water, and soil quality on Earth, or an irreversible rise in temperature levels across Earth inducing all kinds of unending natural climate-related disasters. All humans have to do is take a look at a planet like Venus to see that these climatic possibilities also are real for Earth. Not for one second should humans delude themselves into believing that Venus' reality can never materialize on Earth. In terms of a natural tendency for heavenly bodies throughout the Solar System to be inhospitable to life, take a look around the Solar System and you will quickly discover that life on Earth appears to be the lone exception to the rule of a desolate and inhospitable Solar System.

Yet, there are just as many reasons on magnificent planet Earth for humans to want to survive. The precious miracle of life itself is a reason enough for humans to want to survive. Finding an answer to the origin of origins is another reason for humans to want to survive. To one day meet extraterrestrial life forms is still another reason for humans to want to survive. Discovering the purpose of life and existence is a compelling enough reason for humans to want to survive. To explore and colonize deep space is another compelling reason for humans to want to survive.

The possibilities are endless for a better world and for a brighter future for all of humankind. One thing is certain, and it is this: With or without humans, Earth will continue to endure. The Earth will manage to survive—that is, at least until such time that the Sun explodes or the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies collide.

Here's a video ode to the present-day human condition on magnificent planet Earth at the dawn of the 21st century.

This video ode to the human condition also was a prelude to the celebratory finale at the bottom of this page. However, before the celebration of life begins, there are some very serious topics to examine and ponder. The examining and the pondering begin with the next "different way" section.

A DIFFERENT WAY FOR HUMANS TO MOVE FORWARD INTO THE 22ND CENTURY

On a metaphysical or spiritual level, I realize that billions of humans also believe that they have God and an afterlife to look forward to and to cling to (that is, an eternal life of paradise, luxury, and plenty after death). There are lots of humans living right now who basically have given up on and have written off this life. They have begun preparing for, looking forward to, and living in a manner prescribed for them to get into the next life, which is also known as the afterlife or the religious version of Heaven.

Here's the problem with the metaphysical perspective of an afterlife: God's existence is yet to be incontrovertibly proven beyond any shadow of a doubt. Belief in the existence of God is not based on any type of concrete, rock-solid evidence. Belief in the existence of God is based purely on hearsay, innuendo, speculation, and an unshakeable faith that He, She, or It exists. You have to honestly ask yourself this question: Despite all of the human suffering, diseases, crime, murder, starvation, poverty, natural disasters, wars, and so forth, occurring across Earth day after day and year after year, how many times have you witnessed God zapping down to Earth to help humans or zapping down to Earth to make things better?

One thing is certain about human life on Earth, and it is this: Every day of the year, humans make billions of pleas to God for help and support. How difficult can it be for God to step up and end all manner of human suffering? After all, God is widely believed to be an all-perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing, and an all-loving supernatural Entity? Despite the billions of daily human pleas to God for help and support, the implication of God's failure to appear on Earth or for God's failure to intervene into human affairs to make things better is this: God must be indifferent to human suffering. I realize that the question of, "Where is God?" is both a difficult one and a delicate question to ask. Much like the volatile subject of USA race relations, many would prefer to not even think about this question let alone to talk about this question. Yet, the question of, "Where is God?" deserves asking and it deserves answering.

After all, thousands of ministers preach about God each week in church, on the radio, and on television. Billions of humans formally worship God in church each week. Billions more humans pray to God each day. Many books have been written about God, and many discussions have been held about God. What, then, is wrong with this picture? The answer is this: Despite all of the preaching, worshipping, praying, writing, and talking about God, there has never been any sign of God appearing on Earth for all to see. The question remains, "Where is God?" Why is there a need for God to perpetually remain hidden from the view of humans? What is there to hide? Humans most definitely are ready to receive and welcome God. The six "Cosmic Secrets" pages of this website reveal almost everything there is to know about life on Earth. What is left remaining to hide?

At the present point in time at the dawn of the 21st century, humans have witnessed nothing except hiding, invisibility, and secrecy surrounding God. Why must there be so much secrecy surrounding God? Why can't humans see God or hear from God so that their faith in Him, Her, or It would be reinforced and strengthened? For me, personally, I hold the position that seeing is believing. On a related note of seeing is believing, based on the Drake Equation, I know the odds favor the likelihood that intelligent life forms do reside elsewhere in the Universe. For me, personally speaking, I actually will start believing all of the UFO-related chatter and UFO-related writings on the day that I actually see those UFOs flying around and touching down on Earth with my own eyes. I actually will start believing the UFO stories and writings on the day that I see those space aliens emerge from those UFO spacecrafts and start interacting with humans with my own eyes. Why would space aliens travel across the Milky Way galaxy to reach Earth only to play a game of hide-and-seek with humans? Why would space aliens travel across the Milky Way galaxy to reach Earth only to reveal themselves to a few humans in secret? Such space alien hide-and-seek behavior defies logic and common sense.

Another problem with this metaphysical perspective of an afterlife or of an eternal paradise of plenty with God in Heaven is this: Even if God does exist, nobody knows with 100% certainty when God will decide to visit Earth. Will God decide to visit Earth within the next 500 years? Will God's visit to Earth occur 500,000 years from now? 2 billion years from now? Nobody really knows the answer to this question. In the meantime, until God arrives, humans must remain proactive and diligent in taking good care for their one and only home, planet Earth.

In my lifetime, there has not been a single occasion or a single instance where I have witnessed God zapping down to Earth to help humans during their times of deepest sorrow and greatest need. Did God zap down to Earth and put an end to—or prevent—USA slavery? The answer is, "No". Millions died. Did God zap down to Earth and put an end to—or prevent—the Nazi Holocaust of Jews? The answer is, "No". Millions more died. Did God zap down to Earth and put an end to—or prevent—World War II? The answer is, "No". Millions more died. Did God zap down to Earth and rescue the Yazidis who were trapped in the Sinjar Mountains when ISIS was threatening to capture, imprison, enslave, and kill them? Again, the answer is, "No," God did not personally appear on Earth to help the Yazidis. Hundreds died or were injured and displaced.

The answer is "no" to these kinds of questions about God's intervention into the daily affairs of humans because contemporary humans are collective eyewitnesses to recorded history. Humans witnessed with their own eyes and recorded with their technological instruments exactly how USA slavery was ended. Humans witnessed with their own eyes and recorded with their technological instruments exactly how the Nazi Holocaust of Jewish people came to an end. Humans witnessed with their own eyes and recorded with their technological instruments exactly how World War II came to an end. Humans witnessed with their own eyes and recorded with their technological instruments exactly how the Yazidi refugees were assisted when they were stranded on the Sinjar Mountains. Humans did not witness God standing there and leading the blacks to freedom from USA slavery. Humans did not witness God standing there and leading the Jews to freedom from Adolf Hitler's various concentration camps. Humans did not witness God standing there and leading the Yazidis to freedom from the onslaught of ISIS. God did not appear on Earth to put an end to any of these contemporary, human-induced tragedies. Why didn't God appear? What harm will it have done for God to have appeared? It would have done nothing but good for God to have appeared on Earth and end the killing and the madness. Millions of lives could have been spared, or millions of deaths could have been avoided.

Often, fundamentalist Christian preachers would claim that God said this, that, and other thing to them. Not once have I so much as witnessed God zapping down to Earth simply to say, "Hello," to humans. Why is that? How difficult can it be for an all-perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving supernatural Entity to zap down to Earth for a few seconds to say, "Hello" to humans? What can be the reason for God never appearing on Earth for everybody to see? Can it be that God never appears on Earth because God is nothing more than an ancient figment of a primitive section of the human imagination? Has this figment been passed down from one human generation to the next since the beginning of the human species? In other words, why should God perpetually hide behind sacred texts and scriptures? Can't God simply zap down to Earth and say all of that stuff written in those sacred texts to humans face-to-face so that there are no misinterpretations about what His, Her, or Its intentions are for humans? Can it be that God did not say any of that stuff at all? Can it be that it was other humans who said and wrote all of that stuff about God but claimed that it was God who said those words—or performed those miracles? How could God have said all of those things or performed all of those miracles if it turns out that God never existed in the first place? And, think about it: If it turns out that God does not exist, then all of the warring and killing in God's name would have been for nothing except millions upon millions of premature deaths, untold casualties, displaced humans, and unnecessary suffering.

Have you ever witnessed one of your loved ones returning from the dead, say, to spend an entire day with you and to accompany you everywhere you went on that day? The answer is, "No." The reason why you have not witnessed your loved one returning from the dead to spend a day with you is because those types of supernatural things do not occur in real life. Jesus Christ is the only one who is said to have pulled off this sort of supernatural feat by returning from the dead to spend time with His disciples—and Jesus Christ also is said to have pulled off some other amazing and spectacular feats, too, such as walking on water, curing the sick and giving sight to the blind with the touch of His hands, raising the dead back to life, feeding the multitude (thousands) with only five loaves of bread and two fishes, and so forth. Billions of humans believe that these kinds of miraculous—but impossible to duplicate—supernatural feats actually occurred.

Going back into history, say, to some 5,000 or 10,000 years ago, it was very easy for humans to make outrageous and ridiculous claims about supernatural occurrences on Earth or to make assorted claims about God intervening into their daily lives. There was no way for other humans to prove or disprove any of those claims. Nowadays, with the advent of cameras, camcorders, smartphones, and so forth, humans are collective eyewitnesses to history. Humans can record and see with their own eyes whether or not these kinds of claims are the truth or lies. Miracles do occur in life, say, for instance, the unexplained remission of a diagnosed case of terminal cancer. The question becomes this: Was the remission of cancer due to the intervention of God, was it due to medical intervention, or was it due to some other unexplained anomaly, fluke, or quirk of Nature? Nobody really knows.

The Tenth Commandment says: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour's" (see King James Version of the Holy Bible, Book of Exodus, Chapter 20: Verse 17). God is said to be clairvoyant, that is, the alpha and the omega or the beginning and the end. Being a prognosticator who already knows when and how the world will come to an end, it follows that God would have known that smartphones, luxury vehicles, yachts, private jets, and so forth, would be coming down the pipeline of time and human history. Why, then, didn't the Tenth Commandment go an extra step by mentioning the neighbor's smartphone, luxury vehicle, yacht, or private jet? By doing so, while humans of the past might have been puzzled by the passage, humans of today would know with a greater degree of certainty that God said those things. Could it be that these modern gadgets were excluded from the Tenth Commandment because humans from thousands of years ago who wrote that commandment could not conceive of future humans inventing things such as, say, jet airplanes, genetic engineering technology, or nanobot technology? For, as noted on the "Final Frontier" and "Invisible Life" pages of this website, the advent of humans innovations such as genetic engineering and quantum mechanics, in effect, has empowered humans to play God.

To be sure, so entrenched or embedded in the human psyche is this notion of a Higher Power or of a God floating around out there somewhere in deep space watching over Earth until a belief in God's existence, generally, is taken for granted or is taken as a given by the average human that you encounter. Even when it comes to death, perhaps due to their consciousness or awareness of the Universe's existence and unlike the other life forms with whom they share the Earth, many members of the human species think that they are special in the eyes of existence. Many humans think that they will be receiving special treatment in death (such as the reward of an eternal afterlife in Heaven living with God unlike, say, the cow, chicken, fish, or potato that only will be treated to the human dinner table in death). Had humans not erected an artificial world but continued to live in the wild, then they, too, probably would end up in the stomach of say, a lion, for dinner in death, instead of being buried or cremated in a formal funeral ceremony after death and awaiting the transition into the afterlife according to scripture. When it comes to the bare essentials of life and death, I am one who believes that humans are no different than the other life forms on Earth. I am one who believes that the experience of humans in death would be no different than the experience of, say, the wasp, flea, paramecium, bird, flower, or alligator, which essentially is a return to dust.

To be sure, many believers think that non-believers are crazy for not believing that God exists. As a result, far too many humans find themselves sitting around praying to God and waiting for God to do for them what they can be doing for themselves. The logic behind this entrenched belief in God's existence probably goes something like this: When your troubles in life seem far too much for you to bear or when a misfortunate development in your life seems impossibly and hopelessly irreversible, it is somewhat reassuring and comforting to know that there is a Higher Supernatural Authority (such as God) that you can appeal to for help to make things right. Some humans are so absolutely certain that God exists until they become delusional. They begin to attribute their every breath, their every heartbeat, their every step, and their every action to God. Yet, one of the things that humans can be doing for themselves is this: Human can begin stepping up and taking the initiative to convert Earth into some sort of paradise or Garden of Eden for the benefit of the living to enjoy right now each day. Humans proactively can take the initiative to transform Earth into some type of Heaven, that is, if they unify and if they choose to do so. All it takes is a master plan of action and the global will power for humans to make it happen or to execute the master plan.

The ethos of some religious leaders appears to go something like this: Accept God's existence as a matter of faith and never question the implausible or absurd in sacred texts. Obviously, I happen to be one of those individuals who do question those things that strike me as being implausible or absurd. I do not accept anything on faith if that particular thing does not make any kind of sense to me. It turns out to be a twist of irony that Jesus Christ, the self-proclaimed Son of God, is said to have uttered, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Holy Bible's book of John, Chapter 8: Verse 32).

Another irony about modern-day religion is this: Of the three (that is, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) popular monotheistic religious faiths, Judaism came first about 4,000 years ago. Generally speaking, followers of Judaism do not believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Many followers of Judaism designate Abraham and Moses as the patriarchs of their faith; they believe that Jesus Christ was an impostor. They believe that Jesus Christ was an imaginary or make-pretend Son of God. In other words, they believe that Jesus Christ was a faker albeit a well-intentioned faker. Next, about 2,000 years ago, Christianity came after Judaism. Generally speaking, followers of Christianity designate Jesus Christ as the patriarch of their faith. Followers of Christianity believe that Jesus Christ was the final divinely sanctioned emissary to be sent to Earth by God to redeem humankind and not Moses (Judaism) or Mohammed (Islam). Finally, about 1,400 years ago, Islam came after Christianity. Followers of Islam designate Mohammed as the patriarch of their faith. Followers of Islam believe that Mohammed, not Jesus Christ (Christianity), was the final human to be directly ordained by God with a divine edict or covenant to redeem humankind. Why is it that all of these divinely ordained individuals happen to be male (that is, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed)? Could it be because, up to this point in human history, planet Earth primarily has been a male-dominated planet?

Each of these three religious faiths (that is, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) emanates from the same monotheistic family tree. Each of these three religious faiths worships the same God. The irony is this: You have three religious faiths that worship the same God yet each one disagrees with the other about what to believe about God and disagrees with the other about how best to worship God. They disagree with one another regarding the chief tenets or central cornerstone of the other's beliefs as outlined in their separately inspired sacred texts. In other words, they worship the same God but believe completely different things about Him, Her, or It. How can this be? Even within a given religious faith, there is confusion and disagreement. Take, Christianity, for instance. There are several divisions and branches of the Christian faith with each branch being a little bit different from the others. Sometimes religious zealots disagree with one another so strongly until they resort to killing one another in the name of God, which is probably the last thing that an all-loving God would want to see happen (except, as a bit of a contradiction, a lot of killing has been directly attributed to this all-loving God). How did this religious divide come into being?

Abraham is the all-important, central holy figure for followers of Judaism; Jesus Christ and Mohammed are dismissed outright by the followers of Judaism or are not taken very seriously by the followers of Judaism. Jesus Christ is the all-important, central holy figure for the followers of Christianity; Mohammed is dismissed outright by the followers of Christianity or is not taken seriously by them. Mohammed is the all-important, central holy figure for the followers of Islam; Jesus Christ, Moses, and Abraham are not held in the same high esteem by followers of Islam as is the prophet Mohammed. In their quest for redemption, salvation, and eternal life after death, followers of each of these three faiths do not wish to be contaminated by the perceived impurities or incorrectness of other religious faiths. And, to further confuse the issue of faith and God's existence, science provides a wholly different interpretation of the origin and meaning of time, space, life, and Existence. There are other religious faiths, too, where there exists no supernatural Entity to worship such as God.

THE SPECIAL CASE OF MUSLIM-ON-MUSLIM HATRED, VIOLENCE, WAR, AND KILLING

On the one hand, the "Black Crime USA" page of this website, among other things, examined the issue of black-on-black crime in the USA, which included higher than expected incidences of murder and other social ills among black Americans. On the other hand, the "Black Crime USA" page of this website also examined how blacks tend to be singled-out for negative or derogatory treatment by the mass media. In the same spirit of the "Black Crime USA" discussion, I now wish to spend a little time addressing the issue of Muslim-on-Muslim hatred, violence, war, and killing. In discussing the issue of Muslim-on-Muslim hatred, violence, war, and killing, it is not my intentions to overly simplify the current Middle East situation. Relations between countries in the Middle East are complexed and nuanced. Human relations vary from country to country, and they vary from place to place within a given Middle East country.

Fast forward through history to 2011. Beginning in 2011, in popular revolts against their more authoritarian-oriented governments, a so-called Arab Spring fervor erupted and swept across large portions of the Middle East. Some directly impacted countries included Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria, and Libya. Not only was there a genuine desire by the citizens of those countries to experience a greater degree of political freedom in their day-to-day lives but also to experience a greater degree of economic and social freedom, too. The Arab Spring began as a peaceful exercise in democracy, but it gradually degenerated into Islam-on-Islam hatred, violence, war, and killing. Various branches and sects of Islam (such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Sunnis, Shias, and so forth) began vying for power and for control over their respective governments. These competing Islamic branches and sects ultimately wanted to contain or eliminate their opponents while expanding their own authority to shape the religious destinies of these respective countries.

With all of the bickering, fighting, brutality, atrocities, savagery, chaos, and killing occurring between the rival Islamic religious sects in the present-day Middle East region of the world as of 2015, sometimes it seems more like it is the work of Satan in action instead of the work of Allah (God). Not only are these Islamic branches and sects competing against one another for followers but also they are competing with the broader, global religious community for followers or adherents. What is the end game of this religious competition? Beyond followers, what do these religious competitors want? What precisely are they trying to accomplish from their seemingly endless warring and killing? When it comes to the militant Islamic extremists, their end game appears to go something like this: Each militant extremist sect believes that its particular brand of the Islamic faith, its interpretation of sacred texts, and its manner of worship, is the correct way and the only way to achieve eternal salvation with Allah (God) in the afterlife. In a twisted or perverted sort of way, this Islam-on-Islam religious fighting by militant extremists seems to be saying to their followers that your faith in our brand of Islam demands of you to go into the world and murder others in order to spend eternity with Allah in the afterlife. In other words, where the militant Islamic extremists wield power, you are given a choice of either (1) joining the extremists and worshiping Allah as they do, (2) fleeing, or (3) being murdered. I, for one, am not convinced that Allah agrees with this we-have-no-choice-except-to-murder-nonbelievers type of reasoning. I thought that Allah was supposed be the One doing all of the judging about who qualifies to go to Heaven instead of sect leaders sitting around and passing life-and-death judgment on the fate of others?

Judaism and Christianity, on the other hand, teach the opposite. Judaism and Christianity teach that murdering another human is wrong and is unacceptable human behavior. Judaism and Christianity teach that murdering another human automatically disqualifies you from entering Heaven with God in the afterlife as exemplified by the Sixth Commandment. It is true that followers of Judaism and Christianity also are guilty of committing murders, but as a general rule of thumb, the average adherent of Judaism and Christianity respects the sanctity of human life. In general, followers of Judaism and Christianity strive to keep incidents of murder to an absolute minimum. There is one thing that I have learned in my lifetime, and it is this: Religion is supposed to bring out the best in human behavior, but religion has turned out to be one of those things in life that divides humans. Religion can lead some humans to commit some of the worst atrocities imaginable for its sake.

Much like colonialism led to the spread of Christianity throughout sub-Saharan Africa, being in close proximity to Islamic countries located in the northern most part of Africa, it was relatively easy for Islam to spillover to the central parts of Africa. It was relatively easy for Islam to establish a strong foothold in the central parts of Africa, including some of the more militant extremist Islamic sects. When you see militant extremist African-based Islamic groups staging attacks on villages and kidnapping children, raping women, murdering men, enslaving families, and so forth, who in their right frame of mind (except someone who is brainwashed or psychotic) would declare that this sadistic and abhorrent behavior was sanctioned by Allah (God)? These diabolical attacks upon, and massacres of, the innocent are the very embodiment of evil, plain and simple. These reprehensible acts against the innocent, unarmed, and defenseless are the handiworks of misinformed, misguided, bloodthirsty, power hungry—and sometimes deranged—warmongers. These acts of terrorism do not have anything at all to do with Allah (God), love, peace, or reconciliation. These acts of terrorism against the innocent, unarmed, and defenseless only serve to propagate more Hell, hatred, violence, and killing on Earth.

There is absolutely nothing at all Heaven-like, holy, divine, or sacred—or even courageous, honorable, or noble—about engaging in the wanton, unbridled, and heinous kidnapping, murder, and slaughter of innocent, unarmed, and defenseless men, women, and children. In some instances, these men, women, and children were innocently sleeping in their beds in the middle of the night or were innocently studying in their classrooms in the middle of the day. These innocent citizens are not combatants in war. What type of mess is that to stage a sneak attack upon the innocent and then commence to murdering them supposedly in the name of Allah? It is an abysmal mess. There is nothing sacred or honorable about coercing or forcing others to join a religion at gunpoint. If anything, coercion at gunpoint can be viewed as a bankrupt way to run a religion. It would be extremely difficult for anyone to establish any type of credibility through the eyes of the world if that someone resorted to coercion and the threat of death as one of its main ways to recruit followers. Is this how Allah commanded these militant extremist Islamic sects to gain followers—by kidnapping and murdering the innocent? I don't think so; otherwise, there would be little distinction between God and Satan.

Humans generally think of Satan as being the supernatural Entity whose ways are those of torture, pain, destruction, suffering, malevolence, ill will, chaos, destroying life, violence, hatred, and so forth, as a matter of course. Humans generally think of God as being the supernatural Entity whose ways are those of grace, compassion, cleanliness, beauty, purity (of heart), sanctity, harmony, order, construction, benevolence, goodwill, ethics, giving life, peace, love, and so forth, as a matter of course. What type of human are you? Are you more God-like in disposition, or are you more Satan-like?

As I noted on the "Humans as Bloodthirsty Creatures (H.A.B.C.)" page of this website, anyone can grab a gun and kill someone with it. Even a four-year-old baby can grab a gun and shoot someone. It only takes a split second for somebody to grab a gun and kill someone with it. It does not take a lot of courage to grab a gun and kill someone with it. The militant extremist Islamic sects are not doing anything impressive by resorting to warring and murdering of the innocent. A true measure of courage would be to toss those guns into a furnace, to sit down with your adversary, and to peacefully work out the differences that divide you. The true challenge in life rests with letting go of the past, purging the violence and hatred from your hearts, and moving forward into the future to live in peace. The true challenge in life rests with humans embracing forgiveness for past (historical) transgressions, reconciling, and finding their way to a path that leads to a future of peace and relative prosperity on Earth. The true challenge in life rests with humans opting for courtesy and mutual respect as a way of daily living. In the final analysis, humans are stuck on planet Earth living together. They may as well start getting along with one another.

Clearly, some of this Islamic-based killing has nothing at all to do with religion. Some of this Islamic-based killing is being done to satisfy some sort of perverted psychological need to spill some blood. Instead of calling out to Allah for acceptance and praise, these particular murderers seem to require professional treatment from therapists. They need the special intervention of professional therapists to help them overcome their propensity to commit murders as a way of life.

How did these young men and women come to this terrorist state of mind and to this murderous way of living? How did these young men end up on the battlefield toting a gun instead of in a classroom reading books and receiving a formal education? The answer is simple. You have a bunch of young men who are very energetic—or who are socially alienated and are having difficulties in school (in part, due to constantly being teased or bullied). These young men are in the prime of their lives. Their hormones are racing out of control. They crave for excitement, adventure, purpose, acceptance, and sex. They have too few resources at their disposal to constructively channel all of this abundant, boundless energy. Often lacking in education, they easily are persuaded or misled to project this unbound energy on the killing fields of war. Moreover, some sexually inexperienced young men find the prospect of one day possessing an endowment of 72 virgins in the afterlife so appealing until this one promise alone is enough to attract them to the faith. Can you imagine arriving home each day to be greeted by 72 (presumably beautiful) virgins? Can you imagine that, on any given day, you are free to have sex with 72 different (presumably fine) women? Let me tell you something: That is a whole lot of temptation, a whole lot of sex, and a fantasy come true for a sexually inexperienced young adult male. It is a such an enticing offer until some young men find it too good to refuse. Once engaged in the faith, some humans become so thoroughly indoctrinated by its teachings until they no longer seem to think rationally or to think independently. They become transfixed by the faith. They become obsessed with the faith. They begin to lose their grip on reality. They begin to forget about what it means to be human as their minds become transported into some sort of ethereal realm of daily existence. They begin to betray the sanctity of human life. Some followers of the faith become fanatical. They are more easily convinced to kill others for the sake of the faith.

The first red flag or warning sign that a particular brand of religion should be avoided is when its leaders start using the words God, gun, beheading, and murder in the same sentence. Religion is not supposed to be about murdering others. Religion is supposed to be about loving others. To alleviate this problem of religiously inspired hatred, violence, gunplay, and killing, clearly the key is to provide educational opportunities for all members of society and to offer these young men (and women) alternative opportunities to more constructively channel their seemingly boundless energy. Killing and destruction in the name of religion are not the ways to go about life. You should never take a religious faith so seriously to the point that you are willing to grab a gun or a suicide bomb and go into the world to murder your fellow humans in the name of that religion. Regardless of the religious faith that you happen to follow, you should never take religion so seriously to the point that you are willing to murder others in the name of the faith. What someone else thinks or believes does not take your life or put you to death; why would you go into the world and murder someone else because you disagree with their way of thinking. Instead of killing, the preservation of human life and the survival of the human species are the things that truly matter in this world. Yet, there are far, far too many humans on Earth who allow themselves to get all worked up and bent out of shape over religion. There is more than enough room on this Earth to accommodate all religious faiths without recourse to warring and killing. These religious faiths and sects have got to find a civilized way to peacefully co-exist without resorting to violence, bloodshed, gunplay, and killing one another.

Along those same lines, chest-thumping, flag-waving, nationalistic fervor, too, sometimes can take on devout proportions within a country as if it were a religion. Out-of-control nationalistic fervor also can lead some humans to do bad things to others in the name of nationalism. Nazi Germany was a prime example of out-of-control nationalism. You should never allow nationalism to so emotionally ovewhelm you until you are willing to do bodily harm to another human in its name.

Most Middle Eastern people generally are taught to exclusively devote an unwavering allegiance to one way, and it is the Islamic way of thinking including, for some, a strict and literal interpretation of sacred writings [that were conducive to human life in the 1st century AD]. A general religious sentiment throughout the Islamic world appears to say, "to hell with the scientific perspective and the scientific educational method". A general religious sentiment throughout the Islamic world also appears to say, "a different way forward into the future or a bigger picture be damned for moving the human species forward into the future". To them, the most important thing that matters in life is following the writings contained in the Holy Quran. But, with the passage of time, people change and societies change. Nothing on Earth remains the same forever.

A free society (such as the USA, in particular, and the West, in general), in contrast, is all about offering citizens a multitude of viewpoints and allowing citizens to decide for themselves, on their volition, which viewpoint to pursue in life. These include a multitude of viewpoints about metaphysical and philosophical matters such as time, space, the origin of the Universe, the origin of life, religion, and so forth. A major advantage of a free society—and secularism—is this: A free society does not box its citizens into one exclusive mindset, which is not to say that a majority mindset will not emerge in a free society. Societal progress tends to come from thinking outside the box.

It seems to me that two of the most important drivers of societal harmony and global stabilization are (1) tolerance of a multitude of viewpoints without recourse to hatred and violence and (2) obedience to the rule of just law by all members of society. The centerpiece of the rule of law would be obedience to honest, open, and wholly peaceful elections at all levels of government on all election days with zero recourse to election-related intimidation, coercion, fraud, bribery, foul play, violence, gunplay, and murder. Tolerance not only applies to competing religious faiths but also it applies to tolerance of different racial groups in society, tolerance of members from different socio-economic statuses in society, tolerance of different political views in society, and so forth. A healthy debate is a good thing in a free and democratic society. After the debate has ended and all viewpoints have been considered, a vote usually is taken. The majority vote prevails and the course of action is adopted. The majority decision usually is accepted by all members of society, which is the essence of civilized living until such time that the members of society decide to revisit the issue.

Being passionate about a particular belief is one thing, be it a religious, racial, economic, or political belief. Whenever you start to murdering others because they do not believe as you do, then clearly it is a sign that you have psychologically gone over the mental deep end with your religious faith or whatever else you happen to be passionate about. Whenever you start to murdering others because they do not think or believe as you do, then clearly it is a sign that you have lost control of your senses. When you resort to taking up arms to murder others who do not worship as you do, then clearly you have breached the boundary separating the sane from the insane. Humans have got to find a way to cease and desist from engaging in this murderous religious insanity. Humans have got to find their way back to the road of peace on Earth and goodwill between humans. I simply do not see Allah (God) advocating or choosing a daily human existence of violence, hatred, fighting, gunplay, warring, and murdering. I do see Allah (God) advocating or choosing a daily existence of humility, peace, goodwill, and mutual respect between humans.

Similarly, sometimes I wonder if, under the guise of free speech and satire, those who choose to draw derogatory caricatures of the prophet Mohammed are not doing so to propagate hate speech. In other words, could it be that the banner of free speech is being used by them as a smokescreen to engage in a subtle form of hate speech? There are over one billion adherents of Islam walking around on Earth each day. Being fully aware that most followers of Islam deem these kinds of derogatory caricatures of the prophet Mohammed to be offensive, blasphemous, and extremely disrespectful, those who persist in mocking or poking fun at Islam with derogatory depictions of the prophet Mohammed are choosing to engage in an incendiary form of speech. This provocative manner of speech seems to be more designed at offending, angering, and inciting an adverse response rather than at fostering greater human conciliation and understanding. Can you imagine a bunch of whites coming together in a public forum to convene a convention, say, to see who could poke the most fun at Adolf Hitler's persecution and extermination of Jewish people in concentration camps? Can you imagine a bunch of whites coming together in a public forum to convene a convention, say, to see who could make the most creative satire about black enslavement in the USA? Obviously, their freedom of speech would permit them to hold such a convention, but would it be the responsible thing for them to do? Most blacks and most Jewish people would not find this type of a convention very amusing at all. Most blacks and most Jewish people would be highly offended by such a convention. Similarly, most Muslims do not find these types of derogatory caricatures of the prophet Mohammed to be very amusing. Yet, when some overly zealous followers of Islam choose to violently lash out against derogatory caricatures of the prophet Mohammed or to lash out at this type of blatant disrespect shown to their religion, they immediately are branded as being uncivilized, intolerant of free speech, or are labeled as being some sort of crazed Islamic terrorists.

The reader also should keep in mind that the hatred, violence, and killings being committed each day by, say, upward to a few hundred thousand militant Islamic extremists have nothing at all to do with, or in no way reflect on, the other billion peace-loving followers of Islam walking around on Earth today. Who in their right frames of mind would sit around and deliberately mock or make fun of another's religion? Clearly, those who choose to engage in this type of mocking-of-Islam behavior or who choose to engage in this hurtful type of speech have crossed the line of responsible behavior. The USA is a free society. In the USA, anybody is free to say practically whatever she or he wants to say. Being a free country, I realize that the organizers of such poke-fun-at-Islam types of events feel the need to publicly express just how strongly they oppose things such as Sharia law, censorship, and so forth. However, you would think that maybe the organizers of these kinds of gatherings didn't exactly choose the most responsible way to go about voicing their opposition. With the organizers' in-your-face type of mocking Islam, all they seem to be succeeding in doing is rubbing some overly zealous and fanatical Islamic followers the wrong way. These types of anti-Islam gatherings, that is, where Islam generally is demonized, could be described as being the height of insensitivity. Public anti-Islam insults such as derogatory and demeaning caricatures of the prophet Mohammed effectively sting or break the hearts of the followers of Islam. To the followers of Islam, I am sure that these kinds of anti-Islam gatherings are akin to rubbing salt into an already festering wound. The situation would be akin to holding a meeting to ridicule and demonize all Latin Americans simply because a handful of ruthless drug cartel members choose to commit some unsavory acts against humanity. Meanwhile, millions upon millions of other peace-loving Latin Americans do not have any ties to any drug cartels at all. The followers of Islam revere the prophet Mohammed in much the same manner as Christians revere Jesus Christ. The followers of Islam do not appreciate having their spiritual leader bashed. [It must be admitted that one difference between the followers of Christianity and the followers of Islam is this: If something is said critically of Jesus Christ or of the Holy Bible, then the followers of Christianity tend not to give it much of a second thought. The followers of Christianity certainly do not seek to harm anyone who speaks critically of their religious beliefs. On the other hand, if something is said critically of the prophet Mohammed or of the Holy Quran, then some followers of Islam will seek to kill you or will seek to cause you great bodily harm.]

A MATTER OF HUMAN IRRESPONSIBILITY

SIDEBAR: Humans Behaving Badly

Example 1 of Humans Behaving Badly: The "N" Word and Disorderly Conduct As a sidebar, while speaking of engaging in irresponsible activities such as derogatory caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, the reader should note that I also think black recording artists who choose to use the "n" word (and other kinds of profane language) in their songs are not being very responsible either—nor are the corporate record company executives who encourage and promote this type of "n" word inclusion in songs. The typical person takes the "n" word to mean sub-human or to mean being the equivalent of a human cesspool. Use of the "n" word in songs by blacks reduces to either ignorance (of USA slavery's brutal history), immaturity, greed (to make a quick dollar or to become rich until they are willing to compromise their self-respect and a respect for public decency), or a form of self-hate speech. Blacks, generally speaking, are not too quick to criticize their own people who use the "n" word. Yet, some blacks are very quick to criticize whites who use the "n" word. It is a double standard that should not be. Either everybody should freely use the "n" word or nobody should use it. My preference is for nobody to use the "n" word. To be sure, when some blacks keep disrespecting themselves by their continued use of the derogatory "n" word or by their lack of self-discipline to refrain from using the derogatory "n" word, then how on Earth do they expect other non-blacks to respect them when some blacks outrightly refuse to respect themselves? It is true that the USA's freedom of speech permits recording artists to say whatever they wish in their lyrics, but is it the responsible thing to do to use expletives, racial slurs, gender slurs, and calls to violence in songs? The true key to historical success is to remain tactful and respectful. This double standard also applies to black-on-black murders. Blacks do not voice too much outrage at the cases of black-on-black murders in the USA; however, blacks are quick to take to the streets to express outrage and condemnation at cases of white-on-black murders. In the case of black-on-black murders, perhaps there is a kernel of truth to the Reverend Jesse Jackson's joke that says "When blacks murder whites, it's jail time. When whites murder blacks, it's riot time. But, when blacks murder blacks, then it's Miller time." In other words, the cases of black-on-black murders are treated by blacks as not being too big of a deal. Anytime someone commits an act of murder, regardless of race, then this act of murder should be considered a very big deal. These double standards should not be. All murders should be condemned. All life is precious. All humans should be held to the same high standard of ethical conduct. Watch (Shots Fired and Chaos Breaks out over the New Jordan Gamma Blue 11) To be sure, it is a very sad commentary on the mindset of some black American youths when they stand in long lines and proceed to engage in fighting, rioting, and gunplay simply to be among the first, say, to purchase the latest pair of [Nike] sneakers. The reader should note that these shopping brawls are not exclusive to blacks. Similar shopping brawls occur across the USA every so-called Black Friday. One key difference between the Black Friday shopping melees and the shopping melees over [Nike] sneakers is this: In the case of the Black Friday Christmas shoppers, generally speaking, are seeking to pay the lowest possible price for the items on sale. The Black Friday Christmas shoppers are in search of steep discounts or the best bargains so as to save a lot of money. In the case of the [Nike] sneaker shoppers, many of these shoppers only seek to make a vanity statement regardless of the price of the sneakers—albeit some of them do seek to purchase and resale the sneakers on the World Wide Web at a higher price for a profit. Whether they are [Nike] sneaker shoppers or Black Friday Christmas shoppers, no brawling, rioting, looting, or gunplay over merchandise is ever excusable or justified. Watch (Americans Rush to Get the Best Holiday Deals) I know that there is a propensity in USA society to blame or use blacks as scapegoats for most of the society's social ills. Admittedly, a handful of blacks often bring most of this unflattering attention upon themselves. As a part of their slavery heritage, USA blacks have been taught to hate themselves. To this day, as of 2015, some blacks in the USA are still struggling to overcome this self-hatred as is evidenced by them engaging in endless acts of fighting and gunplay. As the next video illustrates, there could be nothing else except hatred, plain and simple, which would motivate a young adult to go shoot up a block party of innocent bystanders and partygoers. How often do you see, say, Chinese Americans engaging in this type of drive-by shooting behavior or bringing this type of unflattering attention upon themselves? The answer is practically never. Why is that? The answer is because Chinese Americans, generally speaking, tend to lead disciplined and principled lives with an absence of self-hatred. The reason is because Chinese Americans are too busy trying to get a good education, better themselves, and secure their niche in society rather than to be engaged in fighting and gunplay. For, as I mention on the "Derailers" page of this website, when you preoccupy your time with constructive pursuits, then there is very little time remaining in the day for you to get into mischief or to get into trouble with the law. Watch (Birthday Party In North Philadelphia Turns Into Chaos as Gunman Opens Fire, Injuring 5 Including Chi) Despite the black-on-black fighting and gunplay, the truth of the matter is this: By no means do blacks hold a monopoly on this type of errant social behavior. There are crooks, thieves, cheaters, liars, robbers, swindlers, abusers, addicts, murderers, and so forth, to be found among all races and from all walks of life. All kinds of crimes are committed on a daily basis across Earth by humans from all walks of life. Blacks tend to garner the most media attention when these kinds of counterproductive activities come to be viewed as being the epitome of egregiousness or when various counterproductive acts are taken to the negative extreme. A lot of the present-day, black-on-black crimes and gunplay appear to be rooted in illicit substances. On the one hand, there are running skirmishes on public streets between rival gang factions who compete for territory in the manufacture, distribution, and/or sale of illicit substances. On the other hand, some abusers of these illicit substances have little to no disposal income. As a result, they resort to committing crimes to obtain money to support their addictions. Moreover, perhaps in a quest for respect, there appears to be an unspoken code of conduct that governs life in the underworld where illicit substances reside; it is a code of conduct that is permeated by calculated, cruel, cold, brutal, vicious, violent, and lethal kinds of behaviors. Supposedly, those who sit at the top of these criminal enterprises are sending a message to their rivals that goes something like this: If you cross me the wrong way, then you'll be pushing up daisies. Clever marketing is the thing that seems to get some humans overly excited about obtaining certain products—coupled with the products being truly unique, fashionable, and innovative. I'm sure that some of those marketing gurus must be sitting in their corporate suites, giving one another high fives, and toasting with glasses of champagne whenever they see shoppers standing in long lines to purchase certain products such as the rollout of a new model of [Nike] sneakers, a Cabbage Patch doll, or the rollout of a new smartphone. Long lines and public frenzies over a certain product are indicators that the marketing gurus have done a highly successful job at promoting the product to the public or promoting the product to a certain segment of the public. One of the chief forms of marketing, of course, is advertisements. The chief indicator of a successful marketing campaign is to have generated that must-have feeling among consumers for a given product. Another indicator of a successful marketing campaign is to have established loyalty among consumers with a solid sense of confidence that the producer of the product is highly credible and is highly competent. Marketing and capitalism are a marriage made in Heaven, so to speak, which is not a bad thing per se except that a lot of wasteful production does occur in the process. Whether the underlying production is wasteful or not, the job of marketers is to sell products. In the final analysis, though, in capitalist-oriented societies, the good production outweighs the bad production by a long stretch. Watch (Lilly Pulitzer Collection Causes Frenzy for Target) To be sure, there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with standing in a long line for hours to purchase a product that you strongly wish to own if that is how you choose to spend your time and money. It is your time and your money, and you are free to do with them whatever you choose. The point is to remain orderly, civil, calm, and respectful of others the entire time while standing in line. The point is to live principled and disciplined lives such that long lines do not degenerate into arguing, shoving, brawling, fighting, rioting, looting, or gunplay. Example 2 of Humans Behaving Badly: Paparazzi Coverage of Celebrities Another instance of irresponsible behavior would have to be the unwanted paparazzi coverage of celebrities. Some of the unwanted paparazzi coverage is overkill, and it borders on being insane. Some of the unwanted paparazzi coverage borders on endangering the safety of celebrities. It generally is believed that Princess Diana would be alive today if it were not for the presence of unwanted paparazzi photographers. But, let there be no mistake about it: There are some celebrities who want to receive and who are flattered by receiving a lot of paparazzi coverage. The paparazzi coverage keeps them in the public spotlight, tends to extend the shelf life of their careers, and generally leads to more opportunities to earn money. Watch (One Direction Singer Harassed by Photographers: Court Orders Paparazzi to Stay Away) Example 3 of Humans Behaving Badly: Cyberspace Attacks and the Dark Web Another instance of irresponsible human behavior comes in the form of cyberspace attacks on the innocent including all kinds of illicit conduct on the World Wide Web. Given the Information Superhighway's susceptibility to hackers, viruses, spyware, malware, phishing, spam, worms, schemers, fraudsters, and so forth, cyberspace attackers have proven to be an annoyance, a nuisance, an inconvenience, a financial liability, and so forth, to households, governments, businesses, and organizations alike that regularly use the World Wide Web as a part of their day-to-day activities. The iceberg usually is used as a metaphor to depict how the World Wide Web is categorized. Typically, the World Wide Web is categorized into three broad groups. They are as follows: Surface Web - These websites normally are indexed and presented to users by the major search engines. One popular gateway to the Surface Web is through a web directory such as the dmoz.org web directory. Bruessard.com, for instance, is a part of the Surface Web community. Deep Web - These websites generally are not indexed by the major search engines but are devoted to the dissemination of information and knowledge usually for the common good or for the betterment of humankind. An example of a repository of Deep Web information would be the worldwidescience.org website. Dark Web - These websites tend to appeal to the prurient, salacious, and illicit interests of humans. These Dark Web kinds of pages make appeals to the darkest sides of human nature. The objective of these Dark Web pages seems to be for humans to keep their minds in the gutter. The Dark Web is the modern-day equivalent of the serpent in the Garden of Eden coaxing Adam and Eve to take a bite of the forbidden fruit. Much like curiosity got the better of Adam and Eve who bit of the forbidden fruit, visitors to the Dark Web have chosen to take a bite of its forbidden fruit, too. An example of a search engine that provides a limited gateway into the world of the Dark Web would be the ahmia.fi website. The Deep Web and the Dark Web comprise the so-called "invisible" web (because their storehouses of information are hidden from view of search engines and are hidden from view of the typical web surfer who resides above water, to use the iceberg analogy). Sometimes the terms "Deep Web" and "Dark Web" are used interchangeably as if they mean the same thing. They are not the same thing. In its simplest form, the Deep Web generally is associated with publicly available research-related, education-related, government-related, or business-related types of data. The Dark Web, on the other hand, generally is associated with privately owned data that is sometimes of a decadent, bizarre, or unlawful nature. Based on the estimates of some, only about 5% of data on the World Wide Web comprises the Surface Web or "visible" web. The remaining 95% of data on the World Wide Web is said to be comprised of either the Deep Web or the Dark Web. With the growing popularity of tools to navigate the Dark Web such as the Tor browser or the Tails operating system, who knows what type of counterproductive schemes that these cyberspace renegades and miscreants will be devising next. I know that it sounds like a cliche, but perhaps one of the best forms of security against cyberspace attacks is to "just say no" to visiting websites that promote the viewing and spreading of depraved and unlawful types of materials, products, compromising software tools, stealing software tools, spying software tools, and so forth. The reader should know that, personally speaking, I have never visited the Dark Web. I have no intentions of ever visiting the Dark Web (except perhaps to conduct very limited research one day). Refraining from visiting the Dark Web happens to be one of those occasions where self-discipline comes into play. My secondhand account of the Dark Web on this page essentially is based on the firsthand accounts of others who have actually visited the Dark Web and written about it. There already exists more than enough prurient, salacious, and illicit materials on the Surface Web let alone going to the Dark Web to see even darker versions of this same kind of stuff. On the bright side of things, one popular Dark Web phenomenon that has begun to go mainstream on the Surface Web in a positive way is the use of bitcoins as a form of currency in commerce. Watch (Cyber Security History, Threats, & Solutions ~ 2013) Watch (Computer Security) Going forward into the future, when it comes to irresponsible cyberspace conduct, the idea is to create and build useful (digital) products for the benefit of humanity. The idea is to do something digitally in life to uplift humanity. The idea is not to go into society and destroy, disrupt, and steal things from others. For those who create and spread viruses, spyware, malware, phishing, spam, worms, and so forth, across the World Wide Web, the idea is not to inflict unnecessary misery, havoc, woe, heartache, and hardship on innocent users of the World Wide Web. Instead of being assaulted with fists, these kinds of cyberspace attacks on others are the equivalent of World Wide Web users receiving a digital, electronic, or cyber beat down. Example 4 of Humans Behaving Badly: Suicide Bombers and Suicide Murderers To conclude this sidebar discussion about irresponsible human behavior, the point is this: There is more than enough irresponsible behavior occurring across Earth each day by humans from all walks of life to go around. Take, the militant Islamic extremists, for instance. Except murdering humans while they innocently are sleeping in bed, murdering students while they innocently are studying in school, or beheading innocent humans who were kidnapped for no apparent reason, perhaps there is nothing more irresponsible than randomly detonating a (car) bomb in the midst of innocent commuters, pedestrians, shoppers, and worshippers. Lots of innocent men, women, and children are either injured or killed by these random acts of hatred and violence. Those innocent commuters, pedestrians, shoppers, and worshippers are not military combatants. I find it hard to fathom that Allah (God) would sanction this random type of killing of innocent humans for no obvious reason except perhaps hatred. I refuse to believe that Allah (God) condones hatred. I find it hard to fathom that Allah (God) would command His followers to show no consideration, appreciation, or mercy for the sanctity of human life. Watch (Car Bomb Explosion Caught on Tape in Erbil, Iraq) Example 5 of Humans Behaving Badly: Mass Shootings and Mass Killings Equally, in the USA, recurring mass shootings and mass killings are the epitome of irresponsible behavior. When will this seemingly never-ending cycle of senseless hatred, violence, gunplay, and murder be broken? In the case of the USA, some would argue that the shootings and killings will end when America ends its love affair and obsession with firearms. Read (USA TODAY | BEHIND THE BLOODSHED: THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICA'S MASS KILLINGS) Read (Deadliest U.S. mass shootings - Timelines - Los Angeles Times)

Throughout human history, there always have been those who claim that they can foresee the future. There always have been those who claim that they know exactly when the world will come to an end (effectively, when human life on Earth will come to an end) and how it will come to an end. In more recent memory, due chiefly to media hype, some humans seriously believed that the world would come to an end during the year 2012 in accordance with their reading of the ancient Mayan calendar. Some religious sects do exploit this belief in an impending doomsday, apocalypse, or day of reckoning to recruit converts. Of course, when the year 2013 arrived, the Earth kept spinning on its axis as it has been spinning for the past 4 billion years. When 2013 arrived, life on Earth continued to go about its business as usual. The 2012 doomsayers were discredited.

Those who knew that the Earth has been spinning on its axis for more than 4 billion years also knew that the Earth was not going to suddenly stop spinning, for no apparent reason, when the clock struck 2013. Over 300 years earlier dating back to the late 1600's, Sir Isaac Newton already had explained to humans that the only way for the Earth, say, to stop spinning on its axis would be for a gargantuan unbalanced force to be applied to Earth such as a force strong enough to push the Earth away from its orbit of the Sun. If an unbalanced force were to one day cause the Earth to leave its orbit of the Sun, then this event truly would be an apocalyptic moment for life on Earth. Those who were familiar with Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion were not the least bit spooked or fazed by the 2012 doomsayers. Those who were familiar with Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion knew that this Earth would not be going anyplace for no apparent reason unless a large enough unbalanced force were to be applied to it before the clock struck 2013. At present, the dominant unbalanced force at work on Earth is the pull of the Sun's dominant gravity on Earth towards the Sun.

In other words, according to the work of Sir Isaac Newton, the changing of a date on the calendar would not constitute the type of force needed to cause life on Earth to come to an end. For instance, the changing of a date of the calendar would not magically cause the Earth to stop spinning on its axis or would not magically cause the Earth to leave its orbit of the Sun.

Through math, Sir Isaac Newton (born 1642) provided humans with the first comprehensive mathematical construct to describe how the heavens work. In essence, Sir Isaac Newton succeeded Johannes Kepler (born 1571) by providing humans with an alternate and a more powerful mathematical description of how the heavens work than the description provided earlier by Johannes Kepler. Albert Einstein (born 1879), in turn, succeeded Sir Isaac Newton by providing humans with an alternate and an even more powerful and a more elegant mathematical description of how the heavens work than the description provided by Sir Isaac Newton. Albert Einstein also sought to create a unified mathematical construct that at once described how matter behaves both at the celestial and at the molecular or quantum levels. Albert Einstein was not successful with his unified theory (much like Sir Isaac Newton was not successful in his alchemic pursuit of producing gold). Nevertheless, Albert Einstein's revelation about time dilation and the twin paradox, by itself, was quite a jarring and a tantalizing one. As of 2015, the world still awaits Albert Einstein's successor.

As another sidebar, it was nothing short of miraculous and pure genius how Sir Isaac Newton single-handedly deduced how the heavens work. Following is an elementary-level presentation to illustrate how Sir Isaac Newton determined that the apple and Moon were falling towards the Earth in the same manner.

According to the accounts of scientists, Sir Isaac Newton was able to validate the force of gravity at work on Earth and in the heavens because he already knew that an apple falls or accelerates towards Earth's center at a rate of 9.80665 meters per second squared.

According to Sir Isaac Newton, the strength of gravity between two objects, in this case, the Earth and Moon, gets weaker by the square of their distances. Sir Isaac Newton knew that the distance from Earth to the Moon was approximately 60 Earth radii away (that is, one Earth radius is equivalent to 6,371 kilometers or 3,959 miles therefore 60 radii would be equivalent to roughly 382,260 kilometers or 237,540 miles), which explains why the strength or pull of the Earth's gravity on the Moon would be 1 ÷ 3600 (instead of 1 ÷ 60 with the number 60 representing 60 Earth radii away from Earth to the Moon). When you divide the Earth's gravity at the Earth surface (that is, 9.80665 meters per second squared) by Earth's gravity on the Moon (that is, 3600th the strength), the Moon's acceleration rate towards Earth becomes roughly 0.00272406944444444 meter per second squared (that is, 9.80665 ÷ 3600). It should be noted that 384,000 kilometers (or 384,000,000 million meters) are used in the formula below as the radius from Earth to the Moon instead of the rough estimate of 382,260 kilometers.

Based on Galileo Galilei's study of motion, Sir Isaac Newton also knew that all objects fall with the same acceleration regardless of their masses. Accordingly, Sir Isaac Newton already knew that the apple travels or falls towards Earth at a distance of 4.903325 meters per second. Sir Isaac Newton needed to show that the Moon also is constantly and perpetually accelerating or falling towards Earth in the same fashion as the apple. The formula to show that all objects fall with the same acceleration is given as:

Where,

• d = distance (unknown value)
  
• a = acceleration (velocity) due to the force of gravity
  
• t = time period (such as seconds, minutes, or hours)
  

After plugging the Earth's values into the formula, it can be seen that, with all other things being equal, in one second, the apple falls 4.903325 meters towards the Earth's surface:

The challenge for Sir Isaac Newton was to demonstrate that, in one second, the Moon falls in a similar fashion towards the Earth's surface. After plugging the Moon's values into the same formula, it can be seen that the Moon travels towards Earth at a distance of 0.00136203472222222 meter per second. This final bit of information was all that Sir Isaac Newton needed to demonstrate that the Moon is constantly falling towards Earth in the same manner as the apple falls towards Earth.

When the Earth and Moon's acceleration rates and travel distances are known, then it becomes a matter of using proportions or ratios to demonstrate that the Moon is constantly falling towards Earth in the same manner as the apple falls towards Earth.

If two ratios have the same cross product, then the two ratios are proportionate, equal, equivalent, or the same. Based on the same cross products of 0.013257718 for the apple and Moon in the formula below, it can be concluded that the Moon, indeed, falls towards the Earth in the same fashion as the apple falls towards Earth.

Take proportions first, the problem and solution would look like this:

Next, using ratios, the problem and solution would look like this:

Ratios and proportions represent two simplistic ways of demonstrating Sir Isaac Newton's proof that the Moon and the apple have equivalent acceleration rates towards Earth due to the force of gravity. Scientists have used Sir Isaac Newton's calculations to place artificial satellites in orbit around Earth—and in orbit around other planets and moons throughout the Solar System—in effect, inducing those artificial satellites to mimic the way the Moon orbits Earth.

Due to the curvature or circular shape of Earth, the Earth's gravity is causing the Moon to constantly fall towards the Earth along this same curved shape or circular path. Though constantly falling in the direction of Earth due to the Earth's gravity, the Moon will never reach Earth or will never crash into Earth unless some unbalanced force were to one day act upon the Moon and cause the Moon to accelerate towards Earth at a much faster rate than its current 0.00272406944444444 meter per second squared rate of acceleration towards Earth.

To be sure, the orbit of the planets are so orderly, predictable, and measurable until some have concluded that nobody other than God could have set such an orderly Solar System orbital process in motion. It should be noted, however, that objects in the Solar System did not always obey the neat, consistent, and orderly orbits the way that they do today. According to scientists, it took billions of years of evolution for the planets to form and ultimately to establish their current orbits around the Sun. Even today, a bit of chaos and violence remains in the Solar System. Some space objects (namely, asteroids and meteoroids emanating from the asteroid belt and from the Kuiper Belt) still crash into planets and moons. Some space objects still crash into one another. Most scientists believe that it is all but certain that a giant asteroid is bound to crash into Earth on some future date (perhaps thousands or even millions of years from the present time).

In the illustration above, the rather crude radii method was used to compute the Moon's acceleration rate towards Earth. Another way to compute the Moon's acceleration towards Earth would be to use Sir Isaac Newton's acceleration formula:

Where,

• a = acceleration due to the force of gravity (unknown value)
  
• G = Gravitational constant (6.67428 × 10⁻¹¹ m³ kg⁻¹ s⁻²)
  
• m₁ = mass of Earth (5.9736 × 10²⁴ kg)
  
• r = radius from Earth to Moon (384,000,000 million meters)
  

Notice how there is little difference between the two Moon-to-Earth acceleration rates (that is, the 0.00272406944444444 crude rate versus the 0.00270382208984375 formula rate) that were computed by using separate methods. It is quite remarkable to think that, thanks to Sir Isaac Newton, humans can actually compute and measure these kinds of celestial forces in Nature. In most instances, these celestial forces are far removed from Earth.

See also: Newtonian Gravity

What is the lesson to be learned from the 2012 end-of-the-world debacle? The lesson to be learned from the 2012 end-of-the-world debacle is this: All of this recurring human chatter about an impending doomsday, apocalypse, or day of reckoning reduces to nothing more than fictional speculation by certain misinformed and misguided sect members who seek to gain new recruits or converts. These sect members make these kinds of incredulous claims to exploit and prey upon the fears of the gullible, superstitious, and the uneducated. The closest things to an apocalypse occurring on Earth would be an asteroid strike by Nature or an all-out nuclear exchange by humans. There are other worrisome things about the tenuous nature of life on Earth and human survival, too, such as the outbreak of a global pandemic; uncontrollable global warming; and so forth. In other words, it would take a lot to destroy the Earth itself. It would not take quite as much to destroy or alter the course of life on Earth.

The chief point here about God's existence is this: Nobody on Earth knows with 100% certainty whether or not God exists. And, if it turns out that God does exist, nobody on Earth knows with 100% certainty when God will choose to visit Earth. For billions of humans, faith in God's existence is enough to sustain them. I wish to quadruply emphasize here that I wholeheartedly support the freedom of religious worship. As I have stated elsewhere on this website, it is a big Universe out there in deep space. You just never know what exists out there in deep space. Some type of God very well might exist somewhere out there in deep space. Based on what I know and have experienced so far in life, I personally won't be holding my breath while waiting for God to arrive and make a positive difference on Earth. I will be among the first to admit that sometimes it appears as if the organized religious faiths are the sources of more misunderstanding, division, and conflict between humans instead of being sources of greater human understanding, conciliation, tolerance, and unity. The very definition of a free (and civilized) society means that you are free to believe whatever you want to believe without recourse to hatred, violence, and killing from those who do not share your beliefs. A free (and civilized) society means that you are free to believe whatever you want to believe as long as you do not harm anyone else in the process of practicing your faith.

Although I personally have chosen to follow the path of science (because it makes the most sense to me, personally speaking), it is of no concern to me whether humans choose to follow Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, atheism, animism, voodooism, science, secularism, and so forth, in their daily practices and beliefs. To me, it all comes back to Rodney King when he simply asked, "Can we all get along?" Can humans learn to treat one another with courtesy and respect regardless of race, color, age, creed, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, physical disability, place of national origin, social background, political ideology, economic ideology, and so forth? For, in the final analysis, it is true that you cannot legislate morality. You truly cannot make or force humans to want to get along with one another. Morality is one of those traits that humans must embrace and exhibit on their own volition. The desire for, and the commitment to, positive human relations genuinely, naturally, voluntarily, and willingly must flow from the hearts and minds of ordinary humans. I only seek to inspire humans to choose a future of Heaven on Earth over Hell. Choosing Heaven on Earth for the living is a winning scenario for the human species because it is a surviving scenario.

EPIPHANY, OR AN EYE-OPENING MOMENT OF CLARITY

In closing, in some small way, I hope that this "Tolerance and Respect" page has resonated with you. I hope that this page has been illuminating and insightful for you. I hope that this page has touched you in a positive way. Although, at times, this page has been critical of others, nothing negative was intended. The criticism was meant to be constructive and instructive. This website is about uniting humans, not dividing them. This website is about humans progressing into something better, not regressing into something worse. This website is about building, not destroying. This website is about harmony between humans, not discord. This website is about positivity, not negativity. This website is about getting after the truth about life on Earth and the human condition. This website is about humans choosing a Heaven-like existence on Earth, not a Hell-like existence. This website is about humans choosing life over death. This website is about human survival, not human extinction. I hope that this particular "Tolerance and Respect" page has brought a degree of clarity to you concerning the present-day human condition. The time has come for the entire human species to experience that epiphanic moment. The time has come for that proverbial light bulb to go off, that is, when it all becomes so crystal clear to the entire human species. Here's what's crystal clear to me about Life and Existence: Humans are on their own on planet Earth, and life on Earth is what they choose to make of it. Either humans can choose wisely or foolishly to proceed into the future. It's pretty much as simple as that.

The following table represents a tabular depiction of Dr. Carl Sagan's cosmic calendar. To help humans understand the prevailing scientific perspective on Life and Existence and to help humans grasp the immensity of the Universe, Dr. Carl Sagan compressed all of known time and space into a one-year calendar. Using the calendar metaphor to represent time and space (or Existence), according to Dr. Carl Sagan, each day on the calendar would be the equivalent of 40 million years. Using a 365-day year, the full calendar would equate to a Universe that was 14,600,000,000 (billion) years old, that is, 40,000,000 (million) years per day times a 365-day calendar representing one year = 14,600,000,000 years old. When 14,600,000,000 years are divided by 12 months per year, then the average month would represent about 1,216,666,667 (billion) years. Most scientific writings cite the Universe as being about 13.7 billion years old. Rather than use fractional years for greater precision, I am sure that Dr. Carl Sagan elected to use the number 40,000,000 to represent one day because it was an easy-to-read and easy-to-compute rounded number much like 24 hours per day is an easy-to-use, rounded number.

On his cosmic calendar, Dr. Carl Sagan stated that each second was the equivalent of 500 years. The table below zooms in to take a closer look at the cosmic calendar. The table below examines the month of December, in general, and December 31st, in particular. December 31st is when the human species makes its appearance on the cosmic calendar. The table below gives particular attention to the last 60 seconds of December 31st.

When examining December 31st, at 500 years a second, a minute would equate to the passage of 30,000 years (that is, 500 years per second times 60 second per minute = 30,000 years per minute). An hour would equate to the passage of 1,800,000 (million) years (that is, 30,000 years per minute times 60 minutes per hour = 1,800,000 years per hour). A day would equate to the passage of 43,200,000 (million) years (that is, 30,000 years per minute times 60 minutes per hour * 24 hours per day = 43,200,000 years per day). December 31st, therefore, would equate to the passage of 43,200,000 (million) years. In the table below, at 11:59:59:00 p.m., notice how 43,199,500 years plus 500 years are equal to 43,200,000 years. Also, beginning at 11:59:00 p.m. and running to 11:59:59 p.m., notice how these final 60 seconds of the year add up to 30,000 or 500 years per second. It should be noted that, due to using a rounded number of 500 years per second, the 43,200,000 years representing December 31st in the table below is slightly different from the 40,000,000 (million) years per day used in the above table representing the full year.

The table below indicates that the hominids or ape-like beings began appearing on Earth around 10:20:00 p.m. of December 31st or on the 80,401th second of the day. About 5,980 seconds later (that is, the 86,381st second minus the 80,401st second = 5,980 elapsed seconds), modern humans began to appear on Earth around 11:59:40 p.m. of December 31st or on the 86,381th second of a 86,400-second day (that is, 60 seconds per minute times 60 minutes per hour = 3600 seconds per hour times 24 hours per day = 86,400 seconds in a day).

During the 20-second window of time from when modern humans first appeared on Earth to the present day, that is, from 11:59:40 p.m. to 11:59:59 p.m. on December 31st, or for the past 10,000 years, various civilizations have emerged on Earth. For their benefit, humans have erected an artificial world within the confines of the natural world as symbolized by their organized cities. During this 10,000-year period of human history, great empires have risen and fallen. Right now, at the 86,400th second of December 31st, humans have witnessed the demise of colonialism and the emergence of nuclear weapons and superpowers. Does the emergence of nuclear weapons into human existence signal the first marker of doom or the beginning of the end for the human species?

What is the major present-day difference between various historical human civilizations? The answer is science and technology. Those civilizations that chose to pursue the scientific educational path and secularism in daily life, generally speaking and from a technological standpoint, have advanced more rapidly than those civilizations preoccupied with religious worship and fighting where daily life is permeated by all things pertaining to a given religious faith. A tradition of political democracy coupled with market-driven economic institutions also appear to play salient roles in spurring development. The final second of December 31st also marks the beginning of year 2 of the cosmic calendar. What will humans do with the current 500-year bloc of time remaining on the cosmic calendar from 11:59:59 p.m. of December 31st to 12:00:00 a.m. of January 1st? During this current 500-year bloc of time, will humankind survive to witness year 2 of the cosmic calendar, or will humankind go extinct before year 2 arrives? The answer, it seems, resides in the hands of humans and their chosen leaders.

The next graphic provides a ribbon-like timeline of life on Earth. Although Earth-centered, the next graphic provides an alternate way to view (the latter part of) the cosmic calendar.

In terms of a different way forward for humans to move into the future, the time has come for humans to mend their ways. The time has come for humans to get serious about their survival as a species. The time has come for humans to get their minds right, unify, and start preparing for 22nd century living. The time has come for humans to forsake hatred, violence, gunplay, wars, and murder. The time has come for peace on Earth and goodwill between humans to reign as a matter of daily course. Historically, whenever human conflict arises within a given community, one of their first instincts has been to grab a gun and start shooting and killing one another. Whenever human conflict arises between nations, one of their first instincts has been to grab a bomb and start bombing one another. It is only after humans have satiated their thirst for blood—or after one party to the conflict surrenders—do calmer heads seem to prevail. The time has come for humans to wise up and vacate or abandon these primitive and superstitious ways of thinking. A more sensible way forward into the future does exist, and it does not involve hatred, violence, guns, bombs, wars, killing, and the supernatural.

It has been said that ignorance is bliss, but I am not so sure about that particular saying. It seems to me that Knowledge and wisdom are bliss. The time has come for the entire human species to wise up and "Stay Down" (Mary J. Blige) or to live disciplined and principled lives.

In their quest for a state of Heaven on Earth for the living to prevail each day as a matter of course, one of the most difficult challenges that humans face is for them to find a way to surmount or overcome the religious barrier that separates or divides them from one another. Other barriers for humans to overcome include racial barriers, social-economic-political barriers, geopolitical-tribal barriers, and so forth. What is the alternative for humans? It seems to me that the alternative for humans is a daily life of Hell on Earth instead of Heaven. It seems to me that the alternative for humans is extinction. Why should humans choose a daily life of Hell on Earth when they just as well can have a daily life of Heaven on Earth? Why should humans choose death and extinction when they just as well can choose life and prosperity? A very wise human species would choose a daily life of Heaven on Earth for the living over a daily life of Hell. A very wise human species would choose life and prosperity over death and extinction.

Instead of striving for greater tolerance, some humans tend to become overly preoccupied with self-importance, acquiring material possessions, and remaining highly successful in life. They tend to take a snobbish or an aloof view of the less fortunate members of society—and I do not necessarily refer to the so-called super rich or the multimillionaires and billionaires of the world. Some members of society tend to look down upon the less fortunate members of society in a derogatory manner. When a spirit of self-importance takes hold and becomes widespread in society, then citizens begin to become arrogant. Citizens begin to view one another with suspicion and distrust. Humans begin to view one another as foe rather than as friend. An us-versus-them mentality takes holds and begins to become the predominant mindset or societal milieu.

At the same time, whether justified or not, it must be acknowledged that sometimes the snobbery can be attributed to a genuine social disconnect by those who live a certain type of lifestyle. That is to say, without any malice of heart or without any feelings of prejudice, some members of society genuinely perceive that the lifestyle of certain others is repugnant, unbecoming, or tactless. Some of these more fortunate members of society wish to put as much social distance—and in some cases, as much physical distance—as possible between themselves and the so-called repugnant others. For instance, if you live a lifestyle such that you like to keep a well-manicured lawn, then you do not wish to live next door to someone who habitually tosses trash on the ground or never mows his or her lawn. If you prefer to live a quiet and peaceful lifestyle, then you do not want to live next door to someone who is always loud and boisterous. If you like to keep your home well-maintained, then you do not want to live next door to some who allows his home to fall into disrepair or allows his home to become a blight upon the neighborhood. For instance, if you prefer to live a quiet and peaceful lifestyle, then you do not want to live next door to someone who attracts drive-by shootings with one of your family members potentially becoming a victim of one of those stray bullets. When you come home from a hard day's work or when you are at home relaxing on weekends, about the last thing you want to do is to have to engage in endless bickering with ill-intentioned, uncaring, abrasive, abusive, or uncooperative neighbors over such things as littering, stealing, being a public nuisance, and so forth. To minimize friction in society, perhaps it might be more desirable to develop lifestyle communities to accommodate these varying human tastes for living. Despite the misgivings by some upper social classes of the lower social classes, at a minimum, all humans must learn to treat one another with courtesy and respect in their daily interactions.

As I have stated elsewhere on this website, in terms of human survival, it really is not important whether or not God exists. In terms of human survival, what truly matters is that the peoples of Earth learn to live in peace. The most important thing is for the peoples of the Earth to treat one another with courtesy and respect as a matter of daily course.

When will the day arrive on Earth where,

• A family could travel and stay abroad for, say, 5 or 20 years, leave every door and window to its home wide open, and not have a single item disturbed when that family returned home after having spent 5 or 20 years living in another country?
• A family could leave every door and window to its home wide open each night and not have to worry about, say, a criminal, intruder, thief, molester, murderer, rapist, or terrorist entering the property to commit acts of evil?
• A merchant could leave the door to his or her store wide open or the doors to the shopping mall unlocked each night, return the next day, and find that not a single item has been disturbed?

In other words, when will the day arrive on Earth when the human species elevates its conduct to the highest ethical plane as a natural course of daily life? I know that there are naysayers out there who will be quick to reply that the answer to this question is, "Never." It is a sad commentary on the human condition when people cannot freely move around all places on Earth without fear of becoming a victim of violence, crime, hatred, kidnapping, or seemingly unwarranted physical detention. Yet, I remain the eternal optimist. I have faith in humans. I think that, eventually one day, humans, as a species, will get their act together and will do the right thing on Earth and in deep space.

FANCY FOOTWORK, OR GREAT PERFORMANCES

As has become something of a closing tradition on this website, I wish to close this particular page, too, on a positive, upbeat, joyful, hopeful, and celebratory note. I wish to close this page with a little bit of fancy footwork. Through music, song, and dance, the following bloc of videos is meant to symbolize the peoples of the Earth moving from a state of perpetual discord to a state of eternal harmony.

Are you ready for some excitement? Are you ready for some great performances? Are you ready to have some fun? Are you ready to be amazed? Are you ready to be impressed? Are you ready to be delighted? Are you ready to be entertained? Are you ready to be thrilled? Are you ready to have a good time? Are you ready to party? Are you ready to dance? Are you ready to boogie with the number one jam session on the planet? Are you ready to hum along and dance? Are you ready to live it up? Are you ready for some fancy footwork? Do you want to stomp? Are you thirsting to celebrate? Are you thirsting for some joy and laughter?

Well, thirst no more. You have arrived at the right place. The moment has arrived for your thirst to be quenched. The celebration is going down right here, right now, this day. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and peoples of the Earth, without further delay, it's show time! Drum roll. Curtains, please!

To dance is to celebrate. If nothing else, having the good fortune to have been born into life on Earth is something worth celebrating. If nothing else, having the good fortune to wake up, open your eyes, and greet each morning with a beating heart is something worth celebrating. If nothing else, to walk around Earth each day breathing fresh air among the living is something worth celebrating. Earth teems with life, and most of it is immobile greenery. If nothing else, having your good physical and mental health is something worth celebrating. Humans must learn to appreciate, preserve, and celebrate life on Earth in all of its diversity, not abuse, murder, and destroy life. Life on Earth is tenuous. One day you could be walking above ground among the living, and the next day you could be buried below ground among the deceased. For this tenuous reason alone, life is worth cherishing and celebrating. Life on Earth is what humans choose to make of it.

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