Letters to the Editor
Mike_in_New_Mexico
Published Letters: 55 Editor's Choice: 5
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March in Minnesota must be very bad...
[Read the article: Thinking weaselish thoughts at Eastertide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Oh dear. March in Minnesota must be very bad if its got Keillor doubting his faith.
Well, at least for the moment, welcome to the agnostics club.
I was like you for many years. I believed in a God, but couldn't decide exactly what that meant. I only knew that most organized religions seemed like hypocritical bunk. Eventually, I figured out that either there was no God, or that if there was he or she didn't give a damn about the daily activities of your average human.
In the end, I've found that being an atheist to be more fulfilling and "real" than being a Christian. Once you discard the notion of an afterlife, you realize that all we have is each other right now. Doing good things such as "community service" and just being an all around decent person is something you do because you honestly want to do it, not because you are trying to get into heaven. This is not a test or practice run. I'm sure that agnosticism and atheism seem like a black hole of meaningless uncertainty to most devoutly religious people, but I assure you that its not.
I suspect you'll regain your faith about the time the April showers melt that last bit of gray snow and turn everything green again. Nothing is lovelier than spring in the midwest (I grew up in Ohio). However, if it doesn't, welcome to the club!
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Hoosier Daddy
[Read the article: Thinking weaselish thoughts at Eastertide]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No, most atheists don't blame all of the worlds woes on the religious. This is no more true than saying that pentecostal snake handlers are representative of all Christians. Atheism is at least as old as religion. These so called neo-atheists are claiming to speak for all of us and giving atheism a bad name.
However, if Christianity was just living a life dedicated to peace and justice and/or living according to your convictions, I'd sign up in a minute. There's a lot more to it than that. To be a Christian is to believe in a complex theology. At least on the major points of the religion, one can not pick and choose. For example, one could hardly write off the resurrection and the virgin birth as myths or "PR" and be a christian! If all you believe in is a "higher power" and to live your life "as Jesus did," you are an agnostic, not a Christian.
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Dumb story
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What's the point of this story? That all of the protesters are just involved in meaningless politics? Heaven forbid anyone have an opinion about the Olympics that is anything but positive.
The entire idea that sport will somehow triumph over oppression and hate is total bullshit. China will attempt to use these games as PR to convince the world that its not a brutal dictatorship. Let's wait and see if the world wide sports media buys this line of crap this summer. I bet they will. I hope you and Salon wont be involved in that.
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takes me back to my childhood
[Read the article: Those Delta blues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This article takes me back to my childhood, before deregulation. I used to take the light rail line from my home to the Cleveland airport, cross through security without a ticket, and go up to the observation deck and watch planes land and take off. Posters of planes hung on the walls of my bedroom, including one of the Spirit of St. Louis. My fondest memories of being 10 or 12 are of trips to the Dayton Air force Museum and the Air and Space Smithsonian. I finally got to fly on one to a family vacation in Florida when I was 16 and it was everything I hoped it would be. I shot an entire roll of 110 film through the window.
Obviously, those days are gone. I have no idea if children of a certain age and temperament still view flying with the same awe.
One in a long while, on a long flight that isn't packed like a sardine can, I still feel that same wonder and awe. The next time I do, I'll think of Keillor's column.
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Sounds great!
[Read the article: Evernote: Software to help you remember everything, forever]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Who needs to think anyway?
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Your first mistake was...
[Read the article: Desperately unhappy in the top Ivy League school]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Your first mistake was buying into the fantasy that going to that exclusive ivy-league school was going to give you an advantage in life.
I gotta tell you that this idea is bunk. I understand that its a popular idea at these schools, where the students (and their parents) want to feel like their lives are predestined to be successful. However, its just wrong.
The simple fact is that in the future you will ultimately be judged on your work alone. I could write a long-winded explanation of why this is true, based on my own personal experiences and those of people I know well. However, I'm not. (I need to get back to work.) Suffice it to say that I know plenty of successful people from both elite schools and from state colleges and I also know plenty of professional failures from both too.
The real advantage of going to that ivy league school is that its a good school. They are going to work your lazy, slacker, Californian butt off. They are going to push you very hard so that you are challenged to be better than you thought you could ever be. (I gather from your letter that you have already experienced this phenomenon.) If you stick it out and do reasonably well, you will be a very good writer when you leave.
My advice is to stay where you are. You are a lucky person to be given such an opportunity. Avoid the roommate drama (its just a distraction) and buy a warm coat and some wool socks (try LL Bean).
Good luck!