Thank You for Asking…

I always like to start my presentations off with a quote attributed to Buddha:

“Don’t be a dick!”

Then I jokingly conclude my talk.

It’s actually quite simple.

But it takes time and effort to get there.

Have I been a dick?

Yes, yes I have.

Am I still a dick sometimes?

I try to think of myself as a dick for justice.

I’m never just a dick for the sake of being a dick.

My dickness is situation based

…Only used for dick on dick crime.

Is anyone else turned on right now?

I try to approach from kindness and a mutual understanding that we’re all human and we’re all in this together.

Aren’t we?

In my previous story called “People Keep Making the Same Mistake,” I laid the groundwork for when I will respond in kind.

If you attack my worldview with baseless assertions, or accusations that spring into your head when you see the word atheist or humanist in my writings…you’re going to have a bad time.

I’ve had an entire lifetime of foundation building to understand my own perspective.

If you think I haven’t tried to believe in supernatural deities, read through religious texts, or thought through every philosophical conundrum this reality allows…again, you’re going to have a bad time.

I live and breathe this subject.

I am this subject.

I’m not just some dick that is set in my ways.

I have reasons for my views.

I wasn’t just handed atheism and humanism one day and told “here, put this on…you’ll get used to it.”

I was accidentally raised as a freethinker.

My parents followed the best practices for doing so, without even knowing it.

I was given the gift of self exploration without expectation.

My sister and I are completely independent in our thinking. We have arrived at two very different conclusions over the course of 30+ years.

…And we didn’t have any roadblocks to get there.

Funny thing about my worldview:

My conclusions are always open to revision. Given the proper evidence, I will change my mind. I have changed my mind, over and over again. It’s called learning.

I sought out answers. Answers to questions I didn’t even know. Answers to questions I still don’t know. Answers to questions that aren’t set in stone. Answers that may or may not be there.

I molded this clay. I fired it in the furnace of reason and logic. I forged the pieces of compassion, empathy and tolerance in the hot coals of humanism.

I don’t expect you to understand.

I don’t expect you to believe me.

But I expect at least an effort on your part, to not be a dick for dickness sake.

I appreciate questions.

I will always answer your questions.

Not so much accusations and assumptions.

Life is too short for dicks.

Let’s try to be kind, shall we?

And once again…

Thank you for asking.