Not that anyone asked but I want it to be known that I do believe in something. I suppose I'm an agnostic. Thomas Paine died penniless for professing his beliefs in the book, 'Age of Reason' . Here is an except from Wikipedia on his death.....At the time of his death, most American newspapers reprinted the obituary notice from the New York Citizen, which read in part: "He had lived long, did some good and much harm." Only six mourners came to his funeral, two of whom were black, most likely freedmen. The great orator and writer Robert G. Ingersoll wrote:
"Thomas Paine had passed the legendary limit of life. One by one most of his old friends and acquaintances had deserted him. Maligned on every side, execrated, shunned and abhorred -- his virtues denounced as vices -- his services forgotten -- his character blackened, he preserved the poise and balance of his soul. He was a victim of the people, but his convictions remained unshaken. He was still a soldier in the army of freedom, and still tried to enlighten and civilize those who were impatiently waiting for his death, Even those who loved their enemies hated him, their friend -- the friend of the whole world -- with all their hearts. On the 8th of June, 1809, death came -- Death, almost his only friend. At his funeral no pomp, no pageantry, no civic procession, no military display. In a carriage, a woman and her son who had lived on the bounty of the dead -- on horseback, a Quaker, the humanity of whose heart dominated the creed of his head -- and, following on foot, two negroes filled with gratitude -- constituted the funeral cortege of Thomas Paine
Thankfully we have progressed at least an inch since then. I do not believe in heaven and hell and think its the cruelest idea ever invented. That's as far as I'm going with this. Todd Snider sums up everything for me in this song.
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If Tomorrow Never Comes
if tomorrow never comes
i wont give a damn
if tomorrow never comes
i will not be afraid to meet my maker
just the way that i am
you cant prove anything but one thing is true
if you can steal from me I can steal from you
any kind of heaven everybody doesn't get in
wont seem like a heaven to me
they tell you that the garden of eden was perfect
but you couldnt even eat off the apple tree
and for heavens sakes look out for that snake
lying to your woman constantly adam must have scratched his head
looked up and said lord this just isnt doing it for me
if tomorrow never comes
i wont give a damn
if tomorrow never comes i dont want to be afraid to come and meet you just the way that i am
i cant do anything im dying too
if tomorrow never comes
tonight will have to do
i say i dont ever claim to know whats going on around here
i dont even know where im from
i know where im going when i get to where im going
what im doing when i get done
you tell me im forgiven if i need to be
i say permission ought to come that easily
im piling cores up underneath this apple tree
singing oh lord have mercy on me
if tomorrow never comes
and tonight is all i got
if tomorrow never comes i dont want to be afraid
to come and meet you just the way that im not
cant do anything and then you die
judge the judgemental and what am i?
aaahhhhhhh
either way im every guy i ever tried not to be
i want everything as good as it gets
ive learned nothing but that there is another sun rise coming
all but one of the times it sets
and if tomorrow never comes tomorrow never comes
if tomorrow never comes
tomorrow never comes
if we were all good people
we could work in perfect rythmn
if worms had daggers
birds wouldnt fahq with them
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Another snippet from the song, 'Happy New Year'
i dont know what we're doing here
you don't "KNOW" what were doing here
now christians dont walk out on me just yet
you know whose name im yelling as im clutching my chest
the one my dad told me to and his told him to and i probably pray as much or more than you do
believe? shit, every word i sing
but believing and knowing, those are two different things
and if your trying to change the way a strangers life will have to go
i believe this is where i wanna stick to what i know
which is nothing you know, nothing for sure so
just chill til the next episode
now back to the lecture at hand
seems like my neighbor wants to kill what he cant understand
i say we cant just kill what we dont understand but i turn on my tv and see that oh yes we can
we can and we have since then dawn of man
for countless gods whose only real seeming plan
was to see to it that clinging to life was our fate
and you gotta admit that lifes pretty great
but can we deny that its killing us?
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