a different viewpoint .

A long while back (at this point, very possibly over a year ago) I follow the online blog / newsletter / whatever you want to call it of a guy named Max Dubinski. While I don't always agree with what he says, and sometimes am frustrated with his rollercoaster-ride way of writing, the most recent edition that was shot to my email touched me. There are two noteworthy sections that I want to mention in particular, despite the fact that quite honestly the whole thing is worth reading. (Quick pause while I go and search for a link...)


Aha! Success. So here's the first quote:

"The Bible is a dark and twisted story full of murder, rape and incest. Surprise. We've been rebellious, lustful, gay, prideful, and stark-raving idiots since the dawn of time. There's nothing new under the sun. Or something like that. Which makes Christ's crucifixion all the more incredible. Why would he do that for us? We were (and still are) so far gone. We definitely didn't deserve it."

It really is all incredible. Here we all are, here we all have been, fucking up since the day time began, and yet there is a never ending love, a never ending compassion, and an endless understanding of the fact that we are flawed, we will fail time and again, and that sometimes we will never learn. Negative? No. Realistic. Max is right -- these problems that we encounter daily have been happening forever. No one has lived life and escaped the troubles of reality. It doesn't matter the severity of what's going on, what matters is the fact that despite our undeserving selves, there was a person that sacrificed everything for us.

I like that he portrayed it in such a nonchalantly serious light. The writing is powerful simply because of its rant-like quality -- it's something that pops out and smacks you in the face and tells you to wake the fuck up. Everyone needs a little bit of that sometimes. That's all there is to say though. It is how it is. Humanity and society is very unlikely to change... life isn't life without challenges, struggles, anxieties and fears.

At one point he mentions how we are all so quick to judge, put down, and ridicule those who we believe are doing the "wrong" things. And how he who has committed no wrong to cast the first stone.

And yet, it is now that we should all be letting the stones in our hand make a big poof of dust when they fall into the sands at our feet. For we are all sinners. It's inescapable because we are not perfect. This is starting to sound very preacherly... I think you get the point. It's like the age-old saying that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. But we all live in glass houses... right?

The last part is the best part. Max talks about the light at the end of the tunnel. Despite all of our flaws and shortcomings, here is where we stand:

"Yet God sees you through the lens of Christ's Crucifixion: forgiven and without scars, perfect and fulfilled, destined with a purpose the way He intended you to be."

How those words ring in my ears as I mentally say them to myself. Forgiven and without scars. Perfect and fulfilled. Destined with a purpose.

God made me this way. He made each of us this way, in our own way. What kind of person would I be if I let Him down? There is a purpose for me. A purpose for everyone. Whether you believe in God or not, I think we can all agree on that more or less. What a sad life we would leave if we believed we had no purpose and that instead we should just aimlessly age and stumble around through life's room bouncing off the walls like a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man (anyone pick up the reference?).

I saved that one. It's worth going back to read when the going gets tough.