Finally... English Papers 3,4,5, & 6

Greetings,

I finally got my last four English papers back, so, rather than posting each of them individually, I've decided it will be better to post them all together.  Consequently, this will be a very long post, but I hope you'll agree it will be worth the time to read it.  The first two papers are argumentative essays on whether religion is good or bad for society - so if you get offended by one of them, read the other and it should make you feel better.  The next one is a paper on the life of Chris McCandless - the man who walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone in the 90's and whose body was discovered a few months later.  His story was compiled in a book and movie called Into the Wild, and the paper was supposed to discuss whether or not he was a hero.  I hope that you'll still find it interesting if you haven't read the book or seen the movie.  The last paper is a reflective essay about the moment I realized that my wife and I were meant to be together.  Please take the time to read each of them and let me know what you think.

Paper # 3:

RELIGION DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD

 

On September 11^th 2001 religious extremists hijacked four jumbo jets.  Two of them were flown into the two towers of New York City’s World Trade Center, another was crashed into the Pentagon, and the fourth crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania – presumably headed for another high-visibility target.  As a result, over 3000 Americans lost their lives in the blink of an eye.  I know that I don’t need to remind anyone of these events.  We all remember exactly where we were when we heard what happened; which is why, almost eight years later, these events can serve as the most powerful example of the damage that religion can do to humanity. 

Unfortunately, the September 11^th attacks themselves turned out to be just the beginning of a bloody holy war that continues to remind us what humans are capable of when they are convinced that they are right and the rest of the world is wrong.  This is not a paper about 9/11, nor is it a paper about the war that followed.  This paper is about religion – the underlying cause of both. 

To say that the attacks of 9/11 and the war on terror were not caused by religion is like a man who smoked for thirty years saying that cigarettes did not cause his lung cancer.  It was religion that drove the hijackers to their murderous actions, and it was religion that flavored President Bush’s appeals to congress to authorize a costly war on terror.  Holy war, however, is but one of countless atrocities that we can attribute to religion.

Religion fuels racism, hatred, and intolerance.  Adolf Hitler used religion to help sell anti-Semitism to his country, and modern day racist groups often exist in the guise of churches and shelter themselves under the comfort of the first amendment.  Religious values permeate rural America and are almost certainly responsible for fostering the type of anti-gay hatred that led two men to drag Matthew Shepard behind a pickup truck, tie him to a fence post, and beat him to death. 

The negative impact of religion isn’t always as violent as terrorism, genocide, and hate-crimes.  Sometimes religious ideas can impact our lives by creeping into government legislation.  For the last eight years, the U.S. Government has banned research on embryonic stem cells.  This research, scientists believe, could bring us within reach of cures for some of the most devastating diseases on Earth.  Patients with Parkinson’s disease, M.S., and even cancer could benefit from these special cells – which have the ability to replace cells damaged by these diseases.  Unfortunately, religion again had the President’s ear rather than logic, and countless people have had to suffer when they might have otherwise had a cure.

Religion has the power to create the types of problems I’ve just described because, at its core, it nurtures divisiveness.  This divisiveness flourishes under a banner of truth, and each religion claims to have an exclusive monopoly on that truth.  The bible is rife with these types of claims.  In the Book of Exodus, God instructs the Israelites “You shall have no other gods before me.” (20:3).  Then, in the New Testament, Jesus Christ tells his followers “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

The monopoly of truth, by itself, would be relatively benign, if it weren’t combined with a call to remain faithful to that version of the truth and defend it at any cost.  Again, if we refer to the religious texts, we needn’t look long to find our evidence.  Before God allowed the Israelites into the “promised land” he warns them about the other people inhabiting the land, who worship other gods.  He instructs the Israelites, “…Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.” (Deuteronomy 7:2)  As for the New Testament, before sending his disciples out to spread his message, Jesus Christ told them “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:22) 

Passages like these inspire followers to believe that their faith is truth beyond the shadow of a doubt, and this keeps them from fearing the repercussions of zealous actions.  Indeed, Christians in America are celebrated for “standing up” for their faith.  Young church members sing powerfully emotive songs, crying out lines like “I will not be silent!  I will not be quiet anymore!”   The church culture gives them a special sense of pride anytime they perform acts that demonstrate their beliefs, like fighting for organized prayer in schools, or arguing for creationism in biology classes.  Even though the mainstream church would never publicly condone overly fanatical behavior, the socio-psychological tactics at work, especially within the younger generations, stand on the same slippery slope as those used by cults and racist organizations like the Neo-Nazis.  Young people become absolutely convinced that their beliefs are the one and only truth, and this can lead them to justify almost any action in defense of that truth.

Though most religions talk about absolute truth, the reality is that truth is multi-faceted.  Almost all of the major world religions exist as a culturally specific way to explain the world around us, and to offer a moral foundation to each culture.  There are as many similarities within the major religions as there are differences, and each one has aspects of the same truth, but none of them has the whole truth.  I say this with confidence because not a single one of the major world religions can offer definitive empirical proof of its precepts.   This is the paradox of religious devotion.  Billions of people around the world are devoted to systems of belief that fuel some of the most atrocious events humanity has ever seen, and after these events take place, religious leaders attempt to console victims by offering explanations that require not a single shred of proof.  I can just imagine a conversation between Matthew Shepard’s parents and an anti-gay Christian pastor:

“Pastor, why would God allow our son to be tortured and murdered?”

“Well, you see, it was because he was gay, and homosexuality is an abomination in the eyes of God”

“But Matthew was a good boy, he loved everyone and wouldn’t have hurt a soul!!”

“That may be true, but sin is sin and the bible says that the wages of sin is death.  I know this is hard for you to hear, but you need to have faith that God is in control and He knows what he’s doing.  We cannot understand the ways of God, but he loves us all”

“What kind of God can love us and still let this sort of thing happen?”

“God created each of us with free will, and Matthew’s decision to reject God and live a life of sin had consequences.”

“I can’t believe in a God that would allow something like this to happen.”

“Well, He’s real, whether you believe in Him or not, and your son’s death was part of his plan.”

“Prove it.”

“The bible tells us not to put the Lord to the test.”

This was an imaginary conversation, and most pastors would never say anything like this directly to a grieving family, but as a former Christian, I’ve heard pastors say those exact things to their congregations time and time again.  In reality, when tragedy strikes, the only answers religion can offer are trite, insensitive, and completely illogical.

The fact is that the negative impact of religion far outweighs the positive impact.  Charitable organizations can exist without religion.  Science goes a lot farther toward explaining the world around us than religion ever could.  Families and communities can teach morality, which is far from universal, and counselors and therapists can give far more comfort in times of mourning and strife than the empty answers religion offers.  Religion definitely served a purpose before we knew any better, but today in the 21^st century, it’s time for humanity to grow out of these ancient ideas.

Paper # 4:

RELIGION FILLS THE NEEDS OF MANKIND

           

            My television screen shows Steve-O, star of MTV’s “Jackass,” huffing nitrous oxide through a modified aerosol whipping cream can.  High out of his mind, the former star rambles incoherently in the opening sequence of a new documentary about his recovery.  The documentary serves as a vivid reminder of the massive void that lies in each or our lives.  Like Steve-O, many people try to fill this void with drugs, alcohol, and other addictions.  Others try materialism, and still, many more attempt to fill the holes in their lives with relationships and sexual promiscuity.  None of these things, however, fill us up for long, and it seems the more we try to fill this void, the bigger it gets.  Religion, on the other hand, fills the void in a positive way, like nothing else can.

            Though many people might discount the existence of the spiritual void, one need only look at our culture to find evidence of it everywhere.  Corporations spend billions of dollars each year on advertising, and almost every billboard, print ad, television commercial and radio spot uses either sex, materialism, or affiliation with the party lifestyle to sell their product.  Automobile companies sell high priced luxury cars as more of a membership in an exclusive club than a driving machine, and sex appeal is the most widely used tactic in advertising.  As for drugs and alcohol, the abundance of beer and liquor advertisements throughout the media speaks for itself. 

Most addicts will tell you that they started using drugs or alcohol to escape from deep-rooted pain, or out of a sense of isolation, emptiness, and hopelessness.  If their addiction doesn’t kill them, many addicts end up in jail or on the street.  The few programs that are able to successfully treat addictions usually follow the 12-step model, which teaches addicts to rely on a higher spiritual power, rather than substance abuse, to find fulfillment in their lives.

People who turn to relationships and promiscuity often also find nothing but emptiness and heartache along their path.   Social and cultural norms tell people that finding the right person will solve all of their problems.  Unfortunately, a national divorce rate of well over 40% tells a different story.  Many failed marriages and failed relationships leave children behind who often have to grow up without one of their parents in their lives, which perpetuates this cycle.  Religion, on the other hand, encourages marriage, fidelity, and family values.

Religion can also serve as a more positive alternative to materialism.  If the people who spend excess amounts of money on luxury cars and other possessions would turn their attention to serving their fellow man, there is no doubt that the world would benefit.  Religion encourages those who have been blessed with wealth to help those who are less fortunate through charities. 

Apart from filling the spiritual void within us, religion also helps us make sense of life in times of sadness, and amplifies our happiness on joyous occasions.  Members of the clergy are often called to officiate weddings, christen children, and oversee cultural rites of passage like bar mitzvahs.  Their presence often brings a sense of validity to the occasion because people feel comforted by the idea that God has ordained certain individuals to speak on His behalf.  

On the other side of the emotional spectrum, religion plays an absolutely crucial role when our loved ones pass away.  Hospitals, police, and military organizations employ chaplains to offer counseling in times of crisis and stress.  These chaplains bring calm and comfort to grieving families, and often administer last rights to individuals whose time on Earth is coming to an end.  Religion provides us with a sense that the grief we are feeling is somehow part of a grand purpose.  It can really help to know that God is in control, even when the world doesn’t make sense. 

Purpose is crucial to our psychological health.  Very few of us are equipped to handle the idea that we are smaller than a tiny grain of sand in the vast desert of planets, stars, solar systems, and galaxies that makes up the universe – unless we can be assured that there is a supernatural intelligence that started it all with a great purpose.  If there is no purpose in the universe, then what reason do any of us have to live our lives?  Why, indeed, would we even get out of bed in the morning if it only brings us a day closer to our inevitable end?  No, we need a purpose, and religion gives us one. 

Religion teaches us that love for ourselves and for our fellow man is the ultimate goal.  Religion teaches us that when we look outside of our own interests, powerful things happen.  We begin to see the person across the fence not as our enemy, but as our brother or sister.  We see the homeless man on the street corner not as a drain on society, but as a sheep gone astray, who needs love just as we need it.  Religion can change the most hardened hearts.  It can inspire people to give up their high paying white-collar jobs for a while so they can volunteer at a children’s hospital in Africa.  Religion teaches us how to respect each and every human being as a uniquely created child of God.

The respect for ourselves and for each other that religion encourages has served humanity for thousands of years as a solid foundation of morality.  In order for us to have any civility in our society, we need a standard of conduct that is bigger than ourselves.  The “right” thing and the “wrong” thing need to be absolutely unambiguous.  Religion gives us a standard of perfection in a holy and all-powerful God, who serves as the ultimate judge and who knows our hearts, even when nobody else sees our deeds.  We as humans are flawed beings, and when our pride tells us that we can judge our own morality we start to slide down a slippery slope that allows us to justify almost any action.  Religion often gets blamed for abominations like terrorism, racism, and the holocaust, but in reality, humankind alone is responsible for those things.  The Islam of Al Qaeda is not the Islam of the majority of Muslims – just as Adolf Hitler’s Christianity was a far cry from the teachings of Jesus Christ. We see these negative events far more often than we see all of the positivity that religion brings to the world because most religions teach against pride and bragging over our good works. 

The world is not perfect.  Tragedies happen and often we are faced with events that we cannot explain, but we must remember that the God who created the universe is so much more intelligent than we can possibly imagine, and His ways are not our ways.  While each religion has its flaws, God gave us religion to help us better understand the world around us, and to keep us righteous and virtuous.  God also gave us religion to help comfort us in our heartache – so that we might know that He loves each one of us more than we can ever imagine and that He has a plan for each of us.  Religion is more than just good for us, religion is essential.

Paper # 5:

CHRIS McCANDLESS WAS A HERO

 

            I have always been an idealist.  People will often tell you that when you’re young (in your teens and twenties) that you are supposed to be an idealist.  The idea being that when you get older, you start to understand that you probably can’t change the world the way your ideals tell you that you can.  I don’t think I ever got that second part.  At age 31 I am still idealistic, and I can’t see myself snapping out of it anytime soon.  I still take great pleasure in arguing passionately and relentlessly for ideas that I believe in, and I want nothing more out of my life than to gain a position that allows me to teach young people the things that I’ve learned. 

            I have also always been adventurous.  One day, when I was in fourth grade, I decided that I’d had enough of school for the day by about 9:30am.  I waited until Mrs. Mayhan, my teacher, wasn’t looking, and I walked out of my classroom.  I was actually quite shocked that I’d gotten away with it, so I kept going.  I walked down the hall and out the door.   I lived in a small farming town north of Spokane, and I decided to walk to the home of some of my parents’ friends.  My mother’s friend opened the door when I knocked, and with an astonished look, the only words she could muster were “Boy, your ass is gonna’ be grass.” – which, incidentally, was the first time I’d ever heard that phrase.  While I lived on the farm, I was known to get myself into all sorts of adventurous situations.  I had a pet pony that I used to ride out among the bulls all of the time, and my bicycle crashes were known for miles around. 

The trend continued into adulthood.  One rainy spring day, I found myself with absolutely nothing to do.  Everything I could think of to keep me occupied bored me beyond belief.  I went outside and noticed that off to the west, there was a hole in the clouds.  I thought to myself “The sun’s shining over there, I wanna go there!”  I grabbed my guitar and a Bob Dylan tape that I’d just picked up from a thrift store, filled my tank with gas, and just drove down I-90 toward the hole in the clouds.  I hit Moses Lake just in time to see an absolutely beautiful sunset.  Satisfied with myself, I drove back home.  I’ve also been known, on occasion, to wake up early in the morning with a friend of mine and drive to Seattle just to have lunch, then drive back home.  And of course, there were the times that I took unpaid vacations to go on tour with one of my old bands.

With a personality like mine, I would find it hard to see Chris McCandless as anything but a hero.  Was he perfect? Of course not.  Were his actions self-centered?  Most definitely.  Was he ultimately a fool?  Without a doubt.  But you see, I define a hero as someone who inspires us to live up to our full potential, conquer our fears, and overcome our shortcomings, and in that context, McCandless’ actions were more than inspirational for someone like me.

In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer writes, “Unlike most of us, [McCandless] was the sort of person who insisted on living out his beliefs.”  I know that in my life I certainly haven’t always had the courage to do that.  I can think of two ways in which my life may have been drastically different had I chosen to live out my beliefs.  When I was starting my senior year in high school, my entire life plan consisted of me leaving my parents’ house immediately after graduation with everything I owned packed into the back of my 1973 Ford Courier pickup truck.  I planned to move to Seattle and do whatever it took to be a professional musician – even if that had meant playing guitar on the street corner for handouts.  Instead, I got engaged to a teenage mother and stayed in Spokane – intent on finding a good job to provide for the ready-made family I was about to marry into. 

Later in life, after all of that had fallen through, I found myself at another crossroads.  I was in Seattle, on tour with one of my bands, and I decided to sit on the sidewalk outside the McDonald’s on the waterfront.  I was dirty from being on the road, my hair was long and my clothes were shabby.  I began to notice that the people who walked past me either looked at me with disgust, or they chose to look away when I made eye contact and they crossed to the other side of the street.  I realized that they must have thought I was homeless.  I felt a huge sense of compassion in that moment for the people who actually were homeless, and I had an idea that I might start my own charity.  I would go out and play guitar on the streets, and any money I received would go to help the homeless populations.  I thought about this idea for quite some time, but never followed through on it, again choosing my own comfort over a higher calling.

There have also been times in my life when I have lived out my beliefs, and those have turned out to be some of the most fruitful times of my life.  In the summer of 2001, for example, I was jumping through all of the hoops to join the Air National Guard.  One of my rationalizations for doing this was that the likelihood of the U.S. going to war was pretty low.  Then September 11^th happened.  I hadn’t sworn in yet, and for a day or two I thought about backing out of the whole thing, but then my ideals won out.  I enlisted in the Air National Guard on September 26^th, 2001, and my time in the military has taught me more about myself and what I am capable of than any other time in my life.  McCandless’ story reminds me that when I stick to my idealistic guns, I always come out on top in the end – because I always discover new things about myself and about the world around me.

The second part of McCandless’ heroism centers around fear.  If McCandless was afraid of the adventure he had embarked on, he certainly didn’t let his fear stop him.  The book mentions that he was terrified the day that his canoe was swept out to sea, but he continued on his journey.  He just seemed to have confidence that no matter what happened, he would find a way to make things work out.  In my life, I have been confronted by my own fear time and time again.  I am often afraid of taking steps toward becoming the person I want to be, but stories like McCandless’ have helped to inspire me to go back to school and to reach my full potential – no matter what the cost.  His story reminds me of the most valuable lesson that I learned in the Air Force.  I learned in basic training that I can accomplish much more than my fears would have me believe I am capable of.

McCandless is also a hero because his story speaks volumes about self-discovery, which is the key to overcoming ones’ shortcomings.  McCandless knew that he needed to rid himself of anything that would cause him to breach the integrity of his journey.  In the beginning, he burned or donated all of the money he had, and along the way, he would only work or accept help when he absolutely needed to.  When he did work, he worked jobs that most people with his education credentials would find to be beneath them.

I have always placed a high value on self-discovery.  Part of that process is learning to accept the truth of whatever you discover and to deal with it honestly.  Sometimes what we find isn’t at all what we expected to find, but we have to realize that there isn’t anything about ourselves that we cannot change.  McCandless’ journey is ultimately about self-discovery and nothing else.  And even though, in the end, it took his life, the evidence suggests that he did learn his most important lesson before he passed on – that all the self-knowledge in the world doesn’t do us any good if we can’t share ourselves with the people around us.  This too makes Chris McCandless a hero, because apart from inspiring us, a hero should also be able to guide us around the mistakes they make.  Chris McCandless’ life was heroic to the end, and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to learn from it.

 

Paper # 6

ON EXCITEMENT

 

            When I opened my apartment door that Friday, there was a white teddy bear with a red polka-dot bow tie and a card waiting for me outside.  My heart went into overdrive even as time stopped dead in its tracks.  They were from her.  It had only been a week since I dumped my ex-girlfriend, but I already had my sights set on another woman – and now I had evidence that she, the woman of my dreams, was also interested in me.

            The situation was so convoluted that if I’d stopped to analyze it then, I’m sure I wouldn’t have done the right thing.  Luckily, I let my heart take the lead.  You see, my brain would have told me that I couldn’t pursue her – after all, she was dating my best friend – but my heart said that it didn’t matter, that she was the one, and that this might be my only shot at the love I’d been waiting for my whole life.  All I could think about were the possibilities.  All I could feel was excitement.

            I spent the whole weekend in Priest Lake playing with my band at a resort, and despite my best efforts, she dominated all of my thoughts.   Short skirts and tank-tops in the audience, which normally inspired appreciation for my onstage vantage point, brought thoughts of her blonde hair and hazel eyes instead.  An elderly couple sitting across from me at roadside café the next day brought me premonitions of her and I in our own golden years.  A long anticipated fishing outing turned into a half-hearted attempt to find a suitable spot, which was soon abandoned and followed by a giddy conversation with her from a gas station pay phone, and an afternoon of attempts to write the perfect love song.  Finally, a dinner outing that was meant to be quality bonding time for my band mates and I turned into a one sided conversation about how much I wanted to go see her the next day.

            It was a weekend of jitters.  I had no way of knowing exactly what would happen, but I definitely knew that my life would never be the same.  The excitement was tangibly different than any excitement I’d ever known.  It was an excitement that assured me that I’d found the love of my life.  It proclaimed triumphantly that the years of loneliness and heartache preceding this moment were about to be washed away by her laughter.  It soothed my soul with the sense that no matter what the cost, this love was real – this love was right.  It amplified the warmth of her smile and made me want nothing more than to dwell there, forever.  The excitement of that weekend incinerated the broken, wounded person I had been, and like a phoenix, I rose from the ashes – born anew. 

            Almost four years have passed now.  Bills need to be paid.  Dishes need to be washed.  Dogs need to be fed.  Lawns need to be mowed.  But every day, she comes home to me, and every day I am reminded of just how lucky I am.  I will never forget the excitement in my heart when I opened my apartment door that morning.  I will never forget the white teddy bear with the red polka-dot bow tie that changed my life forever.

Thank you very much for taking the time to read each of these papers.  I would appreciate any comments you have.

I am the Reverend Humpy and I have approved this message.