TRUTH - JUSTICE - THE AMERICAN WAY!

Some more ramblings from an old rambler - if you are a devout religious fanatic, you might want to skip this one!

WHY? It could cause you to actually THINK!

DID MAN CREATE GOD?

Copyright: January 17, 2008 - Tom Hyland


Well Gals and Guys, I finally give up - UNCLE!

After a lifetime of devotion, believing, praying, trying to be a good Christian person - doing unto others as you would have them do unto you - the pendulum is now swinging back, towards the “other side.” Maybe it has all been wishful thinking?

Let us recapitulate, or ponder a few facts:

Baptized, First Confession, First Communion, Confirmed, Married - spoke VOWS before God and Man - all as a Catholic. Followed the Golden Rule.

Fulfilled my military obligation and received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Army in 1966, all the while serving God and Country. Got married in the same year, fathered two children, and raised them Catholic. Saw them both through college graduation, and adulthood.

Donated thousands of hours as a volunteer choir member over a sixteen-year period of service to The Lord, His Blessed Mother, and The Holy Spirit. Sang my heart out, doing Anthems, Hymns, and Classical works, in Latin, French, German, Spanish, and even one difficult piece in Polish! Performed in concerts, even sang and rang hand-bells for Pope John Paul II, when he visited The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, here in Baltimore.

Now don’t get me wrong - was I a Saint? Gim’me a big HELL NO! Did I make mistakes? A big AMEN on that! But I was always a decent human being, who tried hard to help others. Is that not redeeming merit?

I worked a full-time job while attending night college for about six years, trying to gain an education, and attended my Graduation Ceremony on June 11, 1970, just six days after our daughter was born. Earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management, and was graduated Cum Laude.

Spent over thirty years as a manager, and was pretty good at it, but was FIRED three different times, each time by a “bean counting” CPA, for occurrences totally beyond my control. On the last one, in 1996, with almost eleven years of service, I tried to SUE the employer, had five other prior employees willing to testify, and after the case being dragged out for over two years, could not even get my day in court. The crooked judge threw my case out, telling my attorney that: “Under the current atmosphere in the state of Maryland, no judge sitting on the bench is going to rule in favor of a SMOKER.”

Throughout all these years of hard work and struggle, I was a good and faithful husband, a good father, and an honest man. I never begrudged others for their successes; but I never seemed able to catch a break, and was financially always in debt.

All the praying in the world didn’t help. All the Positive Mental Attitude: books, tapes, affirmations, and practices never brought me any financial successes. All of the investments of time and money in various business ventures, multi-level marketing, and even a Café Deli - all failed. The last one, also in 1996, drove us into a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy proceeding. This naturally was followed by inexhaustible problems with poor credit ratings.

This resulted in four years of constant bickering, and blaming one another for our business failure, and finally, in May 2000, my devoted wife of thirty-four years wanted a DIVORCE, so I got DUMPED! ALAS - WOE IS ME? YEP!

After finally publishing my first book in 2005, a year later, Publish America CANCELLED me, for lack of demand! Although it had two excellent Reviews, and I sent copies out to all the local major: Radio Stations, Television Stations, Magazines, Newspapers, and several bookstores, like Barnes and Noble, Greetings and Readings, and others - NOT ONE PERSON LIFTED A FINGER TO HELP ME, let alone even REPLY! Am I just a FIGMENT?

SOUR GRAPES? Maybe! But believe me, I tried hard to follow up, and only sold less than a hundred books, mostly to family and friends, who knew me personally.

Next, I completed a self-help course, provided by our own Authors Den champion, Elizabeth Lucas-Taylor. It got me back on track, trying to accomplish only one thing - improving MYSELF! Changing my attitude back to being more positive again. I faithfully followed the principles taught, and the affirmations learned, for the better of two years, but nothing positive financially ever occurred. Was it me? Did I do something wrong? Was it God? The Devil? Who knows?

Then, the book and the movie, The SECRET came out. I gobbled it down, like scarfing up a pizza pie! It made sense! Oh Boy! There was renewed HOPE! Reminders of past principles and techniques got my fervor going again. Now, about a year later - nothing - NADA!

DAILY AND NIGHTLY AFFIRMATIONS REPEATED FAITHFULLY FROM ROTE MEMORY - OVER, AND OVER, AND OVER - ZILCH! “Energy attracts like energy” right? Positive vibes constantly were emanated, but none received - is there something wrong with my RECEIVER?

For some reason totally unknown to me - God didn’t help! Jesus didn’t help! The Holy Trinity didn’t help! The UNIVERSE didn’t help! Am I STUPID or what?

Oh, to be sure, all this while I have been churning out short stories, articles, poems, blogs - all posted on AD - some with very favorable comments - but no DISCOVERY - no MONEY earned - no TICKEE, no LAUNDRY!

Then, I remembered something again. Way back when I was about sixteen or seventeen, the grandfather of a close buddy, Lonnie Griffith, told us one day: “Religion is a superstition, created by man, in an attempt to explain his own existence!”

Yes, he said religion, not God. We were taught as kids that: “Man was created in the image of God.” What if the truth was that this statement was “bass-ackwards?”

What if MAN CREATED GOD, IN HIS OWN IMAGE?

The beautiful paintings in the dome of The Sistine Chapel in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome now spring to mind. That splendid portrayal of a resting benevolent, fatherly God, with an outstretched hand, with one finger touching that of Adam’s - THE CREATION - GENESIS - THE HOLY BIBLE - ALL WRITTEN, PAINTED, SCULPTED BY THE HAND AND MIND OF MAN! DUH?

Believer - Agnostic - Atheist? From one extreme to the other, a perfect example of dichotomous thinking, with the ultimate compromise, resting safely in the middle - is man that simple?

Not unlike the ever-present question: “Is there a Santa Claus?” We have the more serious and more profound search - “IS THERE A GOD?” Let us take a moment to do a brief history of the world, as we know it:

If we consider ALL of the GOOD that has been recorded - like: Happy Peaceful Times, and MIRACLES, and Blessings, and the Beauty of all of Nature’s flora and fauna - and then compare these to ALL of the EVIL that has occurred - like: Wars, and Pestilence, and Starvation of innocent children, and HATRED permeating by and between ALL of the so-called religions of the world, Avarice, Greed, Crime, Corruption, Pride, Envy, Sloth, Jealousy, and the rest of the Seven Deadly SINS - WOW! Just which side of the scale is heaviest?

Which begs another question: “DOES SATAN EXIST?”

GOD VERSUS SATAN - another example of dichotomy. GOOD VERSUS EVIL - who is maintaining the scorecard? MAN?

Which one sells more newspapers? We all know that answer! Which one dominates the Internet? Is it Bible-Thumpers, or Pornography? Or are they “Even-Steven?”

Is there really a Heaven? Is there a Hell? Is this thing we call “LIFE” all that there is? Is IT really Hell - or Heaven? Does anyone really know? Can anyone ever know? Will anyone ever know? Has anyone ever returned? Some believers say Christ did - but if so, that was over TWO THOUSAND YEARS AGO!

WHERE IS HE NOW? Is He just on a long Sabbatical?
Or did He simply give up, shaking His head, remembering Shakespeare’s character Puck’s words: “What FOOLS these MORTALS be!”?

Questions - questions - questions - and not a drop to drink!

So now, in daylight, sober as a judge, I ponder the famous words of the various characters from The SOPRANOS - “Wad’da ya gon’na do?” and -
“FA-GET-A-BOUT-IT!”

If life gives you lemons, then make lemonade! Now that is really a nice drink isn’t it? But, what if there is NO SUGAR? YUCK - makes me pucker up, just to think about it!

Am I despondent? HELL NO! Depressed? Maybe just a tad. Or am I simply venting some deep thoughts that many millions of others might occasionally have?

Am I tired of BEGGING? You got that one right! Am I deserving of better? Maybe so! Is there an answer to my dilemma? YOU BET YOUR BIPPEE THERE IS!

“Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. And start right over again!”

WHY? Because I’m a hardheaded old Irishman, who doesn’t acknowledge the word - QUIT!

DID MAN CREATE GOD?


OOPS! HOLD ON -

I THINK I HEAR A LIGHTNING BOLT!

Later? We’ll see - or maybe not?


J-PAL - JOY-PEACE-ABUNDANCE-LOVE - Tom.