Kumbaya

Earlier this evening, I made my own vegan mayonnaise. My transformation into a pretentious vegetarian is complete.

Nah, I'm kidding. Not about the vegan mayo, but about the pretentious vegetarian. I bought two new recipe books and one of them has all kinds of cool recipes for making your own condiments and spice mixes, and the vegan mayo looked ridiculously easy, and, indeed, it was. You just blend tofu, dry mustard, lemon juice, a bit of salt, and olive oil in a blender. That's it. And it tastes great!

I was only vegan for a few months, and I learned that most of the veganized products like "cheese" and "sour cream" taste disgusting. Vegenaise, however, is fantastic. (I also prefer almond milk to real milk, it doesn't make you all phlegmy after drinking, and it is soooo much better for you.) Unfortunately, it is also expensive, especially at the rate I go through it, (sandwiches are my favorite food, and what's a sandwich without mayo?), so I was excited to try this less expensive DIY option. I even stored it in the cleaned out Vegenaise jar I just finished, so I'm also recycling. I could not feel more smug than I do right now.

You might be asking why I'm wasting my (and your) time talking about vegan mayo. Well, I needed a break from the short story. Yesterday I worked on Stupid Title #1 instead of the short story, and today I am writing nonsense to you. Don't worry, I won't quit, I just needed a little breather, and chance to regroup and remember where the story is headed.

Hmmm. It's after midnight and the world is still in one piece. I guess I don't know enough about it to say when exactly this apocalypse is supposed to happen, but for now, we're all still here.

I talked about this with my Mom earlier, but let me take a moment express my views.

I don't know if there is a God. I've never been very religious, but I do believe there is some order to the universe, or, at the very least, I hope there is. However, I cannot believe that if there is a God, that He or She would be so petty as to punish those people who live decent, caring lives, but don't believe in Him/Her. A quick Google search informs me that there are over 4,000 different religions in this world. I guess that gives you a 1 in 4000 chance of hitting upon the "right" one. Those odds don't seem fair. How can you really know what is right? And how can God, a being known for His/Her infinite wisdom, forgiveness, and love condemn you to infinite torture just for not knowing which one to pick?

I think if you live a good life, and try to add something positive to the world and to your fellow human beings, that should be enough. Either God is a petty, selfish, tyrant who demands your absolute obedience or ELSE; or He/She is a being truly above us, unencumbered by human failings and therefore able to forgive and love beyond anything we could possibly comprehend. You can't have it both ways.

Now, I'm not saying you should go out and murder someone thinking that God will just forgive you, I already said that I think it's important to live a decent life. In fact, even if there is no God, I think it's important to live with an eye toward improving the lives of others, leaving the world a little better than when you came into it. If we all did that, we could make some truly amazing leaps forward. Not just better for your family, or your country, but better for the world as a whole.

That's the other thing: we have got to stop thinking of ourselves as one thing and making everyone else "other". Robin McKinley, my favorite author, made a point like this on her blog. She said that the minute we start classifying people into a group that is "other" than ourselves, we make it OK to do horrible things to them.

A small example:
I'm not a cheerleader. Mary is a cheerleader. That must mean she's stuck up, and a slut, therefore I can talk badly about her to the whole school.

See how I made Mary something "other" than myself, and was able to justify my actions toward her? A more obvious example would be slavery. People saw Africans as something "other" than themselves, and were able to use that distinction to justify committing the most horrific acts of violence against them, and strip them completely of their human rights.

I don't mean to get all Kumbaya on you, but I really do believe we are all connected, and we need to stop fighting each other and work together if we are ever going to reach our full potential.

OK, I'm stepping down off my soap box now, and going to bed. But let's all do something nice for someone tomorrow. Smile at a stranger, or offer to hold the door for someone. Or just tell someone you love them. Maybe all that positive energy will add up to something great, and even if it doesn't, look how happy you made that person.

Goodnight