tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post8153771396154858174..comments2023-11-24T03:48:54.813-05:00Comments on No More Hornets: Too HeavyThe Exterminatorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14452054124550486048noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-48530134741324078862011-02-11T02:02:47.511-05:002011-02-11T02:02:47.511-05:00what a great idea!! i'ld like to know more how...what a great idea!! i'ld like to know more how many people you met on 1st sept, i'm quite late to see this blog.I am not much into reading, but in some way I got to learn decent info on your site. Simple to see and helpful. We will look forward for your future updates. Thanks! .Generic Pristiqhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XA1jYfhMHRwnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-45777858619630605962007-05-11T17:20:00.000-04:002007-05-11T17:20:00.000-04:00Miss Mickey:Mary Catherine Balkin is probably work...Miss Mickey:<BR/><BR/>Mary Catherine Balkin is probably working in the Bush administration.The Exterminatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14452054124550486048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-34829560513708138062007-05-11T15:58:00.000-04:002007-05-11T15:58:00.000-04:00Good story there, Extermie. Dad sounds like a pi...Good story there, Extermie. Dad sounds like a pip. And I'm imagining your teacher with a big bouffant hairdo and cat-eye glasses, ala a Gary Larson cartoon. <BR/><BR/>I never had one ounce of parental religious training as a kid - either for or against. Religion simply was not a factor at all in my world. But I remember deciding early on that I was not a believer. <BR/><BR/>Mary Catherine Balkin was the first person to ever tell me I was gonna go to hell for not believing. We were in 3rd or 4th grade. It didn't scare me at all. It just made religion all the more unattractive. <BR/><BR/>I'll bet she's got a ton of kids by now, all with heads pumped full of garbage. Sad.Mickeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05065510527340731816noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-51045402881667521282007-04-29T12:29:00.000-04:002007-04-29T12:29:00.000-04:00Sarge & Adam: Thanks for leaving your own stories....Sarge & Adam: Thanks for leaving your own stories. <BR/><BR/>Mike: My teacher was not any kind of apologist, at least as far as I know. She was just an old biddy who followed her traditions blindly. And of course there's more to my story, although I experienced no other anti-epiphanies; I just didn't believe. No matter how much I tried to wrap my mind around the concept of god, I couldn't make it work for me. It seemed unbelievably stupid. Still does, too.The Exterminatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14452054124550486048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-27088400426628108302007-04-29T04:57:00.000-04:002007-04-29T04:57:00.000-04:00When I was an atheist, I dated a young woman who w...When I was an atheist, I dated a young woman who was like-minded. I asked her one day if she would marry me, and she consented. <BR/><BR/>Two weeks before the joyous occasion was to take place, I caught her cheating on me. <BR/><BR/>Devastated, I offered her forgiveness. I told her to come back and to stop her offenseive, negligent actions, and that would be enough for me. She did not agree; instead, she had decided (apparently at that very moment) to leave me for the other man. <BR/><BR/>I found myself, about a month later, sitting on a rock on a beach near my house. I was a strong swimmer back then, but there were rip currents around which I knew would drag me out to sea, and away from the pain of having to exist every day. <BR/><BR/>I began to disrobe to enter the water, but when I felt the sea lap up against my feet, I stopped. I knelt for a moment and, as I know now, prayed. It was mostly wordless, mumbled, upset... but something happened. For the first time in more than a month, I felt a calm that was greater, steadier, and more real than any psychotherapy. I put my clothes back on and went hom. <BR/><BR/>Slowly, over the course of a year after that, I began to study and learn about religion. Then, I woke up one day and cast off atheism all together. I entered into the shroud I once used to pillory, and have never looked back.Adamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16456123115798668952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-23034924814537629482007-04-24T08:53:00.000-04:002007-04-24T08:53:00.000-04:00Oh, yes, I remember those high and far off times v...Oh, yes, I remember those high and far off times very well.<BR/><BR/>My parents were (mother still is) baptist, the favored flavor is Southern. I realised about the time I was five that the whole thing was, as a later girlfriend used to say, 'a pound of smoke.' But, being a person who knew the value of the low profile, I kept my own counsel.<BR/><BR/>I made one mistep, though, when I was seven. In Sunday school I repeated a joke I'd heard, and my parents were not best pleased. It was on the order of what's the heaviest thing in the world? And the answer (which I tailored for Sunday school) was: Turds! Even Samson dropped them! <BR/><BR/>I was given to understand that this bit of levity was just not on. This was reenforced by application of a wooden spoon when we went home. <BR/><BR/>My father was in the army, and in 1955 we had to go to Germany. I was eight years old then, and while we waited for housing to be available, my mother, sister, and I stayed with my mothers parents. I don't know why I did it, although I didn't believe I went through the motions of pledge and scripture reading, and prayer. But I ceased to participate. Probably I just missed my father, was just uprooted, generally mad at the world.<BR/><BR/>My teacher took me aside and counseled me a couple of times, never seemed to have an answer about who told on me. How anyone knew I wasn't praying when everyone was supposed to have their eyes closed was not explained. Why weren't they being punished, too? No answer.<BR/><BR/>Finally, she had to turn me in to the principal. Didn't want to, but she had to. Mother was humiliated and disgusted. Wooden spoon (grandma had one) and posterior were reunited. Wooden spoon found its way to the furnace, but I found that fly swatters, belts, razor straps, and slippers were viable substitutes.<BR/><BR/>I was still recalcitrant, and my mother and I were told to see someone in The Administration. My mother was lonely, back in her parents house and catching flack from them, and her religion was being mishandled. Plus, she wasn't a particularly mature in her outlook.<BR/><BR/>We went to see a 'Mr. Camel' (probably actually Campbell, but I was just eight) and this man was big, about four times my size and very angry. My mother couldn't even look at him. He demanded why I wouldn't pray, and it just popped out, the truth: I don't believe in god.<BR/><BR/>My mother actually screamed. He jumped up, came around the dest and slapped me out of the chair, snatched me up and yelled "I'LL teach you the luvva gawd!" and started shaking and hitting me. My mother joined in. I didn't shed a tear. My mother finally said she thought that was enough, and we left. She didn't talk to me for two weeks.<BR/><BR/>People had "Heard Things", and I went to school next day with a black eye, damaged shoulder, fat lip, and bruises and gouges. And I still wouldn't do what they wanted me to do.<BR/><BR/>Teacher asked if I was going to start praying to the approved diety and flag, I said, "No ma'am." Bless her heart, she never said another word about it, and I knew I was right.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36453833.post-67389798462289226802007-04-24T08:29:00.000-04:002007-04-24T08:29:00.000-04:00That's a cute story, and having been raised by an ...That's a cute story, and having been raised by an atheist, it's not that big a deal if that was enough for you, but if your teacher was any kind of of apologist, she'd have been ready with the accepted counter about logical paradox.<BR/><BR/>I guess what I'm saying is I hope there's more to your story than your dad's use of wordplay on a five year old.nekoukenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10106331204878757168noreply@blogger.com