Thought Sparkk

I have a lot of people on my social media who are quite outspoken about their political leanings and beliefs.  I frequently see them clash with other ideologies and usually it just escalates to a point where anger and a need to be right start running the conversation rather than reason and level-headed logic.  One of the topics I saw today was how white people don't like discussing race.  Which I largely agree with and the person who posted it is someone I tend to agree with most of the time.  And while I do agree with him on this statement, my full response is much more nuanced than that and I think offers some insight as to the "why" that comes after making a statement like that.  So here it goes. People don't like to be demonized.  Period.  It really is that simple.  Our natural reaction to being demonized is defiance and hostility.  Wouldn't you agree?  If I walk up to a random person and start calling them racist, whether they are...

I have often had the problem of being a self condemned introvert.  Being in constant social interactions is exhausting.  Even when I'm with people that I love, after awhile I feel stretched thin and just, run down.  I frequently must return to solitude to recharge my batteries. I was thinking about this today and I believe the reason for this, at least in my case, is that when I'm alone I can just let my thoughts run free and my consciousness follows those thoughts at will.  I can plot out the next few hours, days, years of my life, I can think of what I want, I can ponder the path of how to get to those things that I want, and I can reflect on what I have already done.  However, when I'm with other people, I realize that I am no longer able to just fall into myself like that.  I must remain external.  I must remain on the outside of my own brain and be constantly listening and interacting with those around me.  Therefore, I'm completely unable ...

Today I'll be god.  Today I'll watch every single rape that is happening with folded arms.  I will not intervene to stop it.  Today I'll watch the drunkard get behind the wheel with cold indifference.  I will not prevent the fatal accident that kills a family of 4.  Today I'll stand by and watch the millions of men, women, and children starving to death across the world and do nothing.  I will not provide a means of survival to those people.  They are on their own.  Today I'll watch disease and plagues ravage the globe.  I will not provide a cure for these afflictions and because I do this thousands of children will perish every year in agonizing fashion.  Today I'll watch those who died without belief in me burn in agony as they have for millennia.  I will not give them an ounce of mercy.  I will remain unmoved in the face of eternal brutality. It turns out that being god for a day doesn't change my life much at all.  W...

Everywhere I look there are campaigns about how women are pigeon-holed into certain molds of what is beautiful.  Video game characters are too thin and busty.  Models are too thin.  Store mannequins do not represent all body types equally.  Our culture is now rampant with this feminine beauty reform.  But, I have recently noticed one very interesting thing.  There is no movement like this on the male side of things.  Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with this, because I can separate fiction from reality inside my own brain.  But it is an interesting commentary on the difference between men and women when it comes to body image.  Women, in my experience, tend to be far less capable of accepting themselves and their own body image purely based on their own internal thoughts.  They have to constantly be reminded each and every day by themselves and everyone and everything else around them that they are beautiful.  Men do not.  Let's g...

I've grown to respect fundamentalist religious people far more than their moderate counterparts.  Moderates, to me, are merely religious people who lack conviction in their own beliefs or those who refuse to dive too deep into those beliefs for fear of knowing too much, or even worse, actually having an opinion.  Moderates serve only to dilute any and all attempts at a real fact finding conversation by making the religion forever liquid.  They dissuade you from applying critical thinking to find truth on the topic.  They discourage real attempts to find out if the religion is true, and what is even worse, they don't care if it is true or false.  I give fundamentalists at least the nod of respect for taking what is written in their holy text and applying it rather than ignoring it.  They don't attempt to reinterpret it for their own reasons.  If their holy text outright states something, then they admit that it is part of their belief.  Even though...

I still find myself being bitter and disgusted at the lies that I was fed as a child about Christianity and salvation.  Not only the lies I was fed then, but the utter disownment by that same group and theology once I walked away from their brand of faith.  Here is the path that I took.  I was brought up in a devout baptist christian household.  We went to church every sunday, almost no exceptions.  At age 9 I decided to become a christian and so I explained my feelings to my pastor after youth group one wednesday night.  We talked about it and what it meant and the ins-and-outs of salvation.  I said yes!  I want this!  So that night I sat with my pastor and prayed for salvation and became a christian.  I went home and told my parents and they were thrilled.  We hugged and mom cried tears of joy.  I didn't start questioning my faith until about the age of 19.  So for 19 years of my life,  10 of those years of being a ...

I vividly remember a time when I was younger that I was dating a girl who, at the time, I was infatuated with.  My every action was for her greater well-being.  There were many times where I remember stating and truly believing that I would do anything for her.  Overlook any mistakes, or imperfections, or any trespass on poor judgment.  When she decided to walk away from the relationship, I found myself in a very deep depression.  Primarily, I believe, since I had invested so much of myself into the relationship and to her.  At the time I was fully broken and was unsure how I could possibly live my life now without her.  Yet, here I sit, some nine years later with a good job, great friends, an amazing wife, and financial stability.  How silly I was in that moment from my current perspective. Similarly, when I was nine years old, a new pastor and his family moved into the house across from my childhood home.  They had four children, two daug...