I feel like words are cheap and sentiment is empty, but I can’t stop thinking about the people who have lost homes due to the fires that are raging all around my state.
I also can’t stop thinking about how much I respect, admire, and appreciate the firefighters who are risking their lives to stop the progression of the fires as well as protect the lives and property of their fellow humans.
I’m watching a man who has therapy dogs with him up near Thousand Oaks. He was asked to bring his dogs to Cal Lutheran after the mass murder a few days ago, and he stayed there so his dogs can offer comfort to people who have been displaced by the fire.
He said that he and his team gather every morning for devotion and prayer, and then they take themselves and the (this is my phrasing, now) ephemeral inspiration they take from their faith to help other people.
I am not a religious person, but I believe as strongly as I believe in anything that this man and his kind, loving, selfless help is what I believe religion should inspire people to be, not the hateful bigotry we so often see from people who claim religious faith as justification for their own absence of compassion and empathy.
I am not religious, but I want to say: God bless this man and his team.
It’s scary and upsetting to see so much destruction and know that it’s going to get even worse before it’s all over, but I am remembering Mister Rogers’s gentle reminder to look for the helpers.
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Great sentiment. Agree 100%.
Well said. Thank goodness for our everyday heros!
They’re certainly out there, Will. Indeed, you are one of them. Thanks for the message of hope.
Well said. It’s so easy when the jerks get all the attention to start thinking that’s just how people are these days. It’s so important to know and remember that there are so many good and kind-hearted people out there.
Always look for the helpers. And if you can, look for a way to help the helpers. A pot of coffee and some donuts. Something. Anything. That is how we will get through this.
My friend Michael is a helicopter pilot and he’s been away from his family for most of 6 months dropping water on fires in California and Washington. He might be heading back down to CA soon. Remember the families of the firefighters also.
Absolutely. We often forget that we can help by just showing up with a case of bottled water or some snacks to any kind of disaster and help those whom are tasked with helping.
Yes. My admiration for firefighters is boundless!
“this man and his kind, loving, selfless help is what I believe religion should inspire people to be”
I am a very religious person and I agree with this statement 100%.
Mr. Rogers telling children to “look for the helpers” makes me want to be one of the helpers. Like that man. Just in whatever small ways we can, we should be the helpers for people who need help and are looking for the helpers. So yes, I’m not religious, but things like this give me hope in a spiritual way.
I have many friends in the areas that are raging, and I’m sick with worry for them. I also know lots of firefighters and police officers who are in the path of these dangerous fires. I used to be religious until the judgmental church members turned me off of organized religion, and I stopped attending services. But early programming is difficult to overcome, and I still find comfort in prayer. Perhaps some could think of it as getting into a positive place and sending good and kind vibes towards those that I love or care about. However it’s defined, I’ve spent a lot of time praying for those bereft families in the Thousand Oaks shooting, all of the displaced residents forced to leave their neighborhoods and the first responders who are on the front lines to help. I don’t know if it helps them, but it helps me, until there are more tangible ways to assist the victims. I admire those who make themselves available to spread love and friendship, and perhaps they are God sent. I’m not sure. But you’re right……God bless that sweet, compassionate man, and all who are touched by him.
I agree with you completely! I have friends in the Paradise/Butte Co area. My problems seem small compared to what they are going through! Take care, dear Wil! We each need to do what we can to help our fellow man!
God bless you, Wil, for “helping” explain what religion/faith is. Thank you for sharing, stay safe 🙏👍😇
Exactly! Well said, thank you.
Yes,100% Look for the helpers. That love leads the way.
Eloquent. Thank you Wil!
Also not religious, but yes, this. Community. Empathy. That’s what we all should be about.
Thank you, Wil.
Gods come to us in may forms. Some of them have fur and cold noses, and some of them hold the leash. Blessed be the Helpers.
This. Exactly this.
I’m not religious at all either but a lovely man I could call friend but rather call family is a pastor for Lutheran & he’s genuinely one of the best folks I know.
I’d happily do anything for him & his lovely family (both blood & bonded) because I know he’d do the same for anyone else.
May all those truly great people out there find every happiness, they deserve it.
Also, he had two adorkable black labs, so more bonus points! 😛
Religion has always been a place where both those inspired by God to do His loving will, and those who would use it to hide something troubling them to the point of hatred, and all its destructive cohorts (see The Seven Deadly Sins). I see both in the world. Anyone with eyes open would. That part of us that may of us believe is God seems to spring forth from us to help those in need, regardless of race, religion, etc. Personally I have known nothing so joyful and fulfilling as those times when I have set aside my own concerns and helped others in need, be they family, friends, strangers. As a Roman Catholic I have found all of this within the framework of my faith, but I have seen friends and others, of other or no faith systems, who are getting the same jolt of goodness I have felt by doing the same thing out of their unconditional love; the best of all loves. I am also a former Southern Californian (Azusa, San Gabriel Valley) who has friends and family almost always under the threat of these terrible infernos. God protect and watch over all of them, and the brave people risking their lives to defeat the fires, and the evil that tragically possesses the hearts of people like the man in Thousand Oaks. -Peace be with you.
You captured it beautifully. To bravery and goodness! They’re still to be found out there.
We can link our spirits together when we focus our minds. We can be a safety net on this planet when we choose to become that. Glad you are safe, and that his absolutely horrific.
The funny thing about helping out other in time of need is, That it cost you nothing but your time and your ability to listen . Thats what my Mantra is for all the volunteering I do .There is noting in it for Me but to hear fellow humans say thank you.
I hope there’s no animals (pets) left behind and that any wildlife manages to escape the blazes. I’m not religious, either, but I’ll pray for their protection.
I live in an area prone to wildfires – though the big ones we’ve had around us in the last decade have actually made us somewhat safe for the moment – but there was a particular one a few years ago that came within about a day of taking out the entire town, if the wind hadn’t changed. My heart goes out to everybody in the path of these things. And I do, in some form, pray for all the living creatures in the paths to get away safely. I am not really a traditional believer, though nominally Episcopalian (the two go together just fine, actually) but God/dess bless all the firefighters and others working to save lives (property is nice, lives are better).
I have a personal pantheon, of sorts, of saints. Fred Rogers is among them. It’s a rather eclectic group, but he was a shoe-in.
And YOU are one of the helpers!
Christopher Hitchens often said that he offered an unanswered challenge to defenders of religion to name any kind or charitable act that required religion. Of course, no such act exists. Being religious in no way motivates nor enables acts of assistance. That’s a canard.
Our global adherence to ghosts and imaginary friends has literally put our species, and those unfortunate other species who share this place with us, on the brink of disaster. We see this in the war of virulent superstition against reason which plagues us all.
Religions must end.
But not by mandate, or legislation. I believe in freedom of expression even if that expression is madness. But each individual needs to put aside their childish and primitive faith in imaginary friends. We need to face our global problems in a sober, mature fashion. Addicts cannot be dragged to sobriety. Each religious person must find their own way out of their stupor.
That man brought his dogs out of kindness, but — let’s be clear — also out of a cynical and mercenary attempt to sell the snake oil of his own personal madness. An atheist can be kind and they are. People who claim that their kindness springs from ghosts are really making a damning indictment against their own moral weakness. They are saying that without their ghost, they cannot behave in a decent way.
No surprise then that, on balance, religious people disproportionately rank as the most deplorable.
I would honestly like to study that ranking. Could you post a link?
I can’t say if I would still give money or volunteer or train my Golden as a therapy dog if I didn’t have a ghost as I’ve had one for as long as I can remember. I do know for sure that my own moral weakness and deplorableness is deep and never ending however. But I’m not as physically capable to serve others as I once was so I try to keep the ‘giving’ category of our personal budget to be our second highest spending category (behind housing/utilities).
I’m very blessed and grateful that I’ve not needed to use religious services like the Red Cross or Salvation Army myself but I know atheists who have and they’re never turned away that I know of. As a matter of fact, I pray those who have been affected by the wildfires and murders find assistance in religious aid organizations (as well as non- ) regardless of their spiritual beliefs.
Yes.
http://www.google.com
Have fun.
Direct violation of Wheaton’s Law.
Bernadette Peters. No One Is Alone.
https://youtu.be/LnLKbc2hvxk?t=24
An Atheistic Amen.
I know some people say that if prayers worked there wouldn’t be any sickness, suffering, or death but every time we house or feed the homeless, or take in disadvantaged women and children, or place someone from our education and job placement program at church, someone says that their prayers were answered.
“God moves in mysterious ways.” Who is to say that when you volunteer time and energy to a charity which feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, heals the sick, or helps the poor, that you cannot be the miracle for whom someone has prayed?
Everyone who helps is a miracle unto her- or himself.
Amen.
Oddly enough, Jesus was not Religous either, he was NOT a Catholic or Protestant, he was born a Jew, and accompanying his Mother and Father to Jerusalem every year.
Those People preaching Hatred of anyone, based on Race, Religion, Sexual orientation are misguided and are on the the road to perdition.
You cannot love God, if you hate your brother or your sister or your neighbors.
Your brothers are all nations and peoples with no exceptions, Jesus never told anyone to hate anyone, he said, Love your enemy !
More murder has been committed in the name of Religion, and Religious beliefs sadly enough so that many have turned away from God.
God does NOT hate anyone.
So to claim that God hates Gays is false.
At one point I heard a street preacher preaching a false message of hate and the spirit moved me to give him a message:
“Jesus came not to condemn any, he came to forgive and grant repentance and salvation to all peoples of all faiths.”
He was quite incensed at such a message and bade me to be gone, which I quickly did having discharged my responsibility in the matter.
Religion is indeed a contruct of men, Spirituality is Divinely inspired of God, and is not something you will find in a building or a Religious book or tract, other than the Holy Bible as all scripture is inspired by God and beneficial.
A workman need not be ashamed, but rightly divide the word of truth.
We need to stick to the words of Jesus and preach Love, not hate, not any sects or division of the brethren as this is a device of Satan.
Just as the Beetles lyrics said, truly,
All you need is Love……
Peace !
I agree with you on some points, namely that Jesus Christ did include everyone, no exceptions, and particularly the marginalized in giving them the key, or way of love, that would bring them, through Him, to His Father in Heaven, or eternal reunification of the soul with its Creator. People who focus their Christianity on negatives, on exclusions, on pointing fingers, are completely missing the point, and the quality of their own human lives suffers proportionately. As a cradle Catholic I have chosen to place my focus on, and trust in, all the beautiful, loving saints and sinners who got what Jesus came into this world, The Word Made Flesh, to accomplish: to save us from death, the permanent kind. Those are a few of my basic beliefs. Regarding the cliche criticism of Religion being the cause of more wars, deaths, etc: Firstly, Religion is a concept or construct, not something that can initiate physical acts. People, wrongly inspired by religions, or inspired by violent religions (usually through some psychological defect); they cause wars. Secondly, Atheism, as wielded by the Fascists and Communist dictators of the 20th Century, combined to cause the deaths of over 100 million, far surpassing the body count of any previous century or death toll racked up by any particular religion, again, if one could prove that a single religion was intent on killing as part of its creed. So it would seem accurate to say that Godlessness, or man made god, in the hands of the power mad megalomaniac, has wreaked more bloodshed than Religion, at least in the time frame where statistics are more recent and reliable.
Hitler was a lifelong and staunch Christian. If you are referring to Mao or Stalin, both also employed religion to maintain control. They simply replaced the icon of some other ghost with their own visage. None of them were a-theist. The deity in their framework changed, but the framework was the same. Killing for ghosts is a time-honored human tradition which transcends all cultural boundaries. The cult of worship is the problem.
It’s the lazy and dangerous hostility to reason which causes these atrocities.
Hello Mr Wheaton…I just wanted to say you did a great job narrating/voice acting on Ready Player One…I needed a good story and you delivered.
I am sorry for all those who have lost in these fires and for the fear and anguish of all those in the area.
Almost all fire departments have an ongoing charity organization which provides for the families of firefighters who fall in the line of duty. Call the fire department which protects your home (during the day on the non-emergency line) and ask for the name and address of the benefit fund which stands behind your local heroes. For example, both the L. A. Fire Department and the L. A. County Fire Department have funds like that, as do almost all of the municipal departments scattered throughout southern California such as Pasadena or Arcadia.
Whether a large, urban department or a rural volunteer department, they’re all there for you, 24/7. This is a way anyone can say thank you to the people who will run into your burning house even as you run out of it.