Bad Advice From Good People ?

Every couple of weeks or so, I receive an email from a well-intentioned friend, telling me how to live my life. Oh sure, they're camouflaged as missives about how you need to "appreciate each moment of life" or "consider someone's feelings", but they basically boil down to them thinking that you need some guidance on how to live your life.

Now, I may not lead the life of a saint, but I don't think that I need advice on how to live.

I'm Agnostic, so most people of faith instantly assume that lack of religion equals lack of morality. Not so. In my view, I'm sometimes more moral than some religious zealots.

I live in Virginia, where Hurricane Isabel slapped quite a few people pretty soundly last year. I got off lucky, so I brought in two cases of bottled water to work for those folks that were having to boil their water at home in order to drink it. Well one of the "Good Christians" at work (she actually plays Gospel tunes at her desk during the work day) went to get a couple of bottles. Just because she was thirsty. Where she lived she did not have to boil her water. WTF?

Or the people that imply that because I don't go to church each week, they're somehow better than me. These are the same folks that get change back for a $20 bill when they only gave someone a $10 bill, and they don't say a word about it. Yet I'm the one that's going to burn in Hell? Doubtful.

The more I knock around this planet, I'm convinced that Heaven was created by people that cannot conceive of the idea that one day they will simply cease to be. They need to believe that there is some way for them to cheat death, and since they could not figure out how to do it on Earth, they have created the idea of the Afterlife. This allows them to eat their cake and have it too.

If there is a God, I like to think that I'll be further ahead in line than a lot of the "Good Christians" that I meet on a daily basis.