Wow, another millennial starting his own “blog” detailing what he thinks and how the world is crazy. Well, that’s the beauty of this country, I have the right to air my opinion even if no one wants it or no one is listening. I’m betting on me just turning into the guy screaming in the corner scaring people so much they don’t know if they want to come over and check to make sure I’m ok.
Anyway, I am formerly a site designer in the Civil Engineering industry and am currently pursuing a career in teaching, mainly 4th through 8th grade mathematics. I am married to my beautiful wife and have an amazing 2-year-old.
For whom I am as a person, well it can be boiled down to two very conflicting schools of thought, science, and faith.
Science I guess seems self-explanatory with the engineering background and my pursuit in teaching math. To me the is nothing more important than facts and numbers. Facts and numbers literally build the basis for our lives. Without them the modern amenities we have grown so accustomed to wouldn’t be possible. To blow your mind a bit, the most basic survival technologies that we have wouldn’t be possible without a primitive human doing some calculating, testing, and reevaluating.
This is why I trust scientists and engineers. They are the men and women who work tirelessly to solve the world’s problems, and when they fail, they figure out why, and adjust. So, when a climate scientist says the earth is warming at an unprecedented rate and they put the information in front of me, I believe them. It’s also why I double down on their information when oil and gas companies hire people to spread misinformation about climate change because the information is presented in front of me that they would have a lot of money to lose if people switched to green energies and what would the scientists have to gain? I can tell you, a stable planet that their kids and grandkids will be able to grow up on without the need of SPF 10,000 sunscreen.
These beliefs in science just don’t go to what the average person would call science, this also has to do with political science and economic sciences. Now I’ll get more into that as I go down this journey of expressing my thoughts but I will leave you with one thing to think about, when the whole world is telling you one thing and showing you the proof in real time, but you decide to only believe a man who lied over 33,000 times during his presidency, who used his inherited wealth to hush people about his sexual impropriety, and has been known to cheat at golf on a fairly regular basis, who also doesn’t back any of his claims with facts or physical evidence but just says “greatest and most brilliant minds have told me…” I think you need to reevaluate how you proceed through life and take in the world around you. That’s just an opinion but an opinion you should test for yourself.
Faith on the other hand is, and I admit, the opposite of science. The definition of faith is “the strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.” Two very different schools of thought, but I really boil it down to logic and emotion. I believe in God because of the things I can not explain. The comfort I get praying to a being so much larger than myself. The blessings that have been given to me and my family especially because of all the things we have been through, even during the toughest times of my life. A lot of things just tend to work out not because of anything I have done but mainly because I trusted the process of letting God handle my problems and giving me the strength to prosper.
I follow God by trying to live a life like Jesus did and taught in the bible. Love, Charity, sacrifice, service, these are just a few of the teachings. You know what wasn’t a teaching of Jesus Christ, rules and regulations for when an abortion is necessary and appropriate. This is all the Right worries about. To me I am pro-life, but I still believe that abortion should be a right for many instances. My views are very nuanced, but all have a firm foundation. If you want to live in an abortion free country, then you pass legislation to provide the assistance for women who are pregnant. Provide services for woman who don’t want the baby to set up adoptions easier. Provide the assistance to the women who are pregnant who don’t have insurance to pay for all the medical appointments, medications, and supplements to make sure the baby and the mother are healthy. When the baby is finally born, don’t cut programs that make it easier for new mothers to afford, again, food, medications, and appointments for the child post-partum.
To me it goes even further, providing more assistance with childcare while the caregiver goes to work. Many will say “they will just send the kids to daycare while the parents will sit at home and eat Cheetos and get high.” To that I say based on 2021 Annie E. Casey Foundation study, 71% of all children of lower-class status have at least one parent who works a full-time job year long. 29% don’t which I admit is a problem but are you going to let the “sins” of 29% cause the suffering of the other 71%. (Faith and Science) Others will say, “well why do I have to pay for those lazy people when I work so hard, and they don’t?” I will answer with Jesus taught to give to the needy including the sick, hungry, and poor and said, “It is more blessed to give than receive.” It is not our place to ask if people really need the help or what they will do with the money, Jesus teaches to give those who ask for help anyways.
Luke 6:30-31
"Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them."
This is how I base a lot of my life and my political beliefs. I am ok being taxed a bit more if it means kids don’t go hungry or people get the help, they need financial, or for assistance, if they misuse the help they are given, it is on them, what my responsibility is to help no matter what and to try to bring people out of bad situations. When someone asks for help, we help, we don’t turn our backs no matter if it is for ill gain. Jesus didn’t say help those who will help themselves, Jesus said help the helpless and the hopeless, that’s how I want to live.
As for many people, a lot of these beliefs have their roots in my family and how I was raised. My family taught me to give the shirt off my back if it comes to it and to love people like Jesus did, no matter what skin color, religion, or sports team alliance except Boston (I joke). When I began getting into politics and world events, I was dumbfounded when I realized my family doesn’t vote that way and in fact votes the opposite of what my views are. This gets into the subject of Evangelicals in the 70’s and 80’s being indoctrinated to believe that you can’t be a good Christian if you aren’t Republican. Only for this point to be hammered down when republicans became the anti-abortion party after the passing of Roe v. Wade in 1973.
I love my family and I want my son and future kids to learn from them as well. I want them to have compassion for their fellow man, and I want their life to be a life of service to the needy and downtrodden. But I want to make it abundantly clear to my kids that it is important to realize who you are voting for and what would Jesus do in this situation.
So that’s a little about me. I have a very firm foundation in my beliefs, as contradictory as they would sound on the outside, that I would love to share with you. I hope I lose my bet to myself, and you end up sticking around and allow me to indulge you with another Ordinary Millennial’s Thoughts on the World.
Author’s Favorite Passage:
Romans 8:28-29
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Author’s Favorite Quote:
“The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.” – Neil DeGrasse Tyson
