In spite of being raised in a Christian family, I am a firm atheist.



I have, at several times in my life, tried to believe in a god, or a supernatural power, or a spirituality, but any time I did, it always felt instinctively dishonest. And not matter how hard I wanted to believe, I have never witnessed anything in my life which could not be explained my a basic understanding of science.



I do miss church, though. Don't get me wrong, I'll never go back to another church, because I believe that what happens there is abusive and dishonest. I see it as a form of government-sanctioned brainwashing. But, I do miss it. Churches are communities, where many friendships can be born. And there's something nice about seeing people dressed nicely — these days, everyone (even well-to-do people) seems to make an art form of looking like a slob who just rolled out of bed.

If I could travel back in time and give advice to myself when I was 16 years old, my advice would be to get a passport, save some money, and leave the country after high school.



I was 34 years old when I finally travelled to another country for the first time. That's more that 16 years ago! I should have done it much sooner.



I always wanted to travel the world, but I allowed myself to spend too much time believing it wasn't an option for me, having grown up poor. The only person in my family who ever traveled to another country did it via military service… until I finally started my adventures.



Now, I can look back at the past 16 years (since the end of high school) and imagine how much of the world I might have already seen if I hadn't waited so long.



Oh well. There's no sense regretting the past. What's done is done, and I'm traveling now. A lot! I've done more in this year than the average person would do in a decade. And I'm still just getting started. The future is ahead of me.

Studed Silence

No person, act, or word has the power to offend. The only power anyone has over you is the power that you give them.



When people are offended by swearing, they are really only offended by their own lack of control over what you say. They have an idea of how they think you should talk, and they are offended by your refusal to follow their plan.



But who are you to tell me what I'm allowed to say?



A word is only considered a "swear" word when a significant enough number of people agree that they do not want to hear it. But each group of people is subjective. In different company, that word holds absolutely no power to offend.



In fact, often, in the right company, a "swear" word has the power to amuse, to entertain, occasionally even to enlighten.



I believe that the best option is to choose the words that best reach the audience with whom you want to communicate. If you are talking to people who don't like "swear" words, your message will be better heard if you avoid suchs words. Once someone is offended, they stop listening to anything else you're saying.



But if your audience does not respond negatively — or indeed, responds favorably to such language — by all means, I'm in favor of their use. Effective communication means choosing the best word for the situation. And yes, sometimes, that's a "swear" word.