As I sit here, writing this little piece of my thoughts, I stumble across the fact that I am now of the age of majority, and by the government I am now considered an adult. Some of my friends, definitely my parents, and often times myself as well, would argue that I'm not really an adult, and that I'm still childish. However, again, as I sit here, I realize that I am now what I have always feared becoming, and secretly desired to transform into: an adult.

As my mind attempts to grasp this relatively fundamental concept, it also begins to do things it never used to before, like worry about others and life itself, and delve too deeply into the emotions that run my conscious existence. As time goes on and on, I finally begin to see the large, bleeding gap between what I was told as a child to give me hope of living happily in this world, and the cold, hard truth. I also begin to see what we, as people, have begun to twist and alter for whatever purpose we see fit to it. We have forgotten a lot of the things that made our societies spectacular and allowed us to survive as a species as long as we have. Because, let's face it people: no matter what anyone tells you, there will be a day where humans will be wiped off the face of the planet, and it will most likely be our own fault. It's because of these fearful, truthful things that I live my life as I do: happily, relaxed, not worrying about every little detail, and learning as I go along.

But as these moments of personal exploration spill from my lips like the vomit of many a revered high school and college party, three things stick out in my head that mankind has, over the centuries, destroyed, gutted, and forgotten the true meaning of, or twisted them around so much that the true meaning is nearly intangible and invisible. These three things are: Religion, Voting, and Marriage.

Let's take a look at everyone's least favorite aspect of declining world first. The funny thing is, Religion was the foundation my father's family lived on when it moved to Canada, and it's what allowed him to raise me to become a very tolerant, accepting person....with the slight, ironic twist, that I am absolutely intolerant of intolerant people. Go figure, eh? Anyway, getting back to the real point....I don't know whether it was just the average stupidity of the average human being, or whether it was simply that humanity refuses to change in its entirety, but somewhere along the way, someone figured out what Religion was all about, and everyone else ignored him. And now, today, we have a bunch of people who quote the Bible (a book written by people in times where often, translation from one language to another was near impossible to do with any accuracy) to make up for their own ignorance, crimes against their fellow man, or to prove a point which has no sound basis inside the realms of reality. My father knows it, I know it, and practically everyone I can stand to be around knows it....and though I do like to believe in the mystic world and times where people could throw fire from their fingers, the reality of the situation should be pretty obviuos to a lot of people right now: There is no big man up in the sky who dictates when you're born, when you die, and how your life becomes. There is no fiery place your soul goes if you commit a horrid crime where you could burn for eternity. The reality of the matter is that God, Satan, Heaven and Hell......they don't exist. They are fictional elements from a book that was designed to control and ease the minds of the population, to give them guidance in their life and to set a standard of moral rules by which all good people should run their lives. The concept of Hell was created as a deterrant to prevent people from harming each other, but which obviously doesn't work that well. And before you go off on me trying to pin me as an Atheist, let's just say that I don't believe in one sole god......I don't really believe at any point someone's going to reach out of the clouds and smite me. But I do understand and love listening to the tales of other cultures, who had many faces of divinity teaching them the ways of life. And yes, even I have read the Bible in certain places....the Book of Job, for example, is perhaps the story I take most to heart. For those of you who haven't read up, Job was a man blessed by God, given a loving family, and a proud life which he could live and prosper in. And with all these things, Job praised his Lord for giving him so much, and thanked Him every day. One day, though, Satan basically came up to God and said "You're very proud of Job, but if he had nothing, then he would hate your guts." To prove his ex-follower wrong, God began taking away Job's blessings and happiness one by one, taking his home, his farm, his family, and even his health from him. But even after all the horrible things God had done to him, Job still turned his eyes to the sky and said: "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away" and continued to praise and honor him. Though the story may make you say this God fellow is terrible and mean, one should hopefully realize the true lesson the story is trying to tell you: no matter what horrid things befall you, never give up hope. Hope is the last bastion a human being has, and to lose it is far greater than death itself.

Let's step away from that and go to the next thing: voting. Now, I don't know about a lot of the American people, but to start, I'm just going to say that voting in Canada has never really been that much of an issue to us. As things stood, we never had to fight for our rights to become independant and govern ourselves. Though it did take a while for the voice of the people to be heard, there was no big catastrophe or war because of it. We just sort of.....grew up, and earned it. Makes us sound pretty lame, doesn't it? Anyway....I'm truly tired of hearing the phrase "do you know how many people died so you could even have the RIGHT to vote?" when older people talk to teenagers about voting. For starters, it's a Right, people....they don't have to use it if they don't feel like it. Secondly, think about what you're saying, for a second: those people fought for the right to vote because, in the case of America, the country that sired the great "Land of the Free" over 200 years ago ruled over the land with an iron fist. They forced the people to live by their laws and beliefs, and had such practices as that old "Taxation without Representation". No one person had a voice, and everything was done without concent, without care for those who would end up suffering. Then there came this giant war with their Parent country, and America won, giving them the freedom they sought for. Democracy was born, and finally the people had a right to say who their leaders would be and what they should do. Now stop and realize: this was a time where humans were utterly cruel, intolerant, selfish bastards (not that that's changed much >.>. The right to vote was fought for because the people NEEDED to be heard, and their opinions were REQUIRED in order to change the gross incompetence and cruelty that led them. But nowadays.....look at what there is. There really doesn't need to be a mass need to vote, as everyone there is to vote for doesn't give a SHIT what the rest of their country wants or the rights of their own people (I'm looking at you, Gay Marriage >.>! All they really seem to care about is the power that comes with ruling a country, and power to control human beings. When it came to the War in Iraq, did the American leaders give a flying fuck if the people of America really wanted to go to war or not? Hell no. The only people the American Government asked were the UN and the American Government. It's hilarious that they continue to spit shit about freedom, equality, the basic rights of humanity, and to protect the world and its people from fear, when I as someone who isn't even LIVING in America are terrified these people are going to us next and wrap their greasy, sadistic hands around us. Face it people: Voting is not a big deal. It hasn't been for almost 100 years. No matter what decision you make, you will be voting for someone who doesn't give a crap about what you really want.

Next up on our list of the forgotten and mistaken comes Marriage. The silly thing here is that marriage has always been about one thing since it was created, but for some reason, our parents, TV, and most media find this need to push an illusion on us that it's about love, togetherness, and the connection between most individuals. Bullshit. Marriage has always been the same thing: a contract with the state that gives bonuses to two human beings who have basically agreed "all right, let's live together so we can make more babies." Marriage has never been about love, it is about claiming another person as your own and to gain the rewards of - up until quite a little while ago for some people - being a man and a woman joined together by somebody who probably fondled a few boys (cheap shot ) just so the government wouldn't punish you for not having a long-term someone you could impregnate every other year or so. I don't exactly remember where I found it, but I remember reading a reference back to the earliest days that marriage was based on the principle of control: early man would steal a woman from somewhere and bind her in ropes, taking her to wherever he lived. After a while, when she got used to not being able to leave, he would untie her, and leave a single rope around her finger, just so she'd never forget. The principle of marriage has nothing to do with love, like your parents told you: it's just a nice thing you can do so you have to give the government a little less of your soul every year.

Does that mean I don't believe in love? Hell no. I believe in it alright....as someone who's had the unpleasantness of having their heart broken, I know what love is like. I also know it has nothing to do with marriage. True love is finding in someone the characteristics and personality that you believe will complete you throughout your life, and provide companionship until the day you leave this earth. Marriage is basically the art of finding someone who fucks really well and making sure someone else doesn't take them away. It's a bullshit contract that, if it didn't offer teh bonsuses it did, I would seriously never consider doing. I would rather settle down with the person I cherish and share a spiritual bond.

If you took time out of your day to read this rubbish, then take some time to think it over yourself. As for me, I'm going to relax some more.....I have some games to play and some time to kill before tomorrow. See you.