All men are created equal

Im not working on any big projects at the moment at work. Its mainly just managing the company and waiting to hire a couple of new sales reps. This will make sales rep #6 and #7. Its kind of frustrating because the people that I want to hire aren’t necessarily agreed upon by management. Race and religious affiliation are huge factors in hiring here, unfortunately. It’s a commonly accepted practice. The terms all men are created equal doesn’t apply out here. It’s American idealism that is only shared with a small percentage of the global population. The only thing that is close here, is all Muslims are created equal sometimes. That is shown upon during the call to prayer. They line up in a line with no difference in socio-economic status or race. The ritual for praying is that they face mecca and kneel and put their face to the ground, then stand up again. This takes place over and over again for the 30-45 minutes of prayer 5 times a day. If you think about the physicality of the prayer it is actually excellent calisthenics especially for older people. So there are some physical benefits in addition to the spiritual benefits that they perceive that they are getting. Doing this routine side by side with anyone, they pride themselves that all men are equal in the eyes of Allah. Yet that isn’t entirely true since the division between Sunni’s and Shiite is so prevalent. Don’t forget that all Muslims are equal in the eyes of God usually only applies during the prayer times. If Im wrong Muslims, please let me know. I strive to be accurate. It was nice because I said something that 100% accurate about the Hindus, and some anonymous person was nice enough to set the record straight according to their opinion. I like that about this forum. Its good to express opinions and understanding. We need more communication to take place. But Muslims feel like they have to keep praying otherwise there might be an opportunity that they might lose their salvation. That is a core difference between Islam and Christianity. Islam is a salvation by works philosophy, while Christianity is salvation by faith. Christianity sure seems a whole lot easier. Essentially there are only two rules, Love God, love others like yourself. There are details, but if you do the first two things, the details kind of happen naturally and easilty.

There was such an extreme shift for me at work. I went from unbelievably crazy busy, to not busy at all. Two of my closest friends are also out of town so my regular squash and racquetball games are put on hiatus as well. I was so busy for so long, I relished the opportunity to be at home. Thus I got in kind of a routine. I don’t really like to go out with big groups, I prefer the one on one experience. But usually Im the one to initiate the contact. Very few of my friends make the first move. So Im comfortable in my routine coming home at night and chatting or phone calling my friends and family from around the world. Im a true extrovert, but Im really valuing my alone time. So Im a bit of a conundrum socially right now. I almost admitted I was bored a little earlier today…I say almost. Being bored is a state of mind, a choice. So I quickly backed away from that. It was a fleeting thought anyways because I haven’t been bored since I set down here. I think what I need is another challenge. I know that the challenges are out there, but God told me to be patient and not to rush things. They would all happen in His perfect timing.

I know I’ve been belaboring the point of divorce the past few days. Its not because Im trying to make X look bad. Instead I try to share my feeling and my perspective. I was speaking with my mother yesterday. She is a sweet old woman. She’s going to hate that I said old, but she’s 69 (I think) going on 72, since 72 is the 64 she is a little bit young for her age. But she looks like she’s in her 50’s she only acts like she’s in her 80’s. But as long as she looks good, I don’t think she’ll care about the numbers Im throwing around. Thank God for Tivo, for her perspective. In actuality she took the divorce a lot harder than I did. She also took my diabetes a lot harder. I think that is the thing with mothers. I gave it to God and he healed me…or is in the process of healing. She’s finally getting around the healing part. She loved X, probably more than she loved me. So she lost a daughter in all of this. I don’t think a person ever fully recovers from divorce. But my mother was sharing with me the other day that she was not looking forward to Christmas. Christmas’ just hasn’t been the same for her or I since the divorce. That’s a misnomer about divorce that should be brought to light. Its not just one person’s choice. That person’s choice has ripple effects that affect, Grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, friends, let alone their mom and dad, everything in life is redefined. Even in California my parents got to see the kids 3-4 times a year. My parents made it a point to never miss a grandchild’s birthday, that covered 7 grandchildren a year spread out over multiple states and countries. Now, they are lucky to see my kids once a year, maybe twice. They haven’t seen my daughter for going on two years now. I know my boys keep asking about their cousins, whom they haven’t seen since before the divorce. Everything changes in their life. So the ripple effect of one person’s choice deeply affects 15-20 in a great impact. Again, Im not trying to hurl stones, but in making the choice to divorce you must look at all the ramifications, and not just because you want to, or because you tell yourself you’ve fallen out of love. The enemy will give you plenty of excuses in your mind why you are justified in making negative self-serving choices, but remember the enemy comes to lie, steal, and destroy. By creating havoc with divorce he can do all three with one fell swoop.

You choose to fall in love and you choose to fall out of love. Marriage is a simply a commitment before God that you’ll stick it out. So if you are thinking about it, look at every angle, like chess. Consider the moves 4 to 5 moves out. How will affect your children, their relationships, your relationships, your identity. Is it worth it? 9 times out of 10, I think not. I know it wasn’t for me, but I didn’t really have a vote.