To Those About to Live, We Salute You

One of the problems I had while my faith was fading is that I've always had issues with depression. And if there was no forever, no galactic memory card, no ultimate score board, I was, quite frankly, afraid I would lose all hope and drive to do better. What point could there be in a finite playground? And after watching Christian/Atheist debates, I've come to understand that however shortsighted that feeling was, it was not uncommon. In fact it was a founding principal in at least one of the monotheisms. Isn't that the precise thrust behind Matthew 6:34, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself"?

Fortunately this is a faulty paradigm.

Often times it seems the message of atheists, especially online, is overtly aggressive and/or sarcastic. This is to combat the extreme-conservatism of religious strongholds, not to convert the idling near-free-thinkers. I often wonder if I, the oft-contrarian that I am, would have realized my own atheism had I only been exposed to this intellectual climate.

Instead of an online community (or onslaught,) I was fortunate enough  to have found the place where dialogue happens between the standpoints. From there, I turned in. Undoubtedly this is why the internet is dubbed in pop-culture as the place where religions go to die. And their end will, hopefully, be as final as our own.

When the individual turns inward, reflection is inevitable. Upon further reflection, I realized that though this life may be fleeting and capricious, there is value in it. In fact, it is because of the impermanence of our experience that these moments must be lived fully. And not only must they be pursued, captured, and engulfed with purpose, but on purpose. This is living.

This is the tender triumph which is often lost in the Pro v. Anti argument. But it is not something which the converted atheist will ever purposely devalue.

And so; to those about to live, we salute you.

ADRIAN FORT is a writer, blogger, and essayist from Kansas City, Missouri. Follow him on twitter @adriananyway. His work has appeared in Existere, decomP magazinE, The Bluest Aye, Bareback Magazine, Gadfly Online, Chrome Baby, The Eunoia Review, Linguistic Erosion, and Smashed Cat Magazine. His Master's Degree is from Lindenwood University. 


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