touchdown jesus

there is a church not too far from my house. in 2004 the church spent $250,000 to build this 60 foot statue of jesus made out of fiberglass and foam in which they insured for about twice that amount by adding in the cost for time that was DONATED by artist to the project of building this big ass jesus. this church has become "famous" because of this big ass jesus they have. people come from all over the world to get a look at this big ass jesus and sit through a sermon in the church next to the big ass jesus.



last year there was a lightning storm here in my city. the right hand of the jesus statue was struck by the lightning and the big ass jesus quickly burned to the ground causing $700,000 in damages to the area.



considering the beLIEfs of many christians one would think after the right hand of god was struck by lightning that religious people would take this as a sign. maybe that god would not be on board with spending $250,000 on a big ass statue of jesus when there are countless other practical uses for money.
lets see -- there is starvation world wide, people are dying of diseases that have cures because of the value placed in money instead of life, all people do not have access to clean water, all people do not have access to shelter and the current system accepts and allows this. so if we accept and allow the current system, we accept and allow and give permission for these things to be. for a group of people that say the core message they operate from is 'love they neighbor as thy self', supporting a complete and utter deletion of this accepted and allowed system of abuse and an implementation of a system that supports life would be step one in actually living the message of 'love they neighbor as thy self'.

BUT NO! first thought was to rebuild the big ass jesus. and this new big ass jesus is planned to be even bigger than the last big ass jesus. the church is planning to spend between $300,000 and $700,000 on this new big ass jesus. this new big ass jesus will be made of non flammable material and also come equipt with a lightning suppression system. take that god! try and burn this one down..

here comes PETA to add manipulation to the mix. but this time they arent attempting to use sex to sell veganism. this time, its god. PETA offered to fund the rebuild of touchdown jesus under the CONdition that the church place the words 'blessed are the merciful. go vegan' clearly visible on the new big ass jesus. darlene bishop, a co-pastor at the church, said in response to the offer, "we're not interested. we raise cattle. we will never build a statue with the stipulation that we would have to advertise for PETA."

many are protesting the rebuild. the leadership from the church says that the statue was a symbol, not for worship. "its such a monument. its like, people know monroe by the statue of jesus. its important that we rebuild."- darlene bishop. there are many question to ask here. why, the fuck, is a $700,000 symbol needed at all? do we want this symbol to display superiority to other churches and get attention? are there other practical useful things that can be done with this $700,000? why are we all not taking steps to make big changes but settle within small changes that barely have an impact on the totality of the world? is the goal to make an impact, or make a big ass jesus? reality is being ignored here. which is actually very common within people in general. people are so caught up within their beLIEfs systems and 'my world's that the whole of this planet that we all live on is being disregarded and thoroughly abused.

the system WE accept and allow is one that accepts and allows the attrocities in this world to continue. lies, manipulation and the stepping on of others are all pre requisites within the current system. it is undeniable, the fuckedupness of this system if looked at with self honesty. only takes for each one of us to give a fuck about us as a WHOLE and do what is neccessary for ALL of us to live a life of dignity and respect. this is why i support an equal money system. a system that values life, always. not profit, ever. in an equal money system the ideas that promote the seperation of us as a WHOLE ( religion, competition, class, ideas of superiority/inferiority, the polarized existance, etc ) will be addressed and eradicated. as they do not support the WHOLE but only the mind of the part. that is why we currently sit and what others die of starvation. because our part feels comfy and fed. so we dont really worry about what the whole is going through. this self seperation it the cause of all issues in our world. people not seeing themselves in and as another. this is unacceptable for our oneness is present in fact.

investigate the equal money system. a system of 100% change. a change in our collective mentality and our collective world. www.equalmoney.org

work

so working at this place again has been a interesting experience. i havent worked here since 2008. when i worked there before i was smoking cigs all the time and i was addicted to caffiene. i mean, at that point i wasnt taking responsibility for myself and my body and my sleep and my wake and many other things. so rain sleet or snow every break or lunch i was outside smoking like a chimney. and every morning i got coffee and every lunch a dew. dew has the most caff in it i was told. so i used that and coffee to get me through working this 3rd shift job where i am up when i would "normally" be sleep. so now that i have been off cigs and the caff for months now the experience is quite different. its funny, i stopped these things within myself by myself but i was not able to truely realize myself within smoking cigs and drinking the caff all the time until i am stopped and see me as i was in other people. as they rush by me during our set in stone 15 min breaks or 30 min lunches, i see them as me and literally see how i disregarded all around me to get what i felt i NEEDED. and then how i bitched about how "unbareable" the conditions outside were (too cold/too hot) but id deal for a drag or three of a cig. that nicotine "fix" that i was willing to do much for. and then the caff/coffee. i mean, fuck. this is the greatest form of a legal acceptable "drug" if i ever seen one. i see many i work with drink at lease 3 cups in our 8 hour shift and 1 cup before the shift even starts. i get to literally see how i disregaded my responsibility for myself by accepting the idea that i cannot get through a 3rd shift without tons of coffee. if i did not get my coffee even if i was not tired id manifest the experience for myself. i allowed coffee to direct me instead of directing myself. and i see many doing that now that i am stepped back and seeing others as myself. there is an huge office building across from the square where all the buses pick up. a fifth third bank building. and in that building is a dunkin donuts. i went in to keep warm while i waited for my bus to go home. its about 8am so as im ending my day most are starting theirs. i watched many many people come from outside to get coffee or donuts and many many many people coming down from everywhere within the building money in hand looking like they NEEDED this coffee to get them through the day. if they day had enjoyment, it began with coffee. bopping up and down in line waiting. i remember being a "regular" at this place. now , the last time i walked into this building i was rushing in with three dollars in hand and the words "plain bagle with cream cheese and a large coffee" spilling out of my mouth. i use to run in here at the risk of missing my bus and not making it to work on time (either ur on time or ur not there at this job). i use to scrounge those three dollars on top of what i pay for bus fare and i did it feeling like it HAD to be done "or else". i had such great fear of falling asleep at work. if u fall asleep u are fired. that is it. a girl actually got fired today for sleeping. she slept yesterday and they gave her a second chance. she slept today and they made an announcement that we are not to sleep ever here. she fell asleep again and they told her to leave. now before when i worked here, there were no second chances. so i was in constant fear that i would fall asleep and lose my jjob so i created this "crazed coffee drinking, mountain dew devouring, quick smoking coocoo woman". now, i am able to see myself as i was, as we are. i try to be straight forward with people but not ...pushy i guess the word is. when someone sneezes at work everyone in singsongs "bless u". i ask aloud "why? why do we all say bless u?". no one wanted to touch that one. one guy who i had been having a common sense conversation goes " because that what we were taught to say by our parents when someone sneezes". i said now thats an honest answer and the only reason. "bless u" doesnt actually DO anything. or i heard two neighbors i was sitting next to having a converstation about random bullshit. then they started to talk about religion and i joined in. one was a christian and he was speaking about jesus and god and adam and eve and i was pointing out blatent inconsistencies in the stories and the idea of whos interpretation the bible is. showed that none of us follow the simple principle of -love thy neighbor as thy self- consistantly. and that is the most simple of points jesus tried to make while here. he agreed with my points. i starting talking about religions in general and how similar the points of seperation are. he mentioned something about terrorist and killing people and i told him that however christianity is the only religion in which u can be shitty ur entire life, rob, kill,cheat, rape, torture and then right before death accept jesus into ur heart and go to heaven. i asked him what sense did that make. he looked surprised and said true. i have gained this stigma, not a bad stigma or good stigma, as the girl who goes THERE lol. a new girl asked me for my advice. he father had just died a couple days ago and the funeral was today. at our job we are able to miss two days then we are fired. she already missed one because of an issue with the bus not being on time. and she would have to miss friday and saturday to go to another state for the funeral. there was her, myself and two or three other girls there. she asked what she should do. the other girls told her that she should go to the funeral no matter what, its her father, u'll regret it if u dont, and all this other stuff. i was quiet while they stated why she should go. then she asked, what do u think tree. i said, "well.." and they other girls go, "here she goes" and they laugh. i smiled and continued on to tell her that if she needs this job to assist and support herself then she should not miss days and get fired. point blank. her father wouldnt want her to compromise her life to look at his death. we all experience death but we can let it take us or let it go. i told her her father inst going to give a shit if she comes or not and shit like that is no longer his concern anyway. she said she understood. but she went anyway.