life

Life is ridiculous.

I know someone who was in a place he knew he shouldn't be, and a man with a mask and a gun ripped him off. But he knew the guy and called his name. Now the thief is running for his life from the people who owned what he stole, and this guy is in fear for his life because the thief knows he knows who he is.

And it's all nasty kids playing gangster with real guns and real hit men chasing other kids playing gangster.

The goalposts are gone, while we inflict pain and misery on one another. All we wanted was a little security, a little adventure, a little pleasure and a little love. When the goalposts are gone, the dream dies and is replaced with alternative dreams that trade the promise of thrills for the high risk of death, the hope of fulfillment for the certainty of misery, the prospect of riches and security for the inevitability of losing it all.

In the midst of all of this, we have to learn how to cope. Some problems are short-term, trivial things. Other problems repeat themselves or go on and on with no sunrise on the horizon.

I want to attempt something many other people have gone after - a key to the problem of evil. But not just any old generic problem of evil. I want to look at the problem that plagues us in the long term, whether it's the ever present reality of people who live to victimize other people, or the personal challenges of affliction and never-ending problems of life that offer no ready solutions. On the way, I'd like to tell some stories, probe some beliefs, make at least some attempt to find answers.

Maybe it's not worth the trouble, but I want to try.