Heaven (Off) Earth

To many Christians and Catholics, heaven is a place where you rise to after death. It is often pictured as beautiful, serene, and, well, heavenly. Countless artists have portrayed heaven as full of clouds, angels, harps, and light. The common image of heaven is the very definition of eternal peace. I, however, have formed a different opinion on the matter over the course of my life. Stepping away from conventional thoughts, I decided to evaluate early on in my teenage years what my idea of heaven was. I came to the conclusion that, to me, heaven is a state of being, and not a physical place. I believe that, after death, your soul is released and set free. I believe that heaven exists wherever souls dwell, because I refuse to accept the idea that heaven is a physical place where people will be “rewarded” for the good done in their lives. The whole idea of that does not sit well with me.

How does one tell something offensive without offending the person?

People become bosom friends with someone not just because they both think exactly the same way. Most often, they become friends because they complement each other. It is always possible to tell your best friend what you dislike about him or her, by putting in a light and humorous way. That usually works, because it gives the friend to use the same way to tell you how you ruffle his or her feathers. If both can laugh about it, no damage is done, and one can get along, without having to ‘walk on eggshells’ where the offending behaviour is concerned. My friend and I tease each other about these points of difference. I can say that we try to out do each other in trying to be funny about it. The differences, rather than being irritating, become something to laugh about. That is the best thing about being truly good friends with someone.

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• When We Are Offended (trinityspeaks.wordpress.com)

Peer pressure, a common excuse to do what you do not really mind doing.

Peer pressure is talked about a great deal these days because people feel they must conform to the opinions, likes and dislikes of other people. This desire is always there in every one of us because no one wants to stick our like a sore thumb. But where the problem arises is when such conformity means that one is pressured into doing something that may not be for the common good. Fortunately, I have never been subject to any great peer pressure, perhaps because I am such a laid back person. The one occasion when I was pushed in to doing something that I knew was wrong was when I was in my teens. We had this chemistry lab report to write but most of us in the class did not get the experiment tight. The professor was a holy terror to most of us, and so the class decided to write up the report, based on made up results, as if the experiment went off perfectly,! Well we were caught and punished. I can never forget the shame of it even to this day, though looking back I can laugh at our foolishness. What could I have done differently, you ask. Well, the right thing to do was to write up a report on how exactly the experiment went, wrong results and all.  I am not sure if I would have done any differently if I went back in time. I do not think so, for the simple reason I would not have the maturity of mind that I have, or hope I have, now.