IT MAKES ME SAY SOMETHING - 5

IT MAKES ME SAY SOMETHING – 5 Just sharing a notion that has guided my thinking for as far back as I can remember. I am interconnected with all that is but I have never felt I could not exist without all there is. I’m not saying I don’t need other people and other forms of existence but my presence does not depend on any one person or form - no person(s) or form(s) controls me: I control me. My interconnectedness with people and other forms of existence is because I will it to be so. As a young child I remember waking from a near death experience to see my mother, father, and our pastor standing at the foot of my hospital-bed praying – I interrupted their prayers by telling them, “I don’t know why y’all here I ain’t gonna die.” As an adult I have belonged to organized groups, to include religious, business, social, and political institutions – but I was there because I chose to be not because I had to be. I’ve married because I chose to do that, not because I had to. I have loved because I chose to do that not because I couldn’t help it. I omit ‘…under God…,’ when Pledging Allegiance to the flag. In my mind I omit, ‘… so help you God,’ before saying “I Do” when swearing in as a witness or juror in court. God’s name, to me, neither validates my willingness to serve nor my truthfulness – for me it’s a personal commitment not the fear of or permission from a God. I now avoid belonging to or being in large groups – especially when group members are of one mind. I refuse to enslave my thought processes to the will of a group: I CHOOSE TO THINK! www.adolphusward.net, www.amazon.com/author/adolphusward