Higher learning

I love school. Be it history or English or humanities, it tends to offer something that can be taken with a person to shape or redefine the way they view the world or themselves. Even science and math, depending on the application and the professor, can provide that same sort of out within one's mind. I told my dad the other day that the reason why I think the religion I used to be involved with is so against higher education is because they're afraid that people might actually learn something. It came out a bit more harsh (if you will) than I intended, but he found it hilarious. I suppose that's how most religions work, but if you confine yourself to one way of learning, you're confining yourself to one way of thinking, and that's not really healthy.

In history class last night my feelings for voting were reaffirmed this year. Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but as a former Jehovah's Witness, we were not permitted to vote, because since the kingdom of God apparently is not of this world, then neither should "we". But as American citizens, in the past, the only people permitted to vote were those that owned property - because of property tax. In the view then and now, if you pay taxes, you should have a say in how they are spent. Now, many people today don't own property, but they do pay taxes. You pay taxes; I pay taxes, whether we like it or not. So I should be able to vote, as should anyone of any religion. Penalty of excommunication should be a non-issue - but there's fear for you.

I think that's it. We've learned and re-learned lots of things - such as why women would pin up their hair at a certain age (pinning up one's hair was a sign of physical maturity [aka menstruation] and gave men the hint that a woman could be courted, because "if you're old enough to bleed, you're old enough to breed"), as well as -- well, concerning the issue of race... pretty much if we or our family members/ancestors were in the west or along trade routes over the last 400 years, or any place where people intermingled sexually as it were - regardless of ethnicity - we all have some other race in us. It should be OBVIOUS that the color of our skin does not define who we are; our DNA does. You could be the palest shade of white and have African blood in you. I have Irish and Portuguese blood in me. It saddens me that people see only the black, the white, the brown, the yellow, the red, when the quality of the person should be held on esteem, or considered cautiously, etc. They - whoever 'they' was - weren't lying when they said "knowledge is power". Knowledge is power. Knowledge is friggin' hot. Knowledge makes you a life form and not merely something to look at. It's pretty much the only thing that we have that'll be ever-withstanding, so it'd be a shame to keep the blinders on any longer.

Okay. All done.

Happy hump day.