Do you wash your hands if no one is looking?

Interesting question, before you gice the instant and expected response of ewww of course, be honest with yourself if not me. Likely that is more of a question for men, if any are in fact reading this, than for women. But it also leads to an interesting discussion around right and wrong, and morals.

Why do we do things? I sparked an interesting conversation from my previous post which unfortunately I could not contribute to, so if you enjoy this and want to talk please post a comment. While most of my posts are mailed in from my crackberry on the way to and from work I do check occasionally to see if anyone is listening.

Anyways back to why do we do things. Why do we wash our hands after, obvious sanitary concerns, more interestingly why do we not wash our hands before... Its certainly a less sanitary world where your hands have been than the inside of your pants... But why do we do the things we do? Some of them are taboos, religious left overs, some of them have reasons.

This topic, fair warning, is going to spiral wildly out of control...

Why do we knock on wood when we don't want to jinx ourselves? Its a pagan belief that the sound scares away bad spirits who may otherwise hear what we don't want them to, and therefore cause us pain. Same reason we knock to enter a house, the portal into your home is protected, knocking scares away the bad things so the visitor has time to enter... Besides its just polite.

Why do we say god bless, or that german word I can't spell, when someone sneezes? Because we want to have god ward off any illnesses that might be following that sneeze, and besides its just polite.

So how many politenesses (lol stick around I make new words all the time) are based on pagan rituals? How many things do we do just because that is how they were always done?

I said before that I am analytical and that I like to look at things from a why perspective. When you do that, a lot of the unjustifiables come down to, just because. A lot of others make sense, even if outdated. Why can't jews eat pork? Not the religious reason, the real reason that was founded 3 thousand years ago... Because pork rots quickly in the heat, and can't be as readily preserved as beef and chicken, so stop eating it. What do we tell the people that own a lot of pigs, they are dirty animals that live in their own filth so should not be eaten. Conveniently ignoring the fact tjhat chickens eat their own filth, eggs, eachother (remind me to come nback to the definition of hen pecking some day), or cows, spend any time around living animals and you know that except how humans contain them, no animal enjoys its own filth.

So why then? Because 3 thousand years ago only a select few could read. There were no police, no government to speak of, the only way to control a growing population was through religion, and fear of your immortal soul. Funny how fear is used to control people, its used everywhere, every day. You wash your hands if someone else is in the room because you are afraid of what that person would think of you didn't. And yes, I do even if no one is around, I have kids...

More religion, why do christians eat fish on fridays? Because most of the apostles were fishermen. What better way to guarantee their livlihood and that of their children, than to make people eat fish at least one day a week. Maybe they knew about the benefits of folic acid, maybe not.

So do we do thingd because of fear? Religion? Because our parents told us to?

This is also how we know right from wrong. I tell my kids, you know what is right and wrong, you don't need me to tell you. If you look around to see if any parental unit is around before doing something you clearly know its wrong. The difference between a good person and a bad person, is the good person does what's right even if there is no one around to see. You stop at a red light at 2 am because its the right thing to do, even if there is no one around.

So really right and wrong, good and evil are fabrications placed upon us ny ourselves, by our society, religion, family... It is this distinction, and adherence to it, that differentiates us from all the other animals on this rock. My cat knows he shouldn't pee on my bed, but if he ever gets the bed alone, he does it anyways. My dog knows he is not allowed to eat our of the garbage can, but if we leave it open, and him alone all bets are off.

My train of thought derailed, so hen pecking. If a hen sees a spot on another chicken, it strikes it trying to kill/eat it. Great, except if the hen draws blood, there's more spots, more things to strike... A hen pecking party will end up resulting in several dead hens, and even more exhausted ones...aren't you glad u are not a chicken?

Holy crap this is a long post

Most sane people avoid discussions around religion, race and politics, no one said I was sane, though I will avoid politics while wearing blue as often as I can.

I remember a debate in college, (excuse me for this digression everyone in quebec, but explaining cegep to people just isn't worth the effort) in my moral religious education class where we debated the various rules in christianity. When we got around to pre marital sex, and birth out of wedlock my engine really started. You see we had a religious nut in our class. If you are born out of wedlock, you and your parents are going to hell, no chance for redemption, do not pass go, do not collect communion, heck why bother being nice at all? If you are going to hell anyways, why not rape and pilliage your way through life?

What kind of benevolent all loving omnipresent being, makes that kind of call? What kind of stupid rule is that? Back to fear, keep the population under control by limiting when you can get married. And when you can have kids through fear. But wouldn't that rule backfire for those who are born out of wedlock? They now have nothing to fear! They can't get anyu better, or any worse from the day they are born. Stupid rule.

Alright enoughs enough for today, doubt anyone will read this far but if you do... Spare some change to a homeless person, they might use it for booze or drugs, but if anyone needs a drink its them. If you can't do that, next time you buy yourself a fast food meal, buy an extra one and give it to your local homeless guy, if you are honest with yourself you know where they are.

Miss you babe, thanksgiving can't come soon enough. We should give thanks again, we really do have a lot to be thankful for, especially me.