Rage Quit

I am ready to rage quit the entire effing human race.

For my friends who aren't gamers, the term "rage quit" (sometimes written as one word) means "To stop playing a game out of anger towards an event that transpired within the game," at least according to Urban Dictionary.  Anybody who has ever been tempted to throw their controller or their keyboard across the room knows exactly how I feel right now.

This past week's news was marked by both amazingly good news and tragically horrific news, and both were tainted by religion.  The good news came from nearby Mifflinburg, PA, when an 18-month old boy who had fallen into a river and was submerged for nearly two hours was revived by a skilled and dedicated team of doctors and nurses who basically refused to give up.  They were able to bring him back after 101 minutes of CPR.  Details of their brilliant achievement can be read here:

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2015/03/21/Pennsylvania-boy-revived-after-nearly-2-hours-without-pulse/5511426950325/

When interviewed on our local CBS news, the mother of the boy thanked "the Hand of God."  Not one word, not one thanks, not even a mention of the medical team who actually saved the boy.  And as for the dozens of others who did die from drowning this month, well, tough luck, folks.  I guess the Hand of God was busy elsewhere.  And the people who spout this nonsense never, ever seem to consider for a second how their remarks might affect people who are the victims of tragedy -- that it might make them feel abandoned or rejected or worse.

The horrific story came out of Brooklyn when seven children died in a house fire.  The fire was caused by a hot plate that had been left on.  Why was the hot plate left on?  Well, the family was Orthodox Jewish and God doesn't want them to flip a switch or turn a knob on the Sabbath.  So if you want a hot meal in one of the coldest winters on record, you need to turn on the hot plate before sundown at the beginning of the holy night.  Or a light if you don't want darkness, or the radio, or whatever other modern convenience one might require.  Further details on the tragedy can be found here:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/21/us/brooklyn-fire-children-killed/

Apparently the same God who saved the one little Pennsylvania boy let seven kids in Brooklyn die because they're NOT ALLOWED TO TURN A F@$#!%G KNOB ON THE SABBATH.

So much misery in the world.  Warring sects within Islam.  Extremists destroying historical and archaeological treasures because they are thought to be "blasphemous."  Killings over cartoons.  Women attacked and killed for no real reason other than that they are women.  All of the back and forth in the Middle East and in all the other places where one side's God is deemed to be better, or more right, or the only truth, or whatever other inanity it might be couched in, than the other side's God.  Muslim vs. Muslim, Jew vs. Muslim, Jew vs. Christian, Buddhist vs. Who-bloody-ever.  The only people not killing each other over unprovable, unfathomable beliefs?  Atheists.

I despair of us as a race ever waking up to the truth of this misery.  I despair of us ever actually living according to the Golden Rule, treating others the way we ourselves would wish to be treated, with acceptance and tolerance for all faiths and genders -- this despite the fact that The Rule is a basic tenet of every single faith on the planet.  We are ignorant, tribal chimps.  And we are going to die as such.