Piety

It seem that in my excitement today I forgot the element most essential to a Successful person: Piety. I was raised Baptist (Fuck You), baptized Serbian Orthodox, converted to atheism as an eleven year old, decided there might be a god at sixteen (started calling myself agnostic), and most recently finally got Mr. Dennis Hearne's religion lesson from sophomore year of high school. He said he was raised Catholic, but developed his own ideas and worshipped and believed his own way. I didn't give it much thought at the time, I just agreed, because it made sense. It's funny how the best and most Right answers seem so simple, but when you arrive at the conclusion yourself, it's quite different and hardly simple.

Every man is a King, it's true. But even a king has his superior, whether it's a god he believes in or the People of his Land. I'm struck by something I saw in Emir Kusturica's film Underground. In the early nineties, Yugoslavia was destroyed by civil war and became five different countries, with Serbian and Montenegro counting as one as well as Boznia and Herzegovinia, but that's another story entirely. Anyway, in this movie, a character is leading a great division of troops, and is fighting everybody. A scout or some shit asks what side he is on, to which he replied, "I'm on my own side." Next the inquiry was given as to whether or not he had any superiors. "Yes! My country! Jugoslavia!" was the reply.

A True and Good life is led when there is a belief in something. I'm not advocating organized religion, quite the contrary actually, but pious action has always merited a just consequence (that word can be positive or negative). I won't display my religious views here, but you can always contact me. We'll talk, it'll be Swell.

...I like it, it's there to remind us there is something above us.