Literature
� Fox Lee 2009/2010
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This I believe
That there is no hell below us or above
And nobody who taught us how to love
That there is nothing but the world, and that's enough
This I believe
That our daughters don't belong to any man
That our sons can't be afraid of their own hands
That any rock can be a promised land
And no matter what you remember
Today is brighter than yesterday
This I believe
That we must love one another
Because we are everything
We are the world
We are the saints and the sinners
And the gods and the devils and the stars
This I believe
We live one life and die
And if we can be proud
We should be happy
And no matter what you may think
You are what you want to be
This I believe
That if life has an answer
It is life
There could be no greater reason
This I believe
I need no other worlds
I need no other fathers or mothers
I need no other lives
I need only live and die, and I am proud
This I believe
That if a man has a soul
It is not what goes on
But what is left behind
And no matter what you may fear
You are better than you think you are
| Date Added: 2010-08-24
I am an atheist and a skeptic. People like to misunderstand those, whether deliberately or not, but in truth they are both simply negative stances; I do not believe in gods; I do not believe things that are without evidence, or cannot have evidence. Atheism is not a religion, and skepticism is not cynicism; neither of them inherently includes any property except a lack of belief in certain things.
However, I am also a humanist, and so I believe in some things. For example, I believe that no holy book is better at determining morality than our own shared cultural "zeitgeist". I believe that the world is a better place to live now than a hundred years ago or even thirty years ago, especially if you happen to not be a wealthy white man. Most of all, I believe that despite our disparities, most people are trying to do what they believe is right; that the human condition is imbued with a nobility that put the gods we have created to shame.
Anyway, this is really just a statement of those things in which I do believe. I wrote this last year at an arts festival, when I was in a "declarative" sort of mood, and tried over time to refine it into an actual song. Not gonna happen, I think, so this somewhat irregular verse will have to do.