{"id":6337,"date":"2013-05-03T01:32:52","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T01:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daylightatheism\/?page_id=6337"},"modified":"2013-05-17T03:55:06","modified_gmt":"2013-05-17T03:55:06","slug":"a-striking-tale","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daylightatheism\/essays\/a-striking-tale\/","title":{"rendered":"A Striking Tale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

by stoney<\/i><\/p>\n

God(s)\/Leprechauns, same thing \u2013 items of fiction. If fictional entities are the crutch you need \u2013 such is your prerogative. However, it would be a grave error to project your needs onto others for, you see, for me, God went the way of Santa Claus a few years later. I\u2019m not alone. The majority of atheists in the U.S. were<\/i> once theists of one, or more, brands\/sects of theism. In the main they were of one, or more, of the Christian variants.<\/p>\n

The goals I\u2019ve met, the accomplishments I\u2019ve done, and the screw-ups too, are all mine; the good, the bad, the indifferent. When I\u2019ve screwed up, I\u2019ve tried to make it right the best I can. It\u2019s called taking responsibility for your own actions, unlike many Christians who go to their local magic user (priest\/pastor (shaman)) to have the \u201cmagic cleansing spell cast\u201d to eliminate the \u201csin.\u201d Gee, no need to make the wrong right.<\/p>\n

Christians also prattle about how much they \u201clove\u201d Jesus. Contempt must equal love in the Christian world since they gleefully keep piling the \u201cload\u201d onto \u201chim\u201d instead of doing their best to lighten it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a very off-beat sense of humour and find the way the Bible talks out of both sides of its metaphorical mouth amusing. For Christians, your screw-ups and hardships, inequities and such are all schededuled: <\/p>\n

1 Thessalonians 5<\/a> (KJV)<\/p>\n

\n18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How many of you actually fall on your knees and \u201cThank Jesus\u201d for your heart conditions, cancer, broken bones, job loss, and the like? Very few, I suspect. Have no fear though, since not only is your lapse scheduled, but you\u2019ll be forgiven for it too \u2013 unless you say something bad about the \u201cHoly Spook\u201d which would also be scripted.<\/p>\n

Matthew 12<\/a> (KJV)<\/p>\n

\n31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.<\/p>\n

32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ah well, the daemon you worship is your problem. Even then, you still might find yourself in Hell since it would be a grand joke to toss you into the \u201cfiery pit\u201d for that loving eternal torture session. Keep in mind that by definition, such is \u201cjustice,\u201d \u201crighteous,\u201d and the rest of the claptrap.<\/p>\n

But I digress. Many of you folks prattle on about the rubbish told you by your shamans and fellow sheep. Rubbish about how when an atheist is in a life-threatening situation they\u2019ll \u201cfind god.\u201d That\u2019s highly amusing. <\/p>\n

You, as a Christian, are just like Linus telling Charlie Brown and the gang year after year after year about how \u201con Halloween the Great Pumpkin rises out of the Pumpkin Patch.\u201d <\/p>\n

Would you, a Christian, call upon Ra, Mars, Odin All-Father, Tiamat the Dragon or any of the Hindu, Norse, Roman, Egyptian, Babylonian, Native American or other deities in an emergency situation? These deities are all ones you lack belief in. But then you expect folks who lack belief in your<\/i> deity construct to call upon it?<\/p>\n

Get real here. Oh, that\u2019s right, such is not allowed by your religion. I should utilize the word superstition since there\u2019s no effective difference between yours and the proverbial (cue Hollywood) version of an African Witch Doctor. Religion is merely a nomenclature upgrade. But, hey, you\u2019re into shallowness so we\u2019ll leave it as religion and I\u2019ll show you the courtesy you don\u2019t show to others.<\/p>\n

Oh, I bet you\u2019re thinking I\u2019m being quite unkind. Am I though? First, you\u2019re insulting others with the \u201cno atheists in foxholes\u201d bit. Second, one can\u2019t get more shallow than putting superstition before one\u2019s common humanity. Third, I don\u2019t grovel before something that conducts eternal torture sessions for such \u201cheinous crimes\u201d as lack of belief, grovelling in the wrong manner, parting the hair wrong, picking up sticks on the Sabbath, or merely for idle amusement. Nor would I order, conduct, or wish any torture session on anyone for any length of time, but I\u2019m<\/i> the one that\u2019s called \u201camoral\u201d and \u201cevil.\u201d Go figure.<\/p>\n

The \u201cfoxhole\u201d thing is quite amusing and I have to chuckle at theists who not only dig those things, but climb into them. I can\u2019t think of a more direct way to indicate to \u201cJesus\u201d that you don\u2019t trust him to protect you as far as you could even throw a ball. Ah well, that\u2019s your problem, not mine.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t make a claim about ever digging or climbing into a literal foxhole as I wasn\u2019t in those branches of the U.S. military. It\u2019s pretty difficult to dig a foxhole on the world\u2019s oceans. Yes, I was an \u201canchor clanker.\u201d I was \u201cblack shoe\u201d Navy in the Line area (Engineering) as a low-ranking Petty Officer. Theoretically, I could command a ship but there would be nothing to work with if that ever occurred. But a staff officer of whatever rank would have to follow my orders in such a situation. Hmmm\u2026 wonder how often officers were aboard the river boats in \u2018Nam?<\/p>\n

In time, the \u201cfoxhole\u201d rubbish you folks have a tendency to mindlessly prattle about has come to mean \u201cany life-threatening situation.\u201d I\u2019ve been in several, even seconds from death, and neither the Christian or any other \u201cGreat Pumpkin\u201d never entered my mind. Surprised? No reason for you to be \u2013 if you used your \u201cgray matter\u201d for something other than a storage facility for meaningless prattling and platitudes.<\/p>\n

Do you know anything about U.S. Navy ships and their power distribution systems? They\u2019re ungrounded for maximum battle efficiency. In high-temperature areas, like around the 1,200 PSI boilers my second ship was equipped with, armored cable would be used. Instead of the normal
\nplastic outside sheathing, woven metal was used, which conducts the heat away from the insulated wires. There isn\u2019t a navy electrician that likes armored cable as it increases the threat factor. <\/p>\n

One afternoon I was informed a boiler sight glass light was burned out in the after fire room and I needed to replace it. No problem, it\u2019s a ten minute job. Boilers have sight glasses, a glass tube that\u2019s protected by metal which indicates the water level in the boiler. It\u2019s like a carpenter using a water level. Water in a tube, in this case from the boiler, brought out to a remote location will indicate the level of water in the boiler. Having too much or too little water is dangerous. Now, to be able to see where that level is requires illumination from the rear.<\/p>\n

A boiler sight glass light has an elongated bulb which is protected by a metal shield that has a thin vertical slit and it\u2019s hooked behind the sight glass. The metal shield is held to the base by four screws with the armored cable trailing behind.<\/p>\n

One of the boiler techs showed me which one was burned out and even fished it out from where it was hooked. I held it on a finger and inspected the cable. Pristine. There was no reason to kill power to the lighting circuit as all I was doing was changing the light bulb. So I grabbed the base assembly in one hand and held the whole thing very still while I slowly, gently, and carefully removed the four screws holding the shield assembly in place and put them in my pocket and the screwdriver in the tool pouch. <\/p>\n

Very carefully, with the other hand I gingerly grasped the shield and with micro movements wiggled it off, trying to keep the base as stable as possible. After all, I only had to slide it about a half inch, if that, off the base. Both hands clamped to the lighting assembly and a large white-hot ingot of \u201csteel\u201d bored through my chest. AGONY! You can\u2019t even scream. I tried to let go\u2026 that part of the nervous system was short-circuited. So, I tried to jump and found my whole body was short-circuited, and the white-hot bar of steel continued to drill through my chest.<\/p>\n

I was enraged and fought to escape. A black circle appeared at the outer edges of my vision and inched its way toward the center. I now had to adjust my battle for two opponents \u2013 to escape and stay conscious. The black continued its engulfment and I remained rooted to the spot about a foot and a half from a bulkhead separating the aft boiler room from engineering berthing.<\/p>\n

Every atom of my body was on \u201cfull escape.\u201d It didn\u2019t matter where. Just away. Then the ship tied up to the pier rolled, which changed the parameters, and freed my legs. I slammed into the bulkhead with my feet around four feet off the deck and saw the lighting assembly strike the boiler with the resulting blue lightning ball. Then, black.<\/p>\n

It appeared to me as if I had hit the deck and absorbed the shock with my legs before rising to stand. I was most of the way to my feet before I was fully conscious. Looking back on it, what had to have happened was that I hit the deck like a pile of rags and was unconscious for some period of time. I can only tell you I went down there after noon chow (probably the first job after chow) and when I came out from behind the boiler there was no one else in the fireroom. Since we were \u201ccold plant,\u201d boilers not online, there wouldn\u2019t be anyone down there after normal duty hours.<\/p>\n

I was in agony. Every breath was pure agony. I climbed the steep ladder out of the aft fireroom to the interior passageway. The ship rolled and that in combination with my still being shaky on my feet caused me to hit the bulkhead just as the Chief Corpsman came out of sickbay. He looked at me curiously, but I said nothing. I regained my balance and headed aft. I figured I\u2019d be ok in a short time.<\/p>\n

I went down to my berthing area and opened my coffin locker. Lifting the lid was like lifting the guided missile destroyer (DDG) out of the water. The agony redoubled, if you can visualize that. (A coffin locker is a rack [bed] where the lid [what you sleep on \u2013 mattress and such, of course] lifts to give you access to a shallow storage area.)<\/p>\n

After evening chow I reported to Sickbay where the duty corpsman (lower ranking) held charge. He indicated there wasn\u2019t anything they could do, but if it persisted to check back at morning sick call.<\/p>\n

The next morning I reported to Sickbay where the Chief Corpsman \u201cheld court.\u201d Bored, he held a pencil underneath two fingers and asked me, \u201cHow long have you had this chest cold?\u201d<\/p>\n

I said, \u201cChest cold Hell! Remember when you saw me stumble after I climbed out of the aft fireroom?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had just came to after full body electrocution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pencil snapped.<\/p>\n

He indicated there wasn\u2019t much they could do and gave me some pills to take.<\/p>\n

All I can tell you is that I was in bad shape \u2013 picture a constant drunk and you\u2019d probably come close. After being awake for four hours I\u2019d be ready to sleep for twelve. A couple days after the accident we went to sea for a few days, a couple weeks, whichever. It would have been local operations. At any rate, after a few days I threw the pills overboard before they got me killed. At sea, a shipboard electrician gets maybe two hours of \u201clay down\u201d time with a shot at four hours about every four days. <\/p>\n

I also discovered weight was pouring off me. So, I started eating four huge meals a day to try to hold the weight loss at bay. In two weeks I went from 167 pounds to 139. My clothes hung on me and I looked like \u201cdeath warmed over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some time later we were back in our home port (Norfolk, Va.) and I badgered the Chief Corpsman who sent me to a tender for X-rays. The folks there indicated X-rays wouldn\u2019t show anything because the cause was electrical and sent me back to the ship.<\/p>\n

I was still in a lot of pain. After about a month I really got fed up with things and one morning I flat-out demanded<\/i> my medical records as I was intending to go to the regional Navy hospital.<\/p>\n

He asked me if I could wait until this afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d I asked suspiciously.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause a doctor is coming on board this afternoon and you\u2019re his first patient,\u201d was the reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cOk,\u201d I said. Waiting a short time more wouldn\u2019t make any difference.<\/p>\n

That afternoon the doctor came on board. He asked what happened and listened. (Oh yes, I should note that I did not have any burns on my hands.) He checked my heart and lungs and said, \u201cExtraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

I asked him, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat you\u2019re still alive. The current path was the worst possible as it goes through both the heart and the brain. It should have burst your heart and boiled your brain,\u201d was his reply.<\/p>\n

He did explain why it hurt to breathe and such. The center of the chest has all sorts of \u201clittle fingers\u201d in it and they went from relaxation to \u201cmaximum stress\u201d which inflamed the daylights out of the assembly. He gave me some different pills to take.<\/p>\n

Fast forward six months. I was roller skating and lost my balance so I did a \u201cwindmill\u201d to regain it. That white hot bar of steel once again bored through my chest.<\/p>\n

Jump ahead four or five years. I am now in a different branch of the military working avionics (aircraft electronics) and on the west coast of the U.S. A friend\u2019s wife has just started the basic medical courses at a local college. <\/p>\n

College instructors tell snippets of stories to break things up for the students a bit. He happened to touch on the above incident. He told the students the surprising thing wasn\u2019t that the accident happened, but that the victim survived.<\/p>\n

After class she went up to the instructor and filled in the \u201cblanks\u201d for him and asked if this was the rest of the incident. He told her, \u201cYes.\u201d And she told him that I was working avionics at the local base. I bet that surprised him.<\/p>\n

Postscript:<\/i><\/p>\n

I was an atheist the whole time I served, although I didn\u2019t know it. I didn\u2019t know what an atheist actually was until sometime after I stumbled across [the Usenet newsgroup] alt.atheism. I had always been taught that an atheist equated to Communist and since I wasn\u2019t Communist but was merely not a theist the term didn\u2019t fit.<\/p>\n

I lost my theism, RCC [Roman Catholic Church] and Lutheran, a few years after Santa Claus vanished, but it took me years of \u201cboot strapping\u201d on my own to eliminate the malevolent programming. The only tool I had was my own mind.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by stoney God(s)\/Leprechauns, same thing \u2013 items of fiction. If fictional entities are the crutch you need \u2013 such is your prerogative. However, it would be a grave error to project your needs onto others for, you see, for me, God went the way of Santa Claus a few years later. I\u2019m not alone. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1308,"featured_media":0,"parent":5349,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6337","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nA Striking Tale - Daylight Atheism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"by stoney God(s)\/Leprechauns, same thing - items of fiction. If fictional entities are the crutch you need - such is your prerogative. However, it would\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daylightatheism\/essays\/a-striking-tale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Striking Tale - Daylight Atheism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by stoney God(s)\/Leprechauns, same thing - items of fiction. If fictional entities are the crutch you need - such is your prerogative. 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