Patting myself on the back a little more

In an earlier post, somewhere back in 2009, I stated that the so-called wisdom of old age is out of place in the young, and in fact, may be detrimental.  Nature provides all the wisdom a young person needs.

I love it when one of the greats agrees with my own wonderful ideas.  Don't you?  Here's Montaigne, from his essay, "Of repentance":

"[I]t seems to me that in old age our souls are subject to more troublesome ailments and imperfections than in our youth.  I used to say so when I was young; then they taunted me with my beardless chin.  I still say so now that my gray hair gives me authority to speak.  We call 'wisdom' the difficulty of our humors, our distaste for present things.  But in truth we do not so much abandon our vices as change them, and, in my opinion, for the worse.  Besides a silly and decrepit pride, a tedious prattle, prickly and unsociable humors, superstition, and a ridiculous concern for riches when we have lost the use of them, I find there more envy, injustice, and malice.  Old age puts more wrinkles in our minds than on our faces; and we never, or rarely, see a soul that in growing old does not come to smell sour and musty.  Man grows and dwindles in his entirety."

At the Reason Rally (briefly)

I've taken, lately, to browsing freethoughtblogs.com, and I happened to see that there would be a "Reason Rally" in Washington DC today, so I went on down in spite of the rain in the forecast.

I naturally feel a kinship with atheists, freethinkers, skeptics, humanists, etc., etc., but I normally shy away from joining any organizations.  Seems too much like church.  But I felt like I ought to add to their numbers, especially when the rain might keep those numbers down.

Compared to other rallies I've been to, this one was rather small, but nowhere near to being puny.  The estimate I heard was 30,000 people.  The organizers were calling it the largest gathering of its kind in the history of the world, but that's hard to imagine, although for all I know, it might be.

In any case, the list of speakers/performers included Richard Dawkins, Tim Minchin, Eddie Izzard, Adam Savage, James (the Amazing) Randi, Bad Religion, and others known mainly among humanist activists.  The "emcee" was Paul Provenza, and he lent a light, humorous tone to the proceedings.

To the Christians' credit, they braved the bad weather to voice their disapproval.

After I enjoyed the first few speakers, the rain started coming down pretty hard, and I suddenly became faint of heart and decided to bail.  It seemed the rational thing to do.  I had hoped to stay longer and do a little more celebrity spotting, but I guess I'm more of a fair weather atheist.  I was heartened to see, as I left, that lots more people were just showing up.

And I did happen to get a nice shot of James Randi.

Although I'm an unbeliever, I'm hesitant to point to religion as "the" problem.  Having been brought up in a liberal Christian tradition, I've seen the good things that the religious have done.  But the human race has its alpha dogs and bullies, and religion is probably the greatest tool in existence for maintaining subjection to authority.  We really need to loosen that stranglehold whenever and wherever we can.