This is my first post, ever. I've spent most of my life being opposed to blogs because thoughts are personal. They still are personal, but life cannot be lived alone. So here is my blog. One of my professors asked me today if I blog. When I got home, I decided that it was time to start, so people can here what I have to say, as if it's something important or interesting. Hopefully interesting to somebody. I guess I can start off with the only thing on my mind right now. It's an essay topic I've been thinking about recently: I am not a fish. Read it however you like. I think it's sort of autobiographical.
Not a real one at least. I may be a fish in the sense that I was once caught by a fisherman, but even then, was I ever caught or was I born into the fisherman's possession from day one? Did the fisherman claim me as his from the start? Did I have a choice? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I was caught, and I'm still caught. I'm not a fish though. I was just caught by somebody calling themselves a fisherman. I don't need a fish on my car to remind me or tell anybody else that I was caught. Shouldn't my actions tell them that? Not a metal symbol on the back of my car. I'm not judging people who put the fish on their car, I'm just saying that faith should be more than that symbol.
A friend of mine named Cody Bonnette once asked me, "If we are the body, how did a pretty man get so ugly?" What does that mean? It means that we are supposed to be who we say we are, or, in the case of the fish, who are cars say we are. So why do I get the stink eye when I say that I'm a liberal, or a vegetarian, or that I am anti-war? Why am I called crazy for thinking that evil people can change? Why do I have hope for a peaceful future? Isn't that what Jesus talked about? Was he a Republican? I don't think so, and I don't think he was a Democrat either. I think he had much bigger things on his mind than political parties. Things like eternal salvation? Life is more than who you vote for or who you hang out with. Life is more than what you eat or what translation of the Bible you read. Life is a gift with a purpose, which is hindered by meaningless arguments spawned from expectations created by fictitious members of society. It is an opportunity, and I know that I only get it once. Take advantage of it. Be yourself, be happy, be loving, be a little Jesus.
I'm not singling out people who eat meat, or call themselves conservative, or support the US war in Afghanistan. I'm singling about everybody. I'm singling about myself. Where do our beliefs come from? What have we grown to accept because it has been socially acceptable for too long? Maybe it's time that we throw out spoon-fed ideas. It's time to start living our own lives, our own Biblical lives mirroring Jesus' example. It's time to start seeking Truth to guide us through the day instead of something else. As long as we're following that Truth, who cares how we do it? I can be a socialist, vegetarian, who opposes guns, and reads the Message, and you can be whatever you like too. Just make sure you are following Jesus. What do I know, though? I make just as many mistakes as you do. I'm nowhere near perfect. I want to love Jesus, though. I want to show others that Jesus loves them too. My name is Thomas Michael David Panicucci, and I am not a fish.
I wrote that in a car ride home from Colorado a couple days ago. I hope it pushes you. I hope you feel challenged. By no means are these holy words, but I think that they were inspired.
So how was that for my first post? If at least one of you liked it, then it was worth it. I'll let you know more about me soon.
love life love God,
Thomas
