2014 is over.
We laughed. We cried. It was better than Cats. …and it’s references like these that helped me lose my open mic audiences at Laff’s during the 9 times I appeared there last year. Yes, the audiences sadly didn’t get my dated references but as a result of Nancy filming me I was motivated to lose the extra 30 pounds that I was hauling around. Yes, 2014 had its ups and downs, wins and losses? We’re at the start of a whole new year! I don’t have resolutions (Actually, I did resolve to quit procrastinating. I made it yesterday.)
Plans for 2015.
Nancy and I have plans for 2015 which include a celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary with a trip “down under” in the spring. We’ll also be going to the Atheist conference in Memphis and drive to Vegas once again for TAM (The Amazing Meeting). I’ll be supporting Camp Quest again this year and I’ll be working hard to continue to build the Tucson and Arizona freethinking community. By Easter, I’ll finish the series of articles about community building and sharing my thoughts on the care and maintenance of volunteers. Easter is when we’ll travel to Memphis for the National American Atheists Convention.
2015 marks my 10th year of Atheist activism. Prior to 2005, I carried one of those little memo books around in my shirt pocket. On the first page was a list of things that I wanted to accomplish. They were big things like refurbish my classic car, replace the carpeting in the house, add a balcony, and build a workshop. In 2005, I was 3 years from my second retirement and I stopped adding to the list. The things on the list got done and I was approaching the point when I needed to find a new purpose. I had plenty of hobbies to keep me busy but I needed something that needed to be done and something that would make a difference long after I’m gone. Hanging more trophies on the wall wasn’t going to do it for me anymore. Nancy and I started getting busy with Skepticism, Atheism, and Humanism. We joined the related organizations but it wouldn’t be long before I would move into a leader position. It is inevitable but so is burnout but there is so much left to accomplish.
Our next Tucson Atheists meeting will be about our Atheistic New Year’s resolutions. Austin Cline who writes for About.com and claims to be an Agnosticism/Atheism expert listed a few of the ready-made resolutions that we should all consider:
Practice Skepticism and critical thinking
Engage in self-reflection and introspection
Read, study, and learn
Be open and honest about Atheism
Engage people in discussion
Be more politically active
Actively promote equality and civil rights
Defend the separation of church and state
To be fair, we all do these things to some extent already. It’s hard not to. But how much further along the road would we be if we all carried one of those little memo books around in our shirt pocked with these things listed on the first page?
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