We often think that the end of the year is a time to tell ourselves, “this past year was okay, but I promise to do this-and-that next year.” We call those New Year’s Resolutions. And most of us will forget our resolutions by the 3rd of January. Why? Because people are people. People claim that change is the only constant thing, but really, people do not necessarily change. People will still inflict pain and hurt on other people. People will still make promises and break them. People will still make other people more cynical by the way they act.

    The denial of reality is dangerous. And, yet, this is what this strangely bizarre world is trying to do. The denial of reality, coupled with the declaration of 'what I feel is legitimate', detracts from those who recognise reality and say to themselves 'what I feel is legitimate.' It would be safe to assume that the world is indeed far stranger than fiction. What ought to be simple becomes utterly complicated, and what ought to be complicated is simplified to the point of being utterly ridiculous.

    It comes as no surprise that people lose their minds. The world is sick. It has been inoculated with the mindset of ‘this is what I want, and I want it now’, our predecessors have managed to raise up a generation of adult children who never learned to grow up. Many have been given to have all that their hearts could possibly wish, and yet not to have what their heart does wish. They have everything except contentment. And they believe the lie that they know what they are doing, when they have no idea whatsoever. And this endless search for pleasure destroys them.

    It is undoubted that human beings are all over the Earth; it is unlikely that any portion of the surface has yet remained unseen by human eyes from any civilization. Humans are fond of exploring the unknown, finding out what lies beyond the horizon, generally we are curious. The second foundation I want to make is that humans are fearful creatures. We fear that which we do not know, and we shrink away from what is unfamiliar; which is why we pursue these things with great passion by celebrating those who perform extraordinary acts, such as Christopher Columbus, Magellan, Francis Drake, and many others.

    However, such acts of bravery are rare in the twenty-first century. I do not mean the chest-pumping, foolish, and audacious bravado that is so often mistaken for bravery by those who know less, but rather the actual act of overcoming fear to do something relevant to the self or to society is, and always has been quite rare.

     Humans are very concerned about being considered “weird” or “creepy”. This is true. Look at yourself, you try and keep up appearances that all is normal and well as is defined by the popular culture around you. You drink to the point of inebriety, you swap people left and right, you bicker and argue over the most inane things. Because this is “normal”. This world has “normalness” defined the same way a cup can mould the shape of water: remove the cup, the water spills all over.

    Modern Christians are the same way. We, as a whole, are so concerned with being considered weird. We keep passing ourselves off as socially relevant. Of course, we’re not the extreme kind of Christian. Some of us are probably just going through the motions anyway, we don’t even know who Jesus is. That’s because Christians are “weird”, according to the standards of the world. Even Pharaoh had a thing or two in mind when he told Moses, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. ...”