JJ's World Views

Tag: Dead

  • A Humanist’s View of Life After Death

    A Humanist’s View of Life After Death

    Last night I was watching Star Trek: Voyager and the episode Mortal Coil came on.  This is an episode where Neelix dies and comes back to life via nano-probes from Seven of Nine.  When he awoke he has a crisis of faith in his afterlife because he did not see any of the thing while he was dead.  This got me thinking, what do I think happens when we die?  I do not believe in heaven or hell, a god, gods or even the devil.  So, what does happen when we die? Well, I feel our bodies go into the earth in order to help nourish it.  As for our energy that we use, it is all used up while we are alive.

    What motivates someone to be a good person in life if there is no reward or punishment in death?  That all comes down to being human and putting out positive vibes and helping make the world a better place.  Yes, I would like to see peace on this beautiful planet in my time.  I know that it most likely will not happen, at least not while I am living.  But, this is where it can start.

    We has humans like to think of a soul as something that can be transferred from this world to another.  Though I can neither disprove or prove this hypothesis, I see things in a much different light.  In the centuries that came before us very few people knew how to read or write, even less would be published.  This is why we wanted or needed to believe in an afterlife, in my opinion.  In our current world many can read and write and almost anyone can be published for the entire world to see.  In this way we are becoming immortal in a sense. If we are putting out negativity history will show that, if we put out positivity history will show that as well.  To me heaven or hell is the way history will see who I am.  I do not need a threat to be a good person I just need to be myself.

    But, if I had to chose a religious version of an after life, I think I would be closer to reincarnation.  This is because as we die and decompose we are transforming into something new.  We are helping to create fertile ground in which plants may grow, so that animals can eat and in this process we live on in the greatness of our planet.

  • The Day I Met George Romero

    It was around 13 years ago this month I had the privilege and honor to meet George A. Romero.  It was at FX Con. with an ex girlfriend of mine.  It was at the Florida Midstate Fairgrounds we were one of the first to arrive.  As we sat waiting for the doors to open out walks this man who towered over me, now I am about 6 feet tall, he was about 6 foot 6 inches tall.  He was balding in a U shape with long hair in the back pulled in a pony tail and round coke bottle glasses.  It was the legend himself George Romero, I could not believe it.

    He had stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, he smoked like a chimney even more than me at the time and I was a 2 pack a day smoker back then.  He talked to the small group of us waiting to get in, I could not believe how personable he was.  People were asking him all sorts of questions about his movies and getting to know the man behind the myth.  This went on for about 10 minutes or so when one of the people helping to set-up let him know they were about to open the doors.

    When the doors opened I rushed to his line and was the first person in it.  This was cool because I was able to talk to him while I was waiting I thanked him for his body of work like “Night of the Living Dead” and “Dawn of the Dead.”  I also talked with him about the fact that the only thing that would have made the day better than meeting him was meeting both him and Dario Argento.

    He told me “I have been trying to get him to come to one of these things for awhile.”  I had loved Dario’s work since I saw “Trauma”.  This conversation went on for a couple of minutes when they finally let us go get our autographs.  I had brought my copy of both “Night of the living Dead” and “Dawn of the Dead” on DVD for him to sign.  I was able to take a picture with him, unfortunately my ex shot a blurry picture of us.  I thanked him for the autographs and let the others have their turn.  Both of us had such a good time talking that he forgot to charge me for the autographs.

    This may have been a short meeting with him but to me it is something that will stay with me till the day I die.

    THANK YOU Mr. Romero for every movie you have made and for the memory of one of the best days of my life.  Unlike the zombies in your movies Rest In Peace.

    Res