After reading Phillip Martin’s article “Keep faith, connections during summer break,” I felt compelled to respond. This is something that I normally would not do.

The author opened the article with the sentiment that, over the course of the summer, he did not want to inadvertently “stunt … [his] dependence on God.”

As a non-religious individual, I feel concerned for those people who experience a “dependence” on their deities — this phenomenon often leads to a sad kind of misanthropy and a distrust of one’s fellow man.

I suspect such a misanthropy is manifesting already in the author, as evidenced by several of his statements, especially the following: “I fear dying lonely — to never ‘fit in’ or never find a lover. But, the truth is people will fail me.”

“People will fail me.”

I’m stunned by this statement.

I’ll admit, I’ve never in my life attended any church, so I’m unfamiliar with what goes on there.

So now I have to ask: Is this what people learn at church?

To simultaneously distrust and pity their fellow man, secure in the knowledge that they can only ever confide in and trust their omniscient deity?

As Martin says, “people will fail me … God will never fail me.”

This strikes me as being profoundly sad.

The human race is an incredibly special thing.

We’re capable, through cooperation with our peers, of producing incredible societies and innovations and culture and art and drama.

We create and experience beauty every day, and the world is an enormous playground with a near-infinite collection of joys and sorrows to experience in our lifetimes — all through our powerful interactions with our fellow man.

Taking part in the tapestry of existence is the grandest thing any of us will ever do.

It would be truly tragic for the author to shut himself off from his fellows.

I, for one, would urge him to rekindle his faith, not in his god, but in his fellow man.

— Chance Ackley

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