In the UK terriers are much respected, because of the way they don't let go when once they have got their teeth in. Its a thing we greatly admire.

@Fernapple Thank you muchly. I actually think he is a bot, but I am covering my bases.

Not so long ago I had a friend who was so depressed before I knew him that he only ate hot dogs for 2 years because he was too depressed to care what he ate. It might have been 3 years, I can't remember now. I worry about people like that being set up with unrealistic expectations by superficial platitudes like the one in this post and like this member has posted before. I suppose that is the source of the bee in my bonnet.

@Fernapple The US does not do much for their most vulnerable. No income support for the able bodied, just food stamps - a couple of hundred bucks a month that you can spend on a limited number of things. It doesn't even cover toilet paper. Very limited mental health services, and just try finding a secular therapist! He was a decent guy but no one should have to live like that. Not sure whatever happened to him, hope he's okay.

@LovinLarge The more time I spend on this site, where the majority are from the USA, the more I start to think that the USA is a broken society, and a failing democracy.

The other day someone posted, about there being no cheap hotels in the USA like there are overseas. Well yes, because it seems to me that, in the USA, most people, especially the poor and middle income people, are not encouraged to travel, so of course there are no hotels for them. That no doubt, helps to keep people from widening their horizons and broadening their minds. Which is great if you want a nation of mindless drudges, who work, get their pay, go back spend it where they earned it, and never question anything.

But, in Europe many companies, and institutions actively encourage travel. So that taking your vacation, especially abroad, is almost, compulsory, and you would be seen as strange with poor promotional prospects, if you did not show an appetite for widening your horizons.

Generally speaking has nobody ever noticed that trying to restrict and discourage travel, is what countries like North Korea and the old Soviet Union did ? Presumably in case anyone finds out that it is possible to improve on the workers paradise, and woe betide, by how very much.

( I like this may post it just to get the hornets buzzing. LOL )

@Fernapple So true, and to bring our observations full circle, religion is one of the things that keeps us complacent by requiring us to submit unquestioning to an external authority by lowering the standard of proof not to require evidence.

I don't actively try to convert anyone, I try to lead by example but it is a steeply uphill task with people who place unsubstantiated claims above information they themselves experience to be true. I am finally in the position where I am beholden to no one such that I can speak freely of my contempt for religion, and I take it as my responsibility to do so in an attempt to relieve future generations of atheists from the lifelong experience of persecution I have survived. There is a generational aversion to authority in my family and I was raised by a pair of atheists, so when my inner pit bull makes an appearance, please understand that I come by it honestly and wear the badge proudly as my commitment to future generations.