Chapter 2

My name is Sass William. It’s not, but for this project it is. One day, I’ll tell you why I chose such a peculiar yet almost normal-sounding name. For now, this is the best I can do – everything in life is a balance. The air needs water. Water embraces the land. Fire can light birthday candles or burn entire forests. In everything, there is good if a person is willing to seek it, create it, or share it. We’re in a world where skepticism and hate are trying to win the race and kindness and respect are being overshadowed as old traditions. What if our generation can change the world simply by reclaiming what’s good? What if things that were created with good intentions and then bought or sold by entities with a less admirable focus could be reintegrated into the world by people holding the keys to peace and success? What if current programs and applications that were made with ill intentions could be converted into works for the good simply by infiltrating companies with more people who believe that good still exists and is desired? By now you’re probably buying into this idea, but you’re confused as to why an author like me wouldn’t just use my current platform to reach the world. My most accurate answer is to imagine a microscope in the realm of everything we already know today. Even the most renowned scientists still study the smallest pieces of this world to make the biggest impacts and discoveries. I want you to sit down, tune out the chaos the world wants you to believe, peer into this with one eye, and focus without boundaries or notions.

I am unashamedly a Christian. I will never hide that. I talk to God daily, and I trust Him with my life. I will also never hide the fact that I believe human error, pride, and selfishness have often been at the height (or maybe even the heart) of religion. I never close doors that could possibly be yet another gift from God, nor do I resist opening them. We’re told things like “You can either love the Bible or Astrology,” but what if pieces of Astrology had roots in God’s design? What if He intended to help map out some of His secrets for those who were willing to look up into His creation and be still long enough to comprehend? I don’t believe that Astrology determines your fate at all, but if we can agree that the moon affects the tide, why should we be so naïve as to believe other planets don’t also affect the rhythm of life? These are the kinds of things in which I never close doors. I don’t believe that someone with a crystal ball can tell you your future, but I do keep an eye on Mercury retrograde to see if the effects might be similar to the moon’s effect. A person who keeps the door open to possibilities isn’t a person who is unintelligent, pagan, or crazy. Edison didn’t think it was evil to create light – and neither did God. I think the heavens, the universe, the earth, nature, technology, and God are all in this together. I think God runs this ship, and the ocean is unimaginably vast. I believe there are people who will shy away from me thinking I’m trying to create a new religion (in which they couldn’t be more wrong), and I fear there are those that will run to me trying to justify views in which I never intended to endorse. I want to stand in the middle of this earth and show the world that many sides can coexist peacefully with respect and still be grounded firmly in their beliefs.  I believe all people are born seeking good, and there is never a logical reason to abandon it. If you have found yourself on the other end of “good”, I think the question to ask is simply, “What will I gain from this?” Regardless of your religion, lack of religion, faith, or beliefs, I believe everyone can agree that doing good is a common want for this world. Even those who don’t believe they are united in this thought process are probably somehow justifying that what they are doing is for the good of something. Quite possibly, doing bad has a person skewed into thinking they are doing good for themselves by not allowing them to experience good. Maybe they don’t feel worthy of the good. Maybe they’ve been hurt by what they thought was good. The challenge we face is to clarify what the term “good” means, and then unanimously agree to seek it always.

Good, in my definition, is being someone who has found peace within themselves and can then help others achieve peace. Before you quote that and stop there, I believe that peace can only be achieved by unselfishly believing that the world needs ALL of us to work together and be together. Peace comes when you disagree with someone but can still smile and say, “I understand where you’re coming from, I just have a different point of view.” Peace comes from struggling in life (slightly or dreadfully) to get where you need to be so that being there gives you a sense of accomplishment and gratefulness. Peace lies in seeing that what you’ve done in this world has provided not just income or stability but meaning and purpose. Peace comes from depending on no one for your own happiness but allowing people in your life that would like to join you in your happiness. Peace comes from not trying to fix the world, but striving to continually be someone who passes the torch so often that the world can be fixed collectively. For me, peace comes from talking to God, trusting God, depending on God, and listening to God. If, for you, that peace comes from a different method then I’m here to high-five you and exist with you even though our versions of peace have different founding principles. I will never be powerful or egotistical enough to believe I can convince everyone on earth that the God I know is the God they should know, but if I can pass the torch by being a person who believes that “good” is the only way to live this life… I’ve fulfilled my purpose here.  If you’ve been kind because you believe in the spirit of the Universe, God, or nothing at all… at least you’ve made the world a better place by simply being in it.