I Sh*t My Pants Again and So Did You

By Rick Chowdry

The world has become a very odd place to live in the last few decades, and it seems that there is incessant chaos coming at us from nearly every direction. Regardless of where we tune our televisions or our smartphones, there is no shortage of people anxious to drag us into an agreement with their opinions about all that is wrong and, by extension, how their position on a given issue is the correct one that all of us should subscribe to. Politicians, the media, the clergy, our neighbors, our friends, and our enemies all have something that needs adoption, and if we would just apologize and change our view, the world would be a better place.

This book is an attempt by an average guy to cut through all of the crap that we are bombarded by to find the underlying problems that drive the chaos along with a simple solution that might change the world. The book is deliberately short, simple, and a little crude just like the human condition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781662476037

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I Sh*t My Pants Again and So Did You

Rick Chowdry

Copyright © 2022 Rick Chowdry

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2022

ISBN 978-1-6624-7601-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-7603-7 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Introduction

Why This Book, Who Are You to Write It, What Is Your Point?

Things We Have in Common; How Did We Get Here?

Things We Have in Common; We Don't Actually Know the Things We Think We Know

Things We Have in Common; Smallness, Frailty, and Death

Things We Have in Common; Bad Decisions and Mistakes

Things We Have in Common; What Is the Purpose of My Life?

If These Things Are True, How Should We Treat Each Other?

About the Author

Introduction

I'm not sure if people read introductions as they are often superfluous, but in this case, I believe it is important primarily because it is appropriate to give credit where credit is due.

Much of what you will find in the following pages is the cumulative effect of life experience and a handful of writers and thinkers that have really made a substantial difference in my life and how I view the world. They are a very odd mix of people who walked or are walking their journey through life very differently. Three are Christian writers of varying flavors, and one is an atheist. And I find their insights deeply compelling and oddly similar in a number of ways. The common thread between all four is that they each speak to our shared experience from different perspectives, yet the message is very similar. Humans have common experiences as well as common frailties, and in light of that reality, it is probably silly not to be a bit humbler and have more grace for our counterparts.

The first is Erwin McMannus who leads a church in Southern California called Mosaic and has written a number of books, but the most compelling related to this discussion would be Soul Cravings. The book essentially identifies common ground that we all seem to share as human beings regardless of culture, upbringing, or even which part of human history we made our journey in. He is deeply thoughtful and has articulated difficult concepts in very concise ways. He also gets railed on by a number of fundamental Christians who label him a heretic and have their opinions about questions he raises about life. I will likely offer my opinion about such people later in the book when I talk about bullshit Christianity and attempt to differentiate between that and the authentic practice.

Another is Mark Manson who wrote the books The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck and Everything is Fucked. I would love to see people far and wide read these books because they cut through so much crap and are amazingly practical and very much apply to the actual experiences in life we all have. While I don't entirely agree with every conclusion he arrives at, I would say that both books are great reads, and you can gain honest insights into yourself and why you and the rest of us are fundamentally crazy. (I still want to do a study guide that shows the correlations between the ideas he puts out there and Biblical concepts, but I'm sure I would be crucified by many well-meaning Christian people for embracing literature that uses the word fuck.)

A third is a Catholic priest of the Jesuit order named Gregory Boyle. He wrote a book that I read during the darkest period of my life called Tattoos on the Heart. It chronicles his journey as a minister to the gangs of Los Angeles and the establishment of Homeboy Industries which is an amazing intervention and rehabilitation program for people that many of us would label as lost causes. His awareness of his own humanity and mortality coupled with an unyielding will have endeared him to his community of homies, and I would dare say if we all lived even a portion of our lives with his convictions, the world would be unrecognizable compared to the current shit show that we are experiencing in many ways.

Last and certainly not least is a man who left us in 2013 named Brennan Manning. He was a laicized (booted out of the club) Catholic priest who struggled with alcoholism much of his life and wrote a number of books including one that deeply impacted me called The Furious Longing of God. At the time of his death, his body and brain had been very adversely affected by the years of alcohol abuse, but he was still deeply connected to what he believed to be a benevolent and loving God that he viewed as a father who had unending mercy for His children. While many people may find that view ridiculous, it was his experience and the theme of much of his writing and speaking.

I wanted to