Life In Pictures: A Real Life Scientologist

Well we've certainly gotten a lot of response and feedback from our entries on Scientology and their Volunteer Ministries (Not to be confused with Vulture Ministries, although both phrases refer to the same organization). Many of you that e-mailed us said you had never actually seen a Scientologist before. I'm sure many of you have, you just didn't realize it because they were in their normal street or business attire. I mean you're really not going to know someone's a Christian, for example, unless you talk to them. But we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to show a real life Scientologist.


This picture was taken yesterday in downtown Hemet California, we're told. Not all the background details of this photo are known at this time but this fellow appears to be very proud of the fact that he's a Scientologist and doing his darnedest to get the word out. It reminds us of some of PETA's demonstrations, where naked women are put on display locked up in cages. You definitely have to respect someone that dedicates his life so much to a religion, no matter how cooky it may appear on the surface. I know it won't be easy for many of you to accept the lifestyles of the Scientologists, but they're people too just like everyone else, and we share many of the same moral systems and cultural upbringings. If we can break down the barriers that separates us, we can work towards opening up a dialogue that leads to mutual respect and cultural harmony.

People of the day: Firefighters

Today we are going to go over a very special group of people - the hard working risk taking firefighters who put their lives on the line every day to make sure others are safe. These brave men and women simply don't get the respect and honor that they deserve. If it weren't for firefighters, countless millions would be burned alive in their own homes. And firefighters play a much wider role than just putting out fires - they also arrive on the scene of bad wrecks and help the motorists get out of their cars, they make visits to schools and teach children about fire safety, and they get down cats from trees.

So where did it all begin? Firefighting goes all the way back to Ancient Egypt. Of course even before then fires existed which needed to be put out, but it took a while for people to be designated as professional fire fighters. Before Ancient Egypt, people were left to their own devices, and often did the wrong things to try to put fires out which actually made it worse. Deadly burns were very common back then, as it wasn't unusual for someone to try to put out a grease fire with water. What really kickstarted the firefighter movement was Augustus of Rome. Even though firefighters were around, they were working for private companies. If someone's house was burning down, the fire fighters would only come help if the owner was a paying customer. It was more like a business back then. Augustus called this absurd, as this meant the poor would never have any help putting out fires because they didn't have the money to pay private fire fighting companies. He then created a state funded firefighting squad that covered everyone. These firefighters, which were called Vigiles at the time, were trained, paid, and equipped by the state.

A lot of things have changed since those days, but one thing remains: the people who hold these jobs take the firefighter's oath to put out fire to the best of their ability, and they put their lives on the line every day for a cause much bigger than themselves.


Firefighters Oath:

I promise concern for others. A willingness to help all those in need.

I promise courage - courage to face and conquer my fears. Courage to share and endure the ordeal of those who need me.

I promise strength - strength of heart to bear whatever burdens might be placed upon me. Strength of body to deliver to safety all those placed within my care.

I promise the wisdom to lead, the compassion to comfort, and the love to serve unselfishly whenever I am called.

How often do you worry about getting killed in a fire and losing all your belongings? Probably not often. That's because with firefighters around, we feel safe, comfortable, and confident knowing that if disaster ever struck, there would be people much braver than ourselves to take care of it. And what's not to like about that?

People of the Day: Collections Agency Representatives

Today's people of the day are collection agency representatives. You'd be hard pressed to find someone that likes bill collectors, but that's just because people don't understand the important role that these people play in the economy. If you've ever ran up a couple thousand dollars on a credit card and then failed to pay your bill promptly, you've likely been called several times by a debt collector. Typically if a customer is just a little late on a payment, they will receive an automated call informing them to pay their bill. If a few weeks go by, a representative from the credit card company will get in touch with them. If months go by and the customer is still not making any payments, usually the bad account will get sold to a collections agency. These companies specialize in doing whatever they can to get that money back. They buy the customer's bad account at discount price, hoping that if the full amount is paid off, they will make a nice profit.

Ok, most of you reading this have probably gotten these annoying phone calls and probably thought debt collectors were the biggest scum on the earth. But guess what? If it weren't for a means to get the money back that you borrowed, they wouldn't have lent it to you in the first place. If nobody ever paid back their debt, nobody would be able to borrow money and very few people would be able to buy a home. How many people do you know that have $300,000 in cash just sitting around?

Think for a moment how annoying it is to get phone calls every hour of the day from bill collectors. Now try to see it from their perspective. They're having conversations all day long with pissed off people who want to strangle them. They also probably have a manager that screams at them all day long to "GET THOSE DEADBEATS TO PAY". Could you imagine getting up every morning to go get screamed at for 8-10 hours?

You want to know why we like collections agency representatives? Because they're people. And we like all people. They're just doing their jobs just like everyone else in the world is, trying to put food on their table for their families. They can be a nuisance at times but their role is very important. If you lent someone thousands of dollars and you never saw it back, what would you do?

If you're having a hard time wrapping your head around the idea that bill collectors are good decent people, try having a conversation with one of them. They are very colorful and are always good for sharing stories with. When I owed Discover Card $10,000, I often got calls from a representative named Betty. At first I would always try to get off the phone when she called, but when I found out she made a mean rhubarb pie, I actually found myself calling her more than she called me. It's all about your attitude and approach.

People of the Day: Scientologists

We're introducing a new feature here at People Liking People: People of the Day. Each day, we will showcase a type of person and talk about what makes them so likable. We feel this is a good chance for everyone to learn the importance of respecting one another, as there's something positive about each and every one of us.

Our People of the day for Feb. 25 2009 are Scientologists. Scientologists are often misunderstood, and often times the only thing someone knows about them is that they believe we came from aliens. Well there's a lot more to it than that. Scientologists work, eat, pay their bills, go out and have fun like the rest of us. The difference is that they also spend a lot of their time auditing and giving their money to Scientology.

I want to start by saying that some of my best friends are Scientologists, and they are some of the nicest people I know. Unfortunately many people see their ignorance as stupidity, and want to attack them for believing that a cult is the answer to their problems. At the end of the day though, you have to realize that everyone has something that's a little silly they believe in. Sure, most of us don't pay thousands of dollars as a result of it, but that just shows how committed Scientologists are to something they were lured into truly believing.

It's a common myth that Scientologists are these crazy psychotic people who really need psychiatric help, but have somehow got themselves caught up in Scientology. It's true that a lot of them are unstable people, but often times I've found they really just need a friend. One thing that many people probably don't know is that Scientologists are very good at cooking. My Aunt Susan is a Scientologist, and while we run and hide when she comes over, we all enjoy her brownies after she leaves. Oh, and we don't run and hide because she's a Scientologist. She has irritable bowel syndrome and anal leakage. We have to put sheets down on the couch before she comes down, but she does have a very good personality. One time she saved someone's life because she drove past their house and saw smoke coming out of the building. She immediately dialed 911 and the fire was able to be put out before anyone was hurt.

Scientologists really are great people, but one thing you should never bring up with them is politics. If you know not to go there, you can very easily make friends with a Scientologist.

Scientologists have this program where they send people out to problem areas where people are starving, or where a disaster has just struck. They comfort those people in a time of need. They use a technique called touch assist created by L. Ron Hubbard. I tend to think when he created it he was just looking for an excuse to touch all over the young boys and girls in the Church, but today it has many legitimate uses and has helped people all over the world.

We hope you have learned some things today; next time you see a Scientologist don't be afraid. Just be friendly and talk to him as if he were just a regular human.

The Energy Transformation Process

In the following weeks and months, we're going to get more in depth with the energy transformation process, but for now I want to just introduce the topic and tell you about how we came up with the idea to begin with. We're so excited about this project and its implications that it's a little hard to curb our enthusiasm so bear with us here.

This all started back about three years ago. One day I was thinking about all the hatred in the world and how it's been going on for centuries. The wars, the famine, the fighting between families, as well as fighting within families. It extends all geographical and cultural borders and transcends time. There's gotta be a way to put a stop to all this, I thought. All the suffering, pain, and anguish that occurs every single day unnecessarily.

Well, I then stumbled on an idea. What if we could take all the energy we use for hating people and turn it into energy for liking people? I mean just take a second to really think about that. Let the idea just soak in your brain for a moment.

It would be nothing short of revolutionary.

For the past 3 years that's exactly what I've set out to do. It will be revolutionary, and it will change the way people interact. It will also end most of the suffering in the world because 99% of suffering stems from an underlying hatred. Of course we can't eliminate all suffering, as some is caused by natural causes such as floods and the inevitable death of family members, but hatred has an overwhelming role in planting the seeds of suffering.

This is the beginning of a movement folks. We've kicked it off with a song called "I Like People". But it's not going to stop there. This is the beginning of an education process - we first need to break down the hatred and unlearn those behaviors that contribute to it. Once the ways of old have been dismantled, the foundation for a new beginning will begin to be set in place.

There's something to like about every single person on this earth, whether they're a lawyer, director of communications, lesbian, or garbage collector. The only limits we have are limitations we put on ourselves. Let's break through those barriers. It's time to start the revolution.

Onto the Energy Transformation Process. You see, there is a finite amount of energy in this world. What I've found is that a good majority of this energy at any given second in time is being used on hate. What we need to do is transform this energy into energy used to like. Please examine the diagram below:


As I said earlier, in the next coming weeks and months, we'll get in depth with what's really going on here. But this is the energy transformation process in a nutshell. For obviously reasons, I can't reveal the interworkings of the converter just yet, but I wanted to give you all a general idea until proper protocols are set into place. As you can see, the energy used for hate will go down into the funnel which carries it right into the processor. From there the energy will be divided into 2 groups: unused energy which is to be discarded, and convertible energy that will go on to the next step. The usable energy will then go through the pipeline to the converter. Again, we can't reveal all the details of what goes on inside the converter just yet, but this information will come out when the time is right. All energy, yes all - 100% of the energy released from the converter will be energy that can and will be used for liking.

Note: not all energy for hating can be converted into energy for liking. We'll get into that more though in the coming weeks.

Cat Abuser Found and Arrested

We here at People Liking People are known for our love for all types of people. But what may come as a surprise to many of you is that we also have a deep love for cats. Recently, we stumbled on a story about two teenagers from Lawton, Oklahoma who filmed themselves torturing their cat Dusty and posting it on youtube. The angry internet mob went after the kids with a vengeance, and alerted their local media and police. Fortunately this story has a happy ending, as the two teenagers were arrested and Dusty is now going to be placed in a good home.




Kudos to KSWO Channel 7 in Lawton, OK for staying on this story. Not all of the details have been released because the cat abuser is a minor, but our sources tell us his name is Kenny Glenn. We try to like all people here at People Liking People, but this may be one time we have to make an exception.

People Liking People Going Live With Our First Single

Hello everyone! We're very excited and pleased to announce the release of our first single, "I like People". We're very happy with the way it turned out; there's simply no better way to show our appreciation for all the different types of people in the world. We hope you enjoy it, and pass it along to your friends so they can enjoy it too.