Dear Happy Crafter and Skeezyks,

I had tears in my eyes when I read your poignant notes on this thread. I am deeply struck by your candor, courage, and resilience.

Like you Skeeyzks, I too am an atheist. And I just want to share my own personal world view. I believe that every human has value. It is of no more or less value compared to any other human. We all came from stardust.
This does not change with external behavior. Whether egregious or otherwise. I can find it within my atheist spirit (I believe there is such a thing, unrelated to religion or a god) to find compassion for any person.

I do not share about my work on PC for several reasons. But I want to say that I have met and cared for humans whose histories would likely make a lot of people feel fearful or enraged or disturbed. I looked for light in each of them. Most of the time, I found some light. When I could not find any light, I still wished them peace.

My father's behavior was appalling. He enjoyed tormenting myself and my siblings. He smiled each time he felt a victory by frightening us or making us feel like nothing. He lived out his days in deep bitterness and rage. I separated myself from him for many years before he died. But when he was dying, I consulted with a pharmacist and MD to give him an anxiety med because I knew he'd be terrified in the hospital. And I knew he would never ask for it himself. Nobody should have to die in fear or unmanaged pain, not even a man who abused his wife and children for most of his life. I flew a long way and sat next to him while his life ended. I carried him in his coffin on his final journey to the grave. I did not love him. I did not even like him on a basic level. But I was able to wish him a peaceful death. Not as a loving daughter, but simply as a human. My life has no more or less value than the life of my father.

For me, it truly does not matter what either one of you has done in your past. I still firmly believe that you deserve peace in your present and future. You are sincerely two of the brightest lights I have encountered on PC. Both of you have made me smile and brought me solace including on some of my darkest days. Your pasts simply cannot erase that.

I have no idea why I exist. But I feel quite sure that it is not my purpose on Earth to decide who is worthy of peace and who is not. Therefore, my default is that everyone deserves peace. Including people who have done some terrible things in their lives.

"There are no good people and bad people. There are only joyful people and miserable people. Each of us is perpetually oscillating between darkness and light."
- Sadhguru

(Ps. I only combined this message for both of you because I am sad and tired this eve but wanted to reach out....I still respect you as individuals)