“…we get along (at least some of the time.)”

I disagree. We get along most, if not all the time. We often have vastly different ways of understanding human nature, but despite those differences, we get along.

“The problem with only improving yourself and not advocating for change that affects others as well, is that you alone are not enough to improve the world.”

The quality of the community of which I am a part is of concern to me. A better community offers me a better life. If the community is full of hungry, homeless people, that is not good for them, and it is not good for me.

Those of us who are blessed with plenty must contribute to those who are in need. Contributing to the needy doesn’t just help alleviate immediate needs. It also helps set an example. If I help to establish a community tradition of helping those in need, then I will benefit if I should happen to fall on hard times.

Handicap accessibility is one example. We are all one accident away from needing handicapped accessibility. During my father’s last days, he was confined to a power chair. Handicap accessibility allowed me to take him places that would have otherwise been unavailable.

I understand the need to create a better community. What is low on my priority list is radical social reform. I have little interest in dismantling The Patriarchy and replacing it with some new, improved ideology. I’ll leave that to you.

“I do think that mythology often presents stories that explain things in the world so that they are more accessible to the populace at large.”

Ancient myths have survived as long as they have for a reason.

You seem to be more familiar with mythology than I. Most of what I know about myths is from others’ references to them. I am familiar with the first few pages of Genesis. I never did understand why a snake was responsible for tempting Adam and Eve. I thought it was because people think of a snake as a sneaky critter.

I am quite knowledgeable about modern mythology — science fiction.

Your maternal grandmother was right, in a way. For most of human history, God was the only way to understand nature; God was science.

{I am going to refrain from commenting on the subject of sexual assault and harassment. There is a risk that you will regard something I write as “trivializing” and summon some outside authority to police the conversation.}