WEBVTT 00:00:05.319 --> 00:00:08.939 Humanism. This is a phrase that I have just recently 00:00:08.939 --> 00:00:12.460 learned about, and today I have Steve Ghikadis, 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:16.399 and he is the author of Humanism from the Heart, 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:19.879 Building Bridges Beyond Belief. Hi Steve, how 00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:22.039 you doing? I'm doing great, how you doing? I'm 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:25.120 doing great. I love this book. Good, I'm so glad. 00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:28.239 I read it all, I got some notes here. What is 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:31.839 humanism? Well, it's basically a non -religious 00:00:31.839 --> 00:00:34.259 philosophical worldview which places the highest 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:37.439 emphasis on human well -being, compassion, empathy, 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:40.960 scientific investigation, reason, logic, that 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:44.159 type of thing. So is it classified as a religion? 00:00:44.600 --> 00:00:46.500 Technically not. No, it's more of an idea or 00:00:46.500 --> 00:00:49.179 a philosophy. But you can be like a religious 00:00:49.179 --> 00:00:51.490 humanist. Because my wife considers herself to 00:00:51.490 --> 00:00:53.649 be a Christian humanist. I've known people who 00:00:53.649 --> 00:00:55.729 are Islamic humanists It's like it's whatever 00:00:55.729 --> 00:00:58.210 you place your highest emphasis on so, you know 00:00:58.210 --> 00:01:01.750 if you can kind of Put the more importance on 00:01:01.750 --> 00:01:05.709 on those aspects instead of the dogma then yeah 00:01:05.709 --> 00:01:07.709 That's pretty much where people come from with 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:11.590 that. Okay. I really like this idea because it 00:01:11.590 --> 00:01:15.349 leaves an open mind for anything and there just 00:01:15.349 --> 00:01:17.629 always seems to be such a divide when it comes 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:21.000 to religion that It drives me nuts. Yeah for 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:23.180 sure. That's what biggest thing is avoiding the 00:01:23.180 --> 00:01:25.159 us versus them narrative. That's pretty much 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:27.620 what I was going for. Exactly because I did see 00:01:27.620 --> 00:01:30.579 I'm gonna pull out my book here. My favorite 00:01:30.579 --> 00:01:34.560 part of this entire book was we can bridge the 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:37.260 gap between believers and non -believers by focusing 00:01:37.260 --> 00:01:40.459 less on winning arguments and more on fostering 00:01:40.459 --> 00:01:42.959 understanding. This doesn't mean compromising 00:01:42.959 --> 00:01:45.819 on reason or evidence. It means being considerate 00:01:45.819 --> 00:01:49.599 of the human need for meaning. I mean, I wish 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:53.019 we had that just throughout the day, let alone 00:01:53.019 --> 00:01:55.599 when talking religion. Yeah, absolutely. Because 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.079 that's the thing is that, you know, a lot of 00:01:57.079 --> 00:01:59.260 people place a lot of meaning on different things 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:02.739 and we're very emotional creatures. So, you know, 00:02:02.819 --> 00:02:05.359 emotion is a big draw and a big part of our lives. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:08.460 So, you know, it doesn't hurt if you put your 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:10.360 emotions into something that's important to you. 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:12.520 And that's the best thing that we can do is kind 00:02:12.520 --> 00:02:14.840 of find what our commonalities are instead of 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.770 the things that divide us. Now, what made you 00:02:17.770 --> 00:02:20.569 write this book? Well, it kind of started from 00:02:20.569 --> 00:02:23.490 examples that have happened in my life. You know, 00:02:23.490 --> 00:02:25.930 I'm married to a Christian. So and I'm a non 00:02:25.930 --> 00:02:27.770 -believer. But there was a point in my life where 00:02:27.770 --> 00:02:30.449 I was pretending to be a believer to kind of 00:02:30.449 --> 00:02:32.409 get along and go with the flow. A lot of people 00:02:32.409 --> 00:02:36.050 do that. And it just got to the point where everyone 00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:38.530 was thinking I was a believer and I felt like 00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:40.310 I was duping people and I felt like a wolf in 00:02:40.310 --> 00:02:43.669 sheep's clothing. So I just got really angry. 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:46.689 And I started lashing out at people and ridiculing 00:02:46.689 --> 00:02:49.750 people and their beliefs. And I started burning 00:02:49.750 --> 00:02:52.409 bridges. And I realized that something needed 00:02:52.409 --> 00:02:54.810 to change. I needed to find a way to have these 00:02:54.810 --> 00:02:58.409 impossible conversations and treat people with 00:02:58.409 --> 00:03:01.270 respect and kindness. So I discovered something 00:03:01.270 --> 00:03:04.550 called street epistemology. and Anthony Magna 00:03:04.550 --> 00:03:07.550 Bosco was a practitioner of this style of questioning 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:10.370 and conversation, and I reached out to him and 00:03:10.370 --> 00:03:12.349 I said, you know, like, how can you help me with, 00:03:12.349 --> 00:03:15.389 you know, finding commonalities with me and my 00:03:15.389 --> 00:03:18.250 wife and other people in my life? I mean, it's 00:03:18.250 --> 00:03:21.110 great to have these things around to be able 00:03:21.110 --> 00:03:24.930 to, like you said, help foster... proper communication 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:28.250 without, you know, having hate on any side, because 00:03:28.250 --> 00:03:31.210 I think everybody's right in their own way, in 00:03:31.210 --> 00:03:35.009 their own mind when it comes to religion or beliefs, 00:03:35.069 --> 00:03:39.729 ideas of whatever kind. Yeah, for sure. And you 00:03:39.729 --> 00:03:43.400 are part of the Humanist Canada. The Windsor 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:45.919 chapter? Yes. So yeah, I'm the coordinator for 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:48.360 the Windsor chapter. So Humanist Canada is kind 00:03:48.360 --> 00:03:51.580 of like the umbrella group that oversees humanism 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:54.819 in an official capacity over the country. And 00:03:54.819 --> 00:03:58.460 then we have chapters. And so when I would talk 00:03:58.460 --> 00:04:01.300 to the previous executive director, she asked 00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:03.259 if I could start the very first chapter in Windsor. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:04.879 So I was like, yeah, sure. Why not? And then 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:09.240 it's developed into... community that we can 00:04:09.240 --> 00:04:14.479 now we have a base for doing charity work and 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:16.560 You know outreach and things like that I get 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:19.579 from reading in the book that you do speaking 00:04:19.579 --> 00:04:22.199 engagements at the university and various other 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:25.600 places How does it come across to people when 00:04:25.600 --> 00:04:28.600 they hear you talking about humanism? Yeah, so 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.180 the cool part is is that? Not a lot of people 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:33.259 know what it is, right? So it's kind of like 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:35.240 I am kind of their first introduction to it. 00:04:35.579 --> 00:04:37.519 And this is kind of why I make a joke that I'm 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:40.160 like the token humanist that does these presentations 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.560 at the university. So I've done a few interfaith 00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:44.740 symposiums and what they normally do is they 00:04:44.740 --> 00:04:48.259 ask, can you represent atheism? And I said, sure, 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:50.639 but atheism is just a lack of belief in a deity. 00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:52.699 I'd rather talk about what I do believe than 00:04:52.699 --> 00:04:54.860 what I don't believe. So can I also represent 00:04:54.860 --> 00:04:56.639 humanism? And they're like, yeah, sure, whatever. 00:04:56.740 --> 00:05:00.029 Don't know what that is, but go for it. and you 00:05:00.029 --> 00:05:01.649 know at first I thought I'm gonna be the one 00:05:01.649 --> 00:05:04.209 that's attacked on stage because you know you 00:05:04.209 --> 00:05:06.529 hear that in the media it's usually the non -believers 00:05:06.529 --> 00:05:07.949 that are getting all the questions and everything 00:05:07.949 --> 00:05:10.949 but I was shocked the very first time I went 00:05:10.949 --> 00:05:13.589 up there and I said my bit and then you know 00:05:13.589 --> 00:05:15.990 all the other religions said their bit and all 00:05:15.990 --> 00:05:17.430 the other religions were getting more questions 00:05:17.430 --> 00:05:19.430 than I was and I just had to like sit back and 00:05:19.430 --> 00:05:21.269 listen to them kind of bicker between each other 00:05:21.269 --> 00:05:23.050 and I'm like this is just really strange I thought 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:25.350 more people would be you know either attacking 00:05:25.350 --> 00:05:28.600 me or lashing out at me but It's funny, I actually 00:05:28.600 --> 00:05:31.639 got more of the attacks from the atheist. Well, 00:05:31.720 --> 00:05:34.379 atheism is just the, it's basically just a lack 00:05:34.379 --> 00:05:38.540 of belief. So theism is about belief and gnosticism 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.339 is about knowledge. So if you're a theist, you 00:05:41.339 --> 00:05:43.959 believe in a deity. If you're an atheist, it 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:45.959 just means you lack belief in that deity. It 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:48.199 doesn't tell you anything about someone's actual 00:05:48.199 --> 00:05:50.319 beliefs. It just says what you don't believe. 00:05:50.680 --> 00:05:52.920 And then gnosticism, you know, you can be... 00:05:52.810 --> 00:05:54.870 agnostic, which means you know something, or 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:57.310 agnostic, which means you don't know something. 00:05:57.850 --> 00:06:00.649 So I call myself an agnostic atheist. But what 00:06:00.649 --> 00:06:02.750 I was trying to say is that I get more attacks 00:06:02.750 --> 00:06:06.389 on me from fellow atheists, because they're thinking 00:06:06.389 --> 00:06:08.709 that I should be more harsh on people and their 00:06:08.709 --> 00:06:12.110 beliefs than I am. Were you raised in any religion? 00:06:12.810 --> 00:06:16.550 So I was baptized Anglican, but my mom never 00:06:16.550 --> 00:06:19.389 forced any kind of belief system on me. She just 00:06:19.389 --> 00:06:23.240 allowed me to think for myself. Engage with other 00:06:23.240 --> 00:06:25.180 different belief systems and talk to my friends 00:06:25.180 --> 00:06:28.139 who had different beliefs and I was able to just 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:32.060 explore I was raised as Presbyterian But the 00:06:32.060 --> 00:06:35.540 same thing we weren't religious we did the whole 00:06:35.540 --> 00:06:40.100 baptism but that was about it and I've gone to 00:06:40.100 --> 00:06:42.579 various churches with various friends growing 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:46.420 up and They're beautiful. I have nothing against 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:50.910 them, but They need better seats. That's all 00:06:50.910 --> 00:06:52.889 I have to say. Well, it's cool, too, because 00:06:52.889 --> 00:06:54.930 you can go to different places around the world, 00:06:54.990 --> 00:06:57.209 and there's massive cathedrals that are really 00:06:57.209 --> 00:07:00.810 beautiful places. And the architecture and the 00:07:00.810 --> 00:07:04.480 history of it is amazing. Just because I don't 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:06.060 believe in something doesn't mean I can't appreciate 00:07:06.060 --> 00:07:09.519 the artwork and the culture and the traditions 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:11.740 and that type of thing. Exactly. I've gone to 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:15.339 a few because of other family members and their 00:07:15.339 --> 00:07:18.160 kids and they have the Christmas Eve services 00:07:18.160 --> 00:07:21.740 and the kids do their little plays. And I really 00:07:21.740 --> 00:07:25.699 enjoy a Christmas Eve service. It's really nice 00:07:25.699 --> 00:07:29.319 and it's fun. You know, I can get by it. Yeah, 00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:33.000 for sure. And I just wish that everybody had 00:07:33.000 --> 00:07:37.180 an open mind like humanists do. Yeah, and I think 00:07:37.180 --> 00:07:40.300 sometimes, too, there could be like a trauma 00:07:40.300 --> 00:07:42.279 portion of someone's life. Maybe they've had 00:07:42.279 --> 00:07:44.860 a traumatic experience with, you know, religion 00:07:44.860 --> 00:07:50.060 or some type of figure from. their past, you 00:07:50.060 --> 00:07:53.000 know, and I think that does cause some issues 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:55.139 sometimes when people are trying to think about 00:07:55.139 --> 00:07:57.360 religion being, you know, a neutral thing. I 00:07:57.360 --> 00:07:59.160 think sometimes they have a negative idea of 00:07:59.160 --> 00:08:01.139 it because of a certain experience that they've 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:04.240 had. Yeah, in your book you talk about that you 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:08.000 have children and obviously you have an interfaith. 00:08:08.040 --> 00:08:11.180 family. How is that working out with the children? 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:15.000 It's great. We came to the conclusion early on 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.019 that we wanted our children to be able to make 00:08:17.019 --> 00:08:20.199 their own choices and experience things from 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:23.379 their own perspective, kind of like I had the 00:08:23.379 --> 00:08:26.540 freedom to do, which is nice. They're free to 00:08:26.540 --> 00:08:29.759 attend church services and do Sunday school and 00:08:29.759 --> 00:08:31.360 things like that whenever they feel like it. 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:34.700 And then I also have kind of a non -religious 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:36.940 congregation of sorts called Sunday Assembly 00:08:36.940 --> 00:08:39.259 that's in Detroit. And sometimes we all go as 00:08:39.259 --> 00:08:41.519 a family and there's kind of a kids program there 00:08:41.519 --> 00:08:43.299 too where they kind of learn science experiments 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:45.779 and that type of thing. What was that called? 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:48.559 Sunday? Sunday assembly. Sunday assembly. That 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:51.039 is the first time I've heard about it other than 00:08:51.039 --> 00:08:53.580 reading about it in the book. Could you explain 00:08:53.580 --> 00:08:56.080 to everybody what that is? Sure. So I think it 00:08:56.080 --> 00:08:59.559 was like 2013. There was two British comedians 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:01.700 and they were on their way to a show and one 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:02.879 turned to the other one and said wouldn't it 00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:04.720 be cool if we could go to church but instead 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:07.940 of like God just have like just have a fun time 00:09:07.940 --> 00:09:11.870 and celebrate just life in general. And the other 00:09:11.870 --> 00:09:13.889 one was like, yeah, why don't we do that? So 00:09:13.889 --> 00:09:15.590 they created this thing called Sunday Assembly. 00:09:15.990 --> 00:09:18.649 They put a news article in the paper. And it 00:09:18.649 --> 00:09:20.370 was like 200 people showed up on the very first 00:09:20.370 --> 00:09:21.970 day. And they were like, wow, maybe we're onto 00:09:21.970 --> 00:09:24.090 something here. People want to celebrate and 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:26.929 get together and celebrate life and not have 00:09:26.929 --> 00:09:28.909 anything to do with the supernatural aspects 00:09:28.909 --> 00:09:31.509 of religion. I think that's a great idea. Yeah, 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:33.929 it's pretty cool. Having it open to anything 00:09:33.929 --> 00:09:37.389 and just enjoying. Yeah. And their motto is live 00:09:37.389 --> 00:09:39.860 better, help often and wonder more. Okay, now 00:09:39.860 --> 00:09:42.139 I have to go to that. You can come with me next 00:09:42.139 --> 00:09:44.879 time. That sounds like a lot of fun. Second Sunday 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.320 of every month. Oh, okay. So it's not every week. 00:09:47.580 --> 00:09:49.419 No, no. So it's the second Sunday of every month. 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:52.419 And then also on certain days, there's like cuisine 00:09:52.419 --> 00:09:54.500 and conversations on certain Saturday nights. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:57.500 There's also like a gaming club and everything 00:09:57.500 --> 00:09:58.740 through this. It's kind of like we're trying 00:09:58.740 --> 00:10:00.820 to create a community kind of like churches have 00:10:00.820 --> 00:10:02.960 kind of had a monopoly on for so long. We're 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.519 trying to get that happening in the secular community 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:08.360 as well. So are you involved in that as well? 00:10:08.440 --> 00:10:10.120 Yeah. So currently I'm the president of Sunday 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:14.720 Assembly Detroit. So it sounds more important 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:17.350 than it is. but we're all part of a team and 00:10:17.350 --> 00:10:21.539 we're part of a board. The previous presidents 00:10:21.539 --> 00:10:24.039 were both in the middle of having children right 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:26.279 now, so like brand new babies. So it's like, 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:27.960 okay, you know what? I'll step up and I'll take 00:10:27.960 --> 00:10:30.500 over for a little bit while they're doing their 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:32.419 parenting thing. And how's that working out? 00:10:32.740 --> 00:10:34.679 It's going great. Yeah, like it's been amazing. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:37.519 I've met so many cool people. We even did a tour 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.100 of the Hiram Walker facility and we got to do 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:42.419 like a tasting and everything. So they shut everything 00:10:42.419 --> 00:10:45.240 down. They brought us all in. We got to do... 00:10:45.470 --> 00:10:48.149 the whole tour, see all the sights and everything, 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:49.690 and then she brought us into a room and she's 00:10:49.690 --> 00:10:51.289 like, oh yeah, I'll open any bottle you want. 00:10:52.529 --> 00:10:56.289 Man, I wish I was there for that. And did you 00:10:56.289 --> 00:10:58.850 guys enjoy yourself? Yeah, maybe a little too 00:10:58.850 --> 00:11:01.330 much. Yeah, because I think we did have a dinner 00:11:01.330 --> 00:11:03.929 afterwards, but it was like, you know, is everybody 00:11:03.929 --> 00:11:05.990 here? I want to make sure everyone got here safely. 00:11:07.429 --> 00:11:11.350 That's so funny. So this book just came out. 00:11:11.500 --> 00:11:14.919 And how's it going? It's blowing me away with 00:11:14.919 --> 00:11:17.480 the reception that I'm receiving. There's like 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:21.100 40 five -star reviews on Amazon already and it's 00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:22.960 blowing me away. I think it was like 22 five 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:28.610 -star reviews on Goodreads. It's like 500 or 00:11:28.610 --> 00:11:31.409 so copies sold. It's in all the stores around 00:11:31.409 --> 00:11:33.850 here, the local stores. This was just released 00:11:33.850 --> 00:11:37.750 recently. Yeah, March 23rd. That's really, really 00:11:37.750 --> 00:11:40.289 impressive. Yeah, I'm still like I almost have 00:11:40.289 --> 00:11:42.730 imposter syndrome because it's like... Oh no, 00:11:42.889 --> 00:11:45.009 it is a really good book. Oh, I'm glad. I'm really 00:11:45.009 --> 00:11:48.350 glad. It is a good book and I like the fact that 00:11:48.350 --> 00:11:51.340 we have the glossary of terms which... kind of 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:53.620 helps come in handy for a few different things 00:11:53.620 --> 00:11:56.580 but then you have some of the some different 00:11:56.580 --> 00:11:59.960 areas where you can really think and write and 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:02.860 I'm thinking and then I'm going to be writing 00:12:02.860 --> 00:12:07.220 but it was really nice it it kind of just said 00:12:07.220 --> 00:12:11.379 a lot about who you are and about humanism. But 00:12:11.379 --> 00:12:13.259 I definitely think that everybody should read 00:12:13.259 --> 00:12:15.580 this book because it's a great way to keep an 00:12:15.580 --> 00:12:18.899 open mind and enjoy stories. There's just a lot 00:12:18.899 --> 00:12:21.200 of really nice stories in here as well. Yeah 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:23.399 and one of the reviews I got recently actually 00:12:23.399 --> 00:12:24.919 said that it's one of those books that you can 00:12:24.919 --> 00:12:27.059 hand to your religious aunt. And they're going 00:12:27.059 --> 00:12:29.240 to appreciate it and they're going to be able 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:30.799 to have an open conversation afterwards, which 00:12:30.799 --> 00:12:33.279 is really cool. Exactly. Because there's no putting 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:36.940 down anybody or anything. It's accepting of everybody. 00:12:37.059 --> 00:12:39.679 Yeah. And that's what I really liked about it. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:43.759 And I've seen you are all over the place in Windsor 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:46.620 and Essex County on different podcasts and on 00:12:46.620 --> 00:12:50.399 Dan McDonald's show. And I missed the one with 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:52.679 Kyle. I was going to watch it today, the one 00:12:52.679 --> 00:12:55.019 with Kyle Horner. Yeah, no, that was it was a 00:12:55.019 --> 00:12:57.299 good one, too. and I had K .G. Michelli on there 00:12:57.299 --> 00:12:59.480 as well, so it was cool. She's been on this podcast. 00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:01.879 She's great, yeah. I have to get her books still. 00:13:02.120 --> 00:13:04.059 Oh, you do? Yeah. Yes. She's got a few books. 00:13:04.379 --> 00:13:08.100 Yeah, I want the Texas Road. Oh, yeah. She was 00:13:08.100 --> 00:13:10.240 telling us a few of the stories from it, and 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:13.139 it was just like, sounds a little crazy, you 00:13:13.139 --> 00:13:16.200 know? Oh, yeah. It's hard to say, because I had 00:13:16.200 --> 00:13:19.419 been down there too, and you're not sure whether 00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:23.559 you're conjuring it up yourself. Yeah. because 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:26.440 of all the old stories and. Right. But it was 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:30.279 fun. Yeah. And I am going to read this in twenty 00:13:30.279 --> 00:13:33.360 twenty four. You were awarded the King Charles 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:37.460 III Coronation Medal for your significant contributions 00:13:37.460 --> 00:13:40.200 to the community in Windsor, Essex County. Yep. 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:44.340 How in the heck did that? That's awesome. Yeah, 00:13:44.340 --> 00:13:46.440 it's it's amazing. Again, it's one of those things 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:49.250 where I feel like I. an imposter, because it 00:13:49.250 --> 00:13:52.070 just doesn't make any sense to me that I would 00:13:52.070 --> 00:13:56.169 be awarded these things. But it kind of came 00:13:56.169 --> 00:13:59.889 about from a few of my friends had... I guess 00:13:59.889 --> 00:14:03.110 put up letters or recommendations to say that, 00:14:03.110 --> 00:14:04.850 you know, Steve is helping out in the community, 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:06.710 he's doing this, he's helping out the homeless 00:14:06.710 --> 00:14:09.610 shelter, you know, taking care of our street 00:14:09.610 --> 00:14:12.409 through Humanist Canada, Windsor chapter, and 00:14:12.409 --> 00:14:14.710 I guess the word got up and they presented me 00:14:14.710 --> 00:14:16.970 with the medal, so. Well, yeah, I did want to 00:14:16.970 --> 00:14:20.090 ask you about that. You guys have adopted, Humanist 00:14:20.090 --> 00:14:22.870 Canada has adopted a street in Windsor? Yeah, 00:14:22.870 --> 00:14:26.009 so it's Peter Street, which happens to be one 00:14:26.009 --> 00:14:29.309 of the longest streets in Windsor. So they're 00:14:29.309 --> 00:14:31.129 like, oh, why don't you go with Peter Street? 00:14:31.210 --> 00:14:32.710 And we're like, eh, that sounds like a good street. 00:14:32.909 --> 00:14:35.389 Not knowing that it stretches like 17 blocks. 00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:39.429 I had no idea until just now. So we do it like 00:14:39.429 --> 00:14:41.029 a block at a time kind of thing. We get a group 00:14:41.029 --> 00:14:43.169 of four or five people out every once in a while. 00:14:43.470 --> 00:14:45.490 And we clean up a section. And then we move on 00:14:45.490 --> 00:14:46.809 to the next section. And by the time we get to 00:14:46.809 --> 00:14:48.110 the third section, the first section needs to 00:14:48.110 --> 00:14:50.679 be done again. But it's an ongoing thing. It 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:52.639 keeps us busy and lots of people on the street 00:14:52.639 --> 00:14:54.759 come up and talk to us and ask us what church 00:14:54.759 --> 00:14:56.679 we're part of and then we have to explain that 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:58.580 we're not really part of a church, but we're 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:00.120 kind of doing the same type of thing as a church 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:02.960 would. And how is that received with the neighborhood? 00:15:03.179 --> 00:15:05.799 It's good. It's funny because you sometimes have 00:15:05.799 --> 00:15:07.340 these conversations and people don't know where 00:15:07.340 --> 00:15:10.019 to... where to put you in their mental Rolodex. 00:15:10.179 --> 00:15:13.279 They're like, is this person a good person? Because 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:14.940 they're doing a good thing, but they also don't 00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:17.700 believe what I believe. So are they trying to 00:15:17.700 --> 00:15:20.240 trick me here or whatever? And we just have genuine 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:23.120 open conversations and say who we are and what 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.860 we do. And usually people are smiling ear to 00:15:26.860 --> 00:15:30.340 ear by the time we end the conversation. We're 00:15:30.340 --> 00:15:31.600 just doing it out of the kindness of our hearts. 00:15:31.720 --> 00:15:33.799 I feel like everybody should be, right? Well, 00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:36.279 then you definitely deserve this if you're also 00:15:36.279 --> 00:15:40.860 working with the homeless and over there in Michigan. 00:15:40.860 --> 00:15:42.720 Well, I appreciate you saying that. Well, it's 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.799 true. That's a lot of great work and it's great 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:49.889 to show your... Children and to lead by example 00:15:49.889 --> 00:15:51.870 for sure and we brought them out to clean up 00:15:51.870 --> 00:15:53.330 the street We've brought them out to feed the 00:15:53.330 --> 00:15:55.110 homeless and it's just really cute to watch them. 00:15:55.149 --> 00:16:02.029 We go every year on Christmas Eve They love it 00:16:02.029 --> 00:16:05.409 yeah, and it's it's just great because they will 00:16:05.409 --> 00:16:07.669 give out compliments to the to the people that 00:16:07.669 --> 00:16:09.450 are coming up for the meals and everything and 00:16:09.450 --> 00:16:11.769 it's just like these people have never been You 00:16:11.769 --> 00:16:13.809 know, people have never been nice to them. People 00:16:13.809 --> 00:16:16.029 usually spit on them or step over them and my 00:16:16.029 --> 00:16:17.590 kids just treat them like they're human beings. 00:16:17.809 --> 00:16:20.070 It's a great lesson that they're learning as 00:16:20.070 --> 00:16:23.450 they're getting older. Yeah. And Christine, the 00:16:23.450 --> 00:16:26.389 owner or manager there, she always tells me, 00:16:26.389 --> 00:16:27.610 you know, it's so nice that you bring them out 00:16:27.610 --> 00:16:29.190 because then they're learning these lessons that 00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:30.870 they're going to pass on to their kids. And then 00:16:30.870 --> 00:16:32.850 we're going to create a generation of kids who 00:16:32.850 --> 00:16:36.889 this is what they do. That's right. So that's 00:16:36.889 --> 00:16:38.809 the soup kitchen is up the one on Wyandotte. 00:16:38.990 --> 00:16:41.919 Yeah, it's called Street Help. So can anybody 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:44.620 volunteer? Yeah, they're really open to having 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:47.679 anybody there. And it's funny because, you know, 00:16:47.720 --> 00:16:50.419 she is a lifetime member of Humanist Canada, 00:16:50.440 --> 00:16:53.360 but she's also religious. So she's a Christian 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:56.299 and she's had priests and ministers there. They'll 00:16:56.299 --> 00:16:57.600 come and they'll say to the people out the window, 00:16:57.659 --> 00:16:59.500 you need to do a prayer. And she goes, no, none 00:16:59.500 --> 00:17:01.480 of that. You know, we're going to feed people 00:17:01.480 --> 00:17:03.960 regardless. And she feeds people, you know, whether 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.019 they come one time, two times, three times in 00:17:06.019 --> 00:17:07.799 a row, she'll keep feeding them. She doesn't 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:09.839 have any problem with that. I think more people 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:12.700 should become humanists, regardless of religion. 00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:15.519 No, it's just a nicer way of being able to have 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:18.140 a conversation without an argument. And I think 00:17:18.140 --> 00:17:19.619 a lot of people are humanists, they just don't 00:17:19.619 --> 00:17:21.400 realize it, because they don't know what the 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:23.640 term is. And that's kind of what I experienced, 00:17:23.640 --> 00:17:25.599 you know, growing up, I was a humanist, but I 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:26.720 didn't know that. And that's why in the book, 00:17:26.900 --> 00:17:29.200 I say that it was circular because I kind of 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:30.960 started off as a secular humanist, not knowing 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:33.099 it. And then eventually came back to that and 00:17:33.099 --> 00:17:36.509 then realized what it was called. Yeah. So are 00:17:36.509 --> 00:17:38.869 there plans for a second book? Yeah, so I have 00:17:38.869 --> 00:17:41.529 a couple books coming out. So I have one set 00:17:41.529 --> 00:17:45.029 for next year and it's called... preemptive dad 00:17:45.029 --> 00:17:47.730 vice for the unsuspecting, expectant father. 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:49.609 Because I have a lot of people coming up to me 00:17:49.609 --> 00:17:51.130 and saying like, oh, you know, once I have a 00:17:51.130 --> 00:17:53.089 kid, I can still play video games, right? And 00:17:53.089 --> 00:17:55.950 I'm like, hmm. Okay, can I have a copy of that 00:17:55.950 --> 00:17:59.269 now? Yeah, well, I can give you a copy to read. 00:17:59.950 --> 00:18:01.910 For my son. The first draft. I think he needs 00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:04.509 it. But yeah, it's kind of to help people out. 00:18:04.509 --> 00:18:08.230 And it's also kind of to promote that dads are 00:18:08.230 --> 00:18:10.089 an important part of the family and they should 00:18:10.089 --> 00:18:12.839 be there to help out. raising the kids. And it's 00:18:12.839 --> 00:18:15.339 funny, because I just saw a video that I shared 00:18:15.339 --> 00:18:17.180 with my wife today, because she's always telling 00:18:17.180 --> 00:18:19.059 me this, but I always complain that I have a 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:21.319 dad bod, and she always says, well, I'd rather 00:18:21.319 --> 00:18:23.140 you have a dad bod and help out at home than 00:18:23.140 --> 00:18:25.660 be jacked in the gym nine hours a day. That's 00:18:25.660 --> 00:18:29.019 true. Yeah, so, you know, and that's kind of 00:18:29.019 --> 00:18:30.680 where I'm taking this book. It's like, you know, 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:33.759 it's okay to be, you know, to have all these 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:35.700 issues and wonder if you're doing things right, 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:37.299 because if you're wondering if you're doing things 00:18:37.299 --> 00:18:39.119 right, then you're already doing them right. 00:18:39.390 --> 00:18:44.559 I know my son. They're having a baby. It'll be 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:46.779 born in December and he's already got the dad 00:18:46.779 --> 00:18:49.920 bug going. Oh nice He's going with her cravings. 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:51.759 He's got the pre dad bod. That's awesome Yeah, 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:53.380 there we go And then I have a sequel to this 00:18:53.380 --> 00:18:55.640 book coming out probably the year after and it's 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:58.400 gonna be called humanism at hand Practical principles 00:18:58.400 --> 00:19:00.660 for peaceful partnerships. I really like that 00:19:00.660 --> 00:19:03.079 alliteration. You know, yeah You nailed it on 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.700 the bees this time. So now we're going for peace. 00:19:05.700 --> 00:19:08.079 Yeah, so, okay, you get to pick the next letter 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.519 though, so Oh my goodness. The afterword was 00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:18.579 hilarious here. I always like to start my presentation 00:19:18.579 --> 00:19:21.420 off with a quote that I jokingly attribute to 00:19:21.420 --> 00:19:25.400 Buddha. Don't be a dick. Yeah. Because that's 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:27.359 what it's all about, right? And you can say it 00:19:27.359 --> 00:19:29.200 a million times in a million different ways, 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:31.559 but it's only, you know, don't be a dick. It's 00:19:31.559 --> 00:19:33.440 just the way it is. That's the philosophy, right? 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.619 I think we all need to read this book. Go out 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:40.720 and get it. Get it. See, there it is. at the 00:19:40.720 --> 00:19:43.619 local bookstores in Windsor. It's on Amazon. 00:19:43.900 --> 00:19:45.660 It's on Amazon. It's in the libraries. If you 00:19:45.660 --> 00:19:47.400 don't want to pay for it, you can check it out 00:19:47.400 --> 00:19:50.359 at the library. There's also going to be, it's 00:19:50.359 --> 00:19:53.460 going to be mass distributed to like Indigo chapters, 00:19:53.619 --> 00:19:55.279 all those eventually as well. It's just taking 00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:57.940 a bit of time to get there. And you just were 00:19:57.940 --> 00:20:01.099 recording the... The audiobook. The audiobook. 00:20:01.460 --> 00:20:03.900 Yay. Yeah. So the audiobook should be out on 00:20:03.900 --> 00:20:06.400 the 21st of June, which happens to be World Humanist 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:08.910 Day. So it's going to be next Saturday. I had 00:20:08.910 --> 00:20:11.210 no idea there was a World Humanist Day. Yeah, 00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:14.230 so 21st of June. So what do you guys do on World 00:20:14.230 --> 00:20:16.829 Humanist Day? Well, it depends. Usually what 00:20:16.829 --> 00:20:18.289 we do is we just get together and have a nice 00:20:18.289 --> 00:20:21.089 dinner. So we go to like Smoke and Spice or somewhere 00:20:21.089 --> 00:20:24.490 local. And, you know, I'm thinking about picking 00:20:24.490 --> 00:20:26.589 maybe more of like a mom and pop shop this time, 00:20:26.670 --> 00:20:28.849 and we'll go and support local and do do a nice 00:20:28.849 --> 00:20:31.759 little shindig. Sounds like fun. Sounds like 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:34.279 fun. Steve, thank you so much. I appreciate you 00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:39.339 being on and giving us an eye in humanism and 00:20:39.339 --> 00:20:41.660 understanding that we just need to be nice to 00:20:41.660 --> 00:20:44.319 each other and don't be a dick. Yeah, thanks 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.819 so much. And, you know, I always say you don't 00:20:45.819 --> 00:20:48.000 have to be a perfect person, perfect partner, 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:51.519 perfect parent. We try our best to live up to 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:53.779 whatever it is that we are trying to accomplish. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:58.079 And, you know, Maya Angelou always said, We do 00:20:58.079 --> 00:20:59.799 our best until we know better and then when we 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:02.220 do better when we know better than we do better 00:21:02.220 --> 00:21:04.579 Couldn't have said better myself me either. That's 00:21:04.579 --> 00:21:09.460 why I went with her. Oh This has been great and 00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:11.799 again, my name is Tracy Martens Thank you so 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:14.480 much for joining me for another episode of YQG 00:21:14.480 --> 00:21:17.519 In bloom Make sure that you guys are all nice 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:20.819 to each other Get out and get the book Humanism from the Heart – Burning Bridges Beyond Belief 00:21:24.180 --> 00:21:28.779 Have a good day I'll see you soon.