Chapter 11: The Prayer of Saint Chastity

For this chapter of Chastity's Code Cookbook, I am including a poem I wrote one night as God told me to go home and rest. I tend to work myself to death, even when I am too sick to function. Part of it is worry that my bosses will get angry and fire me. Part of it is worrying about money. But that night, God spoke to me while I worked in the Frozen department at Walmart. Every time I am too sick to work, I remember this poem I wrote about my experience that night. It is an important part of my philosophy about software, the love of money, and questioning the concept of copyright and ownership entirely.
\-\-\-
Dear God,
I don't know how long I have to live
And I don't have much left to give
But while I am here, let me say
Thank you for giving me today
Give me the strength to do what I must do
And remind me always to speak what is true
Not hold back because of my fear
Of what people will do to me if they hear
I am sorry that I put money over you
And I forgot that you gave me a job to do
I see what the gift you gave me is, now I understand
What I am worried about is not what you have planned
You made me special; that is no lie
And I will serve you before and after I die
My voice is weak now, and I can't sing a song
But still, my honest heart is equally strong
I walked to Walmart on my night off to make up for the shift I missed
But I coughed and spread germs on the boxes I punched with my fist
I was too sick to be working, and I worked myself to death
I had no energy and couldn't catch my breath
I thought money would save me
That my job was my source
And forgot that even money
It is not the strongest force
Yes, I tried to come to work tonight and do the best I can
But in my pure heart, I knew it wasn't right, and it was not my plan
Maybe the point wasn't how much work I did or how much I earned
It was to be reminded of the lesson I had learned
Money was all I desired
But it only crushed what you inspired
My income was what I believed
Would be the only way to set me free
But when it disappeared
and I lost the path ahead
That's when you came to see me
And I remember the words you said
When we first met, I didn't know you were God
Because you looked extremely odd
You were a horse with a shiny silver horn
But, of course, a unicorn always comes to heal what has been torn
Forgive me for the fact that I forgot
That even the rich will someday rot
That truth always wins in the end
But we will remember the kindness of a friend
I have seen what happens when people value money over life
That's why there is so much murder, theft, hypocrisy, and strife
Life is not about getting what we think we deserve
And if someone wants to be the best, then others they must serve
But not serve those who promise us financial gain
Because their words are deceptive and will only give us pain
They don't actually mean or deliver the things they claim
And when their world crumbles, they always shift the blame
But if I abort myself by chasing a pot of gold
Then I forgot the meaning of the rainbow, as you told
For a second, I forgot, but I remember now
That my life matters just like a horse, chicken, or cow
I can't think straight, and it seems I lost my mind
But you are the one who gives sight to the blind
So give me the eyes to see the inner heart of all
So I do the right thing when you give me the call
And now I know my gift is Something only I can do
Because I can't refrain from speaking the things I learn from you
I will see you even if you take a different form
Because you will come when I need you to save me from the storm
Sometimes faith is hard because the world can be so loud
And what you speak to me is drowned out by the crowd
But I heard you speak to me, and that's enough
To keep me going even when life is rough
You told me to go home because there is writing I must do
To remind myself the experience I had with you
You've done so much for me, but let me ask for one more thing
That you will heal my voice so I can praise you as I sing
And tell others that you will find them both inside and outside of church
And that they will find the answers if they don't give up the search
And to those who can't believe because they are full of doubt
Just like with Thomas, you'll show up, and they'll know what you're about
Some call you Jesus, the light, truth, or the way
But that was not how you showed up to save my day
To me, you are always my unicorn named Honesty
Because I remember your words with every rainbow I see
You said rainbows are made when the light touches my tears
That's why when I see the rainbow, it opens up my ears
And I listen to what my favorite unicorn has to say
Because you speak words to me in a most unusual way
I don't understand exactly what you've planned
And there is still so much I don't understand
But I need your horn of truth to guide me along the way
Because my God is a unicorn, even though it sounds totally gay
\-\-\-
Matthew 6:19: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
\-\-\-
Matthew 19:16 Now someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to gain eternal life?” 17 He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 “Which ones?” he asked. Jesus replied, “Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 20 The young man said to him, “I have wholeheartedly obeyed all these laws. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 But when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he was very rich. 23 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven! 24 Again I say, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God.” 25 The disciples were greatly astonished when they heard this and said, “Then who can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and replied, “This is impossible for mere humans, but for God all things are possible.” 27
\-\-\-
If you read my poem and these Bible verses from the book of Matthew, perhaps you will better understand my commitment to keeping software free and teaching people how to create and share software for the benefit of everyone. You never know, I might just write something that saves someone's life, or enable one of my readers to do greater works than I can, and they may save the lives of many animals (that includes humans BTW).
Perhaps it might interest you to know that the origin of my commitment to free software came one day, as I realized that several versions of the Christian Bible were copyrighted. In some cases, people had to pay royalties or license fees to the copyright owner of specific Bible versions before they were allowed to use them in their books.
It was at that moment that I realized that anyone who claims to say the Bible is God's word but that you have to pay specific humans money in order to use their \*\*\*translation\*\*\* from the Hebrew and Greek, because now that they have translated it, they think they own it.
And as I pondered on that, I realized that for them to make the Bible proprietary by claiming ownership of a translation, yet at the same time claim that it is the word of God, is a contradiction. Clearly, one of these statements is a lie.
In a similar way, how can I claim to be the owner of even the computer code I wrote? Did I invent electricity? Can I own a number and the electrical signals of the bits in a computer that represent that number? Can I own letters of the alphabet, or the punctuation symbols? No, I didn't bring these things into the world, nor can I take them out of it.
\-\-\-
1 Timothy 6:7 For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either. 8 But if we have food and shelter, we will be satisfied with that. 9 Those who long to be rich, however, stumble into temptation and a trap and many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evils. Some people in reaching for it have strayed from the faith and stabbed themselves with many pains. 11 But you, as a person dedicated to God, keep away from all that. Instead pursue righteousness, godliness, faithfulness, love, endurance, and gentleness.
\-\-\-
So you see, Free and Open Source Software is based on the idea that freely we have received, and so we must freely give. Moreover, although hardware is physical in nature and requires money to produce and distribute, software can be copied infinitely from one computer to another without loss in quality. So when you copy software, you are not taking it from anyone because they still have the original.
So to sum it up briefly. Free software matches the teachings of Jesus and is the Christian thing to do.
But beyond that, it also accomplishes for the first time in history a communist system that is classless, stateless, and moneyless. The unlimited nature of bits and bytes of computer software means that people are writing code because they want to, even when they are not getting paid.
Of course, some people do go on to earn lots of money with their technical skills because they were discovered through their famous Open Source Software projects. Look up Linus Torvalds for a great example of this. In fact, this very book, which was written on Linux and uploaded to GitHub to make the website, was only possible because he wrote the original Linux Kernel and the Git version control system.
But of course, money is a means to an end, not an end in itself. That is why my highest priority has been to write my books and my software with the highest quality so that people benefit from them after I am dead. If only earning money were the final goal, then I would be on a very different path instead of being a writer who works at Walmart for their only income.
This chapter is only meant to help people understand where my priorities are. It also perfectly explains why I am dedicated to teaching people things like Chess and Computer programming through my books. In a hundred years, it will be more important to remember what I taught you than to agree on who or what I was. I can only imagine how Jesus must feel the same so much more about his teachings.