Buddhist's way of thinking about the beginning and the end

I got this from an email subscription to [atheism]. Good point. Why are we so obsessed in knowing the beginning when we have more immediate problems to solve?

"... a man called Malunkyaputta approached the Buddha and demanded that the Buddha explain the origin of the universe before he would become a disciple of the Buddha. Then the Buddha said that he would not go into a discussion of the origin of the Universe. To him, gaining knowledge about such matters was a waste of time because a man's immediate problem was his own suffering and his task was to liberate himself from the present state of affairs. To illustrate this, the Buddha related the parable of a man who was shot by a poisoned arrow. This foolish man refused to have the arrow removed until he was told who shot the arrow, what he looks like, the kind of wood the arrow was made of and so on. The Buddha said that before the man could learn such information, he would be dead. Similarly, our immediate task is to be enlightened, not to speculate about the metaphysical."

I deny the existence of a creator god simply because "god" is only a placebo. If god created the Universe, who created god?

I reject a personal god because it is simply too elegant to suggest any god would disrupt the rules and laws governing the universe to answer my prayer.

I despite evangelists/preachers because either they are stupid as to believe in a god or if they know there is no god, they are hypocrite in spreading a false hope for their own benefit.

I admire scientists whose pain-taking hard work, repeated testing and verification, relentless search for objective truths, find cures to many human sufferings.

I envy artists who skillfully show us the beauty and glory of life, celebrate our good luck to be at this time and at this place.

Let us be good for goodness sake and enjoy life while we can.