Tonight, I begin my entry with absolutely no idea of what I intend to say. Which, for me, is unprecedented.
I simply NEEDED to write something down today.
Maybe I'm feeling a bit "pent-up" lately. It's not hate or anger or aggression or anything malicious that's bothering me, but I can't pinpoint what "it" actually is.
By nature, I am a person who takes on the problems of others, to a fault. Recently I have been so deeply concerned with and involved in other people's problems, that when obstacles of my own loom in front of me, I am overwhelmed.
So how do I balance a natural sense of compassion and a desire to help and teach others while reserving enough energy and judgment to tackle my own personal dilemmas effectively?
Under no circumstance would I want to stifle those instincts to give of my time and consideration to others. It is the most rewarding gift you will ever give yourself to give to someone else.
But, as I have somehow just fully realized, this characteristic can become somewhat of a burden. It's a hard lesson to learn that not all people think of others before themselves.
Well, then. Guess I just needed to vent! Thanks for taking the time :)
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Black and White
The district manager of the company that I work for has said on multiple occasions, "A good manager of people doesn't see in black and white. A good manager can take into account all contributing factors, and process a solution in shades of gray."
I realize that at first, that sounds like the normal "blah, blah, blah" that comes from district managers. But the longer that I worked managing people and helping customers, the more it struck a chord with me. This is a truth in life, not just in retail management.
Millions of people have allowed themselves to be led astray by simply selecting one of the limited choices offered to them by the media, or by society in general.
For instance, take the commonly held conception that you can't believe in God, and believe in "science." Where did this idea originate? And since when is "science" a religion to be subscribed to? Our textbooks and our television programs have told us that each person has a choice to make: believe that the universe is ruled and was created by science, or believe that God is the intelligent Creator and Overseer of all things (which makes you at the same time both radical and parochial). Why aren't people presented with facts, and allowed to process the information, and formulate an opinion? I believe that gravity is real. I believe that when water cools to below 32 degrees fahrenheit, it freezes. Both things that scientists agree with me on. I also believe that God created gravity.
Similarly, if you watch the news, you're surely believing by now that anyone with the tags "Tea Party" or "religious right" attached to him is a closed-minded, illiterate racist with a private store of weapons, just waiting to assassinate the President. And maybe even dumb enough to suggest that God created gravity.
While I can't pretend to know the personal stances of everyone who shares those labels, I assure you that many have been misrepresented. But how do you find out the facts? Well, this is where the shades-of-gray thing comes in. And this is where, as a nation, we are at a disadvantage. The general public has become used to being given a couple of clear choices, and lazily and blindly picking which one they will stand behind. Thus, our brains have fallen asleep. Why evaluate? Why sift through many articles or stories to find the facts and see where someone's views align with your own? Why not just turn on the tube and be spoonfed a beliefs system.
My point after all that is to say that you don't have to simply accept what society tells you are your options! Look at the objective facts and THINK! Use your brain and decide!
I realize that at first, that sounds like the normal "blah, blah, blah" that comes from district managers. But the longer that I worked managing people and helping customers, the more it struck a chord with me. This is a truth in life, not just in retail management.
Millions of people have allowed themselves to be led astray by simply selecting one of the limited choices offered to them by the media, or by society in general.
For instance, take the commonly held conception that you can't believe in God, and believe in "science." Where did this idea originate? And since when is "science" a religion to be subscribed to? Our textbooks and our television programs have told us that each person has a choice to make: believe that the universe is ruled and was created by science, or believe that God is the intelligent Creator and Overseer of all things (which makes you at the same time both radical and parochial). Why aren't people presented with facts, and allowed to process the information, and formulate an opinion? I believe that gravity is real. I believe that when water cools to below 32 degrees fahrenheit, it freezes. Both things that scientists agree with me on. I also believe that God created gravity.
Similarly, if you watch the news, you're surely believing by now that anyone with the tags "Tea Party" or "religious right" attached to him is a closed-minded, illiterate racist with a private store of weapons, just waiting to assassinate the President. And maybe even dumb enough to suggest that God created gravity.
While I can't pretend to know the personal stances of everyone who shares those labels, I assure you that many have been misrepresented. But how do you find out the facts? Well, this is where the shades-of-gray thing comes in. And this is where, as a nation, we are at a disadvantage. The general public has become used to being given a couple of clear choices, and lazily and blindly picking which one they will stand behind. Thus, our brains have fallen asleep. Why evaluate? Why sift through many articles or stories to find the facts and see where someone's views align with your own? Why not just turn on the tube and be spoonfed a beliefs system.
My point after all that is to say that you don't have to simply accept what society tells you are your options! Look at the objective facts and THINK! Use your brain and decide!
Monday, May 16, 2011
So Help Me God
The Supreme Court today declined to hear a case made against President Obama by one Michael Newdow.
Now, I would venture to say that I disagree with the President on roughly 75% of the things he says and does. (The "God bless America"s and "This country will stand strong"s and "We stand proudly behind our men and women in uniform"s have to make up at least 25%, and it would simply be un-American to disagree with those things.)
But this suit was ridiculous. Mr. Newdow claimed that the President's choice to use the words "so help me God" in taking the oath of office had infringed on his personal rights. He said it was "religion in government."
There are many reasons the plaintiff's case would not have been successful, not the least of which is that modern Presidents have always chosen whether or not to add the phrase If they were chosing, then it wasn't mandatory; and if it wasn't mandatory, it can't be "religion in government."
My question to Mr. Newdow is:
Are you freaking serious?
You really think that it is a wise use of our wildly huge government's time and money to challenge something that harmed no one? And how dare you presume that everyone is as intolerant as you are? I mean, really.
You don't believe in God. That differs greatly with my view, that God is an omniscient and omnipotent Creator of all things. I have to drive around behind you and look at your bumper stickers about coexistence, and religion being "the opiate of the masses;" I have to look at that fish with the feet that says "Darwin." I find these things greatly offensive. Do I get to sue you? When you are openly mocking what I believe in, even the Object of my belief, do I get to waste other people's time to let you know publicly how you've "infringed on my rights?" May I bash the back of your car in?
No.
And why not? Because I'm an ADULT. I realize that nowhere in the Constitution of the United States of America am I promised a life free of hurt feelings. How did we get so litigious that it became acceptable to waste the government's (borrowed) money to cry about our little feelings?
My opinionated view on the subject is this:
GET A GRIP! Stop wasting our time!
Now, I would venture to say that I disagree with the President on roughly 75% of the things he says and does. (The "God bless America"s and "This country will stand strong"s and "We stand proudly behind our men and women in uniform"s have to make up at least 25%, and it would simply be un-American to disagree with those things.)
But this suit was ridiculous. Mr. Newdow claimed that the President's choice to use the words "so help me God" in taking the oath of office had infringed on his personal rights. He said it was "religion in government."
There are many reasons the plaintiff's case would not have been successful, not the least of which is that modern Presidents have always chosen whether or not to add the phrase If they were chosing, then it wasn't mandatory; and if it wasn't mandatory, it can't be "religion in government."
My question to Mr. Newdow is:
Are you freaking serious?
You really think that it is a wise use of our wildly huge government's time and money to challenge something that harmed no one? And how dare you presume that everyone is as intolerant as you are? I mean, really.
You don't believe in God. That differs greatly with my view, that God is an omniscient and omnipotent Creator of all things. I have to drive around behind you and look at your bumper stickers about coexistence, and religion being "the opiate of the masses;" I have to look at that fish with the feet that says "Darwin." I find these things greatly offensive. Do I get to sue you? When you are openly mocking what I believe in, even the Object of my belief, do I get to waste other people's time to let you know publicly how you've "infringed on my rights?" May I bash the back of your car in?
No.
And why not? Because I'm an ADULT. I realize that nowhere in the Constitution of the United States of America am I promised a life free of hurt feelings. How did we get so litigious that it became acceptable to waste the government's (borrowed) money to cry about our little feelings?
My opinionated view on the subject is this:
GET A GRIP! Stop wasting our time!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tolkien Love
"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater." -spoken by Haldir in Lothlorien, Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
Oh, how I love the Lord of the Rings.
It is the most awesome book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Sure, there are places where you feel like you are slogging through the mud, weighed down by page after page of minute detail, or invented genealogies or mythologies. It can take patience to make it through the Council of Elrond, where the entwined histories of several characters are laid out; or chapters and chapters of Sam and Frodo trudging across the blackened earth of Mordor with no action, only endless dialogue.
But these are the things that make LOTR the amazing work of literature that it is, and definitely worth "slogging" for.
How could you ever appreciate the innate quiet strength and loyalty of hobbits without witnessing their journey, a journey that could not have been completed by even the most sturdy and honorable of men?
How could you understand the wisdom of the elves, or their love for all growing things, without understanding their way of life, without seeing their sorrow at the darkness creeping over Middle Earth?
(Disclaimer--I am not one of the crazies who believe that these characters are real. I know elves don't really exist.)
The point of all this rambling is to say this: Tolkien was a genius writer, unparalleled among today's authors.
The characters in his stories are so absolutely well-defined that you cannot help but to sympathise with them, or hate them, or be in awe of them, or whatever it is that Tolkien meant for you to feel about them.
Take Boromir, for example. If you have watched the LOTR movies that came out a few years ago, you probably aren't a big fan. He tried to take the ring. He was greedy for it to help his own country. But in the book, it is easy to love him, and recognize him as a valiant warrior from a great land who succumbed to the evil power of the ring. There is no way to portray the depth of detail Tolkien intended in a mere four-hour movie.
Contemporary literature can't hold a candle to the dedication and craftsmanship of Tolkien. Though there are works of modern lit that I enjoy, I always go back to good old Lord of the Rings.
I can sense this post becoming way too long, so I will wrap up by saying, "READ IT!" It really is awesome. As a matter of fact, I believe I can fairly say that it is EPIC. :)
Oh, how I love the Lord of the Rings.
It is the most awesome book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Sure, there are places where you feel like you are slogging through the mud, weighed down by page after page of minute detail, or invented genealogies or mythologies. It can take patience to make it through the Council of Elrond, where the entwined histories of several characters are laid out; or chapters and chapters of Sam and Frodo trudging across the blackened earth of Mordor with no action, only endless dialogue.
But these are the things that make LOTR the amazing work of literature that it is, and definitely worth "slogging" for.
How could you ever appreciate the innate quiet strength and loyalty of hobbits without witnessing their journey, a journey that could not have been completed by even the most sturdy and honorable of men?
How could you understand the wisdom of the elves, or their love for all growing things, without understanding their way of life, without seeing their sorrow at the darkness creeping over Middle Earth?
(Disclaimer--I am not one of the crazies who believe that these characters are real. I know elves don't really exist.)
The point of all this rambling is to say this: Tolkien was a genius writer, unparalleled among today's authors.
The characters in his stories are so absolutely well-defined that you cannot help but to sympathise with them, or hate them, or be in awe of them, or whatever it is that Tolkien meant for you to feel about them.
Take Boromir, for example. If you have watched the LOTR movies that came out a few years ago, you probably aren't a big fan. He tried to take the ring. He was greedy for it to help his own country. But in the book, it is easy to love him, and recognize him as a valiant warrior from a great land who succumbed to the evil power of the ring. There is no way to portray the depth of detail Tolkien intended in a mere four-hour movie.
Contemporary literature can't hold a candle to the dedication and craftsmanship of Tolkien. Though there are works of modern lit that I enjoy, I always go back to good old Lord of the Rings.
I can sense this post becoming way too long, so I will wrap up by saying, "READ IT!" It really is awesome. As a matter of fact, I believe I can fairly say that it is EPIC. :)
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Power of Words
"Ah, not in knowledge is happiness, but in the acquisition of knowledge! In forever knowing, we are forever blessed; but to know all, were the curse of a fiend." -Edgar Allan Poe, "The Power of Words"
Many people who know me well may call me "nosy." I have an insatiable curiosity about most things, and ask question after question of people I come in contact with. Why does this have to be a bad thing? It just seems that the more I find out, the more questions I have. Is that so wrong?
Since leaving college in 2002, I have begun to miss the action of "learning." Our brains are amazing gifts that God has given us. Why not capitalize on that and FILL THEM!? Ask questions. Read books. Wear out that Google bar. Be happy in "the acquisition of knowledge!"
Many people who know me well may call me "nosy." I have an insatiable curiosity about most things, and ask question after question of people I come in contact with. Why does this have to be a bad thing? It just seems that the more I find out, the more questions I have. Is that so wrong?
Since leaving college in 2002, I have begun to miss the action of "learning." Our brains are amazing gifts that God has given us. Why not capitalize on that and FILL THEM!? Ask questions. Read books. Wear out that Google bar. Be happy in "the acquisition of knowledge!"
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