Wed 3 June 2009

My Prayer: Kill the Representative

Trying to understand myself and those I come into contact with on a daily basis, is not only exhausting, but it also has the ability to throw me into depression. The problem with that is that I assume and expect that they want to know me as well. It seems to me that when people around me do not act or react the way that I would, I am disappointed. For example, if I spend much of my time going out of my way for someone, I am honestly fall into depression when they fail to do the same when I need them. What this has done for me is helped me realize that I cannot rely on “man”, I can only rely on my Lord God. I am the kind of person that really wants to get to know people. I do not particularly enjoy meeting peoples “representatives”, although I can't say I don't have one of my own. When you first meet people are not faced with who they really are, you are faced with their representative, someone presenting an impression that represents their best interest. Their representative has a fiduciary responsibility to laugh at all the right jokes and inlay intelligent thoughts or quips when speaking. In the early days of business you are also constantly having to demonstrate and express your success, you have to boast about your accomplishments. Unfortunately there are some environments (like business) that this representative is needed because our real selves might scare people off and/or might make business a little to personal. There are proper mannerisms and proper tones for certain environments. Some people might feel bothered by the idea of that, they might even call it “acting”, in an attempt to demean the act of representing a positive reflection of oneself and shifting so that the light reflects as bright as it can. I think that accepting this common fact of our society (in moderation) will probably project you towards greater success than living the life with wind in your hair, the life of a rebel. The reason I bring this is up is because there is one environment that I can't help but feel bothered by this “look good and let the representative shine” perspective; this place is church. I'll admit, I've fallen into it, I've “acted” even among a group of people that do not need an act (even though they might foolishly crave it from time to time). We don't go to church to be recognized for our name, our face, our smiles or our voice. Church is not a religious function, church is a faithful worship of our creator along side our brothers and sisters. I would prefer others who come letting their scars, their healed wounds, their crooked smiles and their real personalities project their hearts. Hearts that are not just dung rolled in gold dust, which are only beautiful from the outside. My prayer for today is that God cleans me from the inside out and that he allows me to drop my guard in front of my fellow brothers and sister, only offering who I really am.

full blog | comments (0)

Sat 20 December 2008

It's me to blame...

It’s interesting to me that we are all commonly wrong and yet we commonly act like we are always right.

One perspective towards difficult choices and difficult times would say that getting wrapped up and passionate about our day to day is a waste of time and blood pressure, because some day we are going to die and go to heaven and none of this will matter. The other side of the perspective would say that a failure to aggressively react and the lack of passion is cowardice and takes away from the joys of life.

Now, we’ve all heard the saying “there is balance to everything”; strangely enough, there is a real reason that people say this.

Here is what I would say. The passion and beauty of life is commonly over looked, expressed emotion and care does not happen enough, calm and reflective minds that are controlled and which present thoughts respectfully are invaluable and aggression can be a powerful and progressive tool towards success but cannot stand alone.

When I sit back and reflect on those things which I was so one side about and sure about earlier in my day, I often find that I was being short sighted, short tempered and almost always selfish. I would imagine I’m not the only one with that problem.

full blog | comments (3)

Sun 2 November 2008

Captial Punishment (My Opinion)

This was an assignment in one of my college courses that I thought I'd share...

Since the colonial times, around 13,000 people have been executed in the United States (http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut3.htm). Capital punishment has always carried a very trivial roll for many and I believe the key reason to this is the conflict many of us have in our minds while reviewing the subject. It is easy to accept that if someone else causes us harm that we should return the favor. If the favor is returned our taxes stop going towards paying the keeping these criminals alive. When I imagine the anger and pain that would be associated with losing someone that I loved by way of homicide I can understand why so many people feel this way. Truthfully I've never really given this subject the thought it deserves until now and I always supported capitol punishment (by any means necessary) up until I applied a little critical thinking. The article reviewed as titled “Florida Mulls Lethal-Injection Problems” would not have made me bat a single eye in my past (even as of yesterday), I would have smiled and maybe even laughed at the pain that this murderer endured due to a botched lethal injection. As a man, I feel both empowered and obligated to protect my family. The word family could be perceived by many people to be a group of people that you care for deeply. Many care deeply for our nation or even just for humanity in general and so their passion rages defensively towards those who commit homicide; and in truth, so does mine. “Public approval of the death penalty is currently about 70%” (http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut3.htm).

One simple fact that has always remained to be true in my life is that those feelings that come natural to me, are usually not the feelings that I want and certainly are not the feelings I need to base my life choices off of. Before I began to recognize this, I cannot recall a time that I had a reaction in its purest form that would ultimately lead me to the correct decision. We as people are most comfortable in our selfness. I have tried to analyze the reasons that our society either gives a thumbs up or a thumbs down and I cannot help but continually return to a single perspective that governs the thumb; the value of the soul.

As a Christian I believe that our souls remain in either heaven or hell upon the death of our earthly bodies. It is at the core of my faith to care for and love humanity; I am both passionate about and feel called to bring as many people with me to heaven as I can. If I was to give anyone a thumbs down, I would be giving up on my faith and love for humanity because I would be declaring that there was no hope for someone when there is hope for everyone through the power of my God.

There are many religions, ethics and creeds that have assigned value to a persons soul and this seems to be the heart of the thumbs up. In a discussion question taking place in another class of mine my instructor asked what I felt the difference was between opinion and belief. My response was, “If a belief was just an opinion I wouldn't die for it, if I wouldn't die for it I certainly wouldn't live of it, and if I wouldn't live for it there wouldn't be a belief to have an “opinion” about.” I believe that there is hope for everyone.

http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1270462901&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=2606&RQT=309&VName=PQD

full blog | comments (0)