Saturday, July 11, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Shawn
I've been on a Shawn Mcdonald kick today. Man I love this guy's story and music. The interview in the vid below is a lil cheesy at times but I thought it was cool. I tend to try and look at art from the perspective of its artist. I find that knowledge about the artist often explains the artwork and changes the way I view it. The same goes for the creator of the universe.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Not For Sale
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
-Edmund Burke
Identity. Countries, cities, generations, races, schools, businesses, ages, genders, presidents, individuals all have identities. Some parts of an identity are assigned, some parts are assumed, and some parts are fought for, but all three create for us an identity. For centuries people have fought for their identity, even before they had one. America fought for its own identity separate from Britain much like a teenager fights for their identity apart from their parents. My generation, my parents' generation, and my grandparents' generation all have different identities. Make us all the same age, give us the same clothes, put us in a room together and you'll still be able to tell us apart from the choices we make to the way we spend our money. Identity. I wonder what identity the human race has. We're born into an existing one. What have we accepted as part of our identity? Is there anything we've rejected? Is there anything we fight to lose? To gain?
27 million people of our living human race are currently enslaved around the world. Atlanta, the city in which I was born, happens to hold the highest amount of human sex trafficking in the United States of America, aka the "land of the free." As an Atlantan, that's not an identity I want to have. For some reason, it's easy to accept shortcomings as part of an identity. But there's a funny thing about identity, it can be changed. It can be fought for. Just ask America or Saul. If who you are isn't who you want to be, then do something.
I am not naturally outgoing, but sometimes I must fight to be. I am not naturally exceptionally musical, but because of my passion for it, I must fight to be (fight being the key word). The human race is not free, but we must fight to be.
When you see 12-17 year olds selling themselves downtown on a corner, they aren't prostitutes, they're slaves.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ invisiblechildren.com
-Edmund Burke
Identity. Countries, cities, generations, races, schools, businesses, ages, genders, presidents, individuals all have identities. Some parts of an identity are assigned, some parts are assumed, and some parts are fought for, but all three create for us an identity. For centuries people have fought for their identity, even before they had one. America fought for its own identity separate from Britain much like a teenager fights for their identity apart from their parents. My generation, my parents' generation, and my grandparents' generation all have different identities. Make us all the same age, give us the same clothes, put us in a room together and you'll still be able to tell us apart from the choices we make to the way we spend our money. Identity. I wonder what identity the human race has. We're born into an existing one. What have we accepted as part of our identity? Is there anything we've rejected? Is there anything we fight to lose? To gain?
27 million people of our living human race are currently enslaved around the world. Atlanta, the city in which I was born, happens to hold the highest amount of human sex trafficking in the United States of America, aka the "land of the free." As an Atlantan, that's not an identity I want to have. For some reason, it's easy to accept shortcomings as part of an identity. But there's a funny thing about identity, it can be changed. It can be fought for. Just ask America or Saul. If who you are isn't who you want to be, then do something.
I am not naturally outgoing, but sometimes I must fight to be. I am not naturally exceptionally musical, but because of my passion for it, I must fight to be (fight being the key word). The human race is not free, but we must fight to be.
When you see 12-17 year olds selling themselves downtown on a corner, they aren't prostitutes, they're slaves.
http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ invisiblechildren.com
Friday, April 10, 2009
The Doc
2 Corinthians 1
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
As a kid, I hated getting shots more than anything in the world. I didn't understand them. I couldn't comprehend the necessity of such a painful experience. I remember this one time, I tried to bargain with the nurse who was going to give me a shot. I told her if she didn't vaccinate me (i had a bigger vocab then), I would gladly go home, find a stick in my backyard, and poke myself with it as a substitute. Man, my childish little mind just didn't understand how thankful I'd be for those shots (not the pain) later in life. Funny how our minds work. The familiarity of this situation dawned on me the other day. Imagine this, you're a child with a father whom you love and trust. He leads you to the car and you follow. He takes you to an unfamiliar place. The doctor pulls out a needle and you get nervous. All this time your father knows the pain that lies ahead, for both of you, and he knows it's necessary. The needle pierces your skin. You cry out in pain. Maybe you even take a few verbal strikes at your father for leading you to such an awful place. And he, lovingly, takes them because he knows the medicene in the shot, not your pain, is necessary. And he knows that oneday you'll understand in full. Oneday you'll thank him. But even though it is necessary, he does not enjoy watching you suffer. And even though it hurts him to watch, he does not leave the room. He's right beside you, letting you grip his hand as hard as you can throughout the pain. I don't think it's God's intention for us to suffer, it's just the effects of imperfection and the process of correction. Sometimes the things that cause us to suffer are necessary even when the pain isn't. Whatever you've been through, are going through, or will go through, know that you can reach out to God's hand and it will be there.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
As a kid, I hated getting shots more than anything in the world. I didn't understand them. I couldn't comprehend the necessity of such a painful experience. I remember this one time, I tried to bargain with the nurse who was going to give me a shot. I told her if she didn't vaccinate me (i had a bigger vocab then), I would gladly go home, find a stick in my backyard, and poke myself with it as a substitute. Man, my childish little mind just didn't understand how thankful I'd be for those shots (not the pain) later in life. Funny how our minds work. The familiarity of this situation dawned on me the other day. Imagine this, you're a child with a father whom you love and trust. He leads you to the car and you follow. He takes you to an unfamiliar place. The doctor pulls out a needle and you get nervous. All this time your father knows the pain that lies ahead, for both of you, and he knows it's necessary. The needle pierces your skin. You cry out in pain. Maybe you even take a few verbal strikes at your father for leading you to such an awful place. And he, lovingly, takes them because he knows the medicene in the shot, not your pain, is necessary. And he knows that oneday you'll understand in full. Oneday you'll thank him. But even though it is necessary, he does not enjoy watching you suffer. And even though it hurts him to watch, he does not leave the room. He's right beside you, letting you grip his hand as hard as you can throughout the pain. I don't think it's God's intention for us to suffer, it's just the effects of imperfection and the process of correction. Sometimes the things that cause us to suffer are necessary even when the pain isn't. Whatever you've been through, are going through, or will go through, know that you can reach out to God's hand and it will be there.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
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