Free will.

How do we work around or within the depravity of the world we live in without getting sucked in to it? I don’t think we can blame it on society. I think pretty much all societies at work in the world today (and probably throughout history) have contained both good and bad people and tendencies. America is no different from cold war Russia or Elizabethan England or early Israel. Evil isn’t just reserved for Al Qaeda or the “Muslim” nations, nor do I think good and beauty is just reserved for missionaries or the “Christian” nations. Good or bad can’t be blamed on society. It’s more a matter of mankind. We’re really all the same at heart. Some of us just spend more time acting out our goodness, and some spend more time acting out our darkness. Society comes into play in the choice between the two. In an “everybody’s doing it” culture, it can be really difficult to go against the flow even when you know it’s the right thing to do. Much easier to get carried along by the tide than swim upriver.

Sometimes I swim really well, but inevitably I get tired or lazy at some point and don’t necessarily choose to go with the tide, but I just float – and get carried in the wrong direction. It’s easy to blame my backward progress on the current, but really my lack of effort is the true culprit.

Success?

Who defines it? Are we allowed to define our own? Or is it defined for us? And what is the connection (if any) between success and happiness? Does success have anything to do with meaning? Purpose?

All good questions that I don’t have answers to. Maybe if I did I could “become” successful selling those answers to other people. I put the word “become” in quotes because I don’t know if you can “become” successful. Is it something you just are? Or is it something you work towards? And related to that – can you lose your “successfulness”? Or just the trappings of success?

Culture.

Here in America we seem to think that culture means being educated, but what we really mean is being a snob. If you’re a wine snob, a sushi snob, a clothing snob, an art snob – whatever your particular brand of snobbishness, you must be cultured. But having culture isn’t going to the opera or being a gold-level member at an art museum. It’s understanding the world, having a clue as to what else is out there. It’s being able to see and appreciate all the good and beautiful things that make up mankind and our world. To truly have culture you have to relate to more than the socio-economic position you find yourself in. Culture is bigger than your city, state, country, race. In fact, if you can’t, haven’t, or aren’t willing to look outside of your race, you have no concept of culture.

We like to kid ourselves that we’ve got it all figured out here in the good ol’ US of A. We’re obviously right, how else could we be so successful and powerful? Why can’t everybody else just do it our way so we can all get along?

What an immature and closed minded worldview that is. Unfortunately for us, it’s one that is shared by many, maybe even most, of our leading politicians.

How can we be so egotistical to think that we’re always right?

Or are we really just too insecure to admit that we don’t know everything?

Why isn’t it ok to not have all the answers?

Why are we more eager to resort to violence than truly listen to someone else’s point of view?

I think one of the best things Americans can do for their country is leave it. Make the investment to see the world. Do it on your own, not some cheesy guided tour. Talk to people. You will be changed. Then come back and use your new-found enlightenment, your culture, to make a difference here.

"Deep Thoughts"

“If you're in a war, instead of throwing a hand grenade at the enemy, throw one of those small pumpkins. Maybe it'll make everyone think how stupid war is, and while they are thinking, you can throw a real grenade at them.” - Jack Handy

Common.

Definition - Shared; joint; belonging equally to; united.

The basis of the word community.

Community is who we are, how we’re supposed to be. It’s not about overcoming our differences; it’s about realizing that at our cores, we are all the same. Common. Not in the sense of average or less than superb, but as defined above – shared, united, belonging equally.

I chose the picture for this post purposefully. This man would be (is) certainly labeled common by society. I would call him common too. But for very different reasons. He is common with me. His name is Modesto, I worked with him last summer. He lives in a house with neighbors close by, he works hard, loves his family and does his best with what he has. Me too. I love how dirty his hands are. I wish mine were that dirty right now.

He may live in Mexico, myself in middle-America, and we may barely be able to communicate since we speak different languages, but Modesto and I are common.

I’m tired of people trying to segregate humanity. Our differences aren’t what are important. Our commonness is.

Leaving.

I’m beginning to understand that change- even change for the good – involves sacrifice. Something has to be given up, left behind, in order for something else to be able to take its place. I think it’s that sacrifice that makes change so hard. I can be pretty territorial. I like to protect what’s mine, especially when I like what’s mine. I don’t want God or anybody else trying to take it away from me.

I usually learn the hard way.

Life isn’t about stuff. But I’m not even just talking about physical stuff here. Relationships, people, jobs, pride, our sense of self – all things that may have to be sacrificed in the name of change.

Change can demand a high price, and we pay it or become stagnant. There is no in-between.

Change.

It’s cold today. 12 degrees with a wind chill of -1. A couple days ago I was out on my bike enjoying the 50 degree temps…

Life is a state of constant transformation. If you think hard enough, it’s hard to find anything that actually isn’t in a state of continual change. Everything is in a state of growth or decay. It seems some things never change, but the reality is they just change so slowly you don’t notice.

So how do you make sense out of a life with no apparent constants? I guess routines – we humans are creatures of habit. We like things to stay the same, even though they never do. But we do our best to hold on to them or control them because change doesn’t come easily.

The thing is, change is like exercise for our brain. It’s healthy, it’s normal, it’s how God made this world.

Resisting it leads to complacency. Embracing it leads to contentment.

Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes things are good and I want them to stay like they are. Sometimes things aren’t that good, but staying that way still seems easier than the effort it takes to alter them.

It’s Jan. 2nd and not only is a new year dawning, I think a new season of my life is dawning. It’s time to change. I feel it coming and I’m doing my best to be ready for it. It’s kind of like getting to the top of the first big hill on a roller coaster. You’re pretty sure you’re in for a fun ride, but your stomach is still knotted in fear as you look at the twists and drops in the track ahead.