Who's Responsible?

I just found this written on a paper by my wife's hand:

"Last January we experienced some faulty electrical problems that resulted in frying a bunch of our hard earned appliances. It took us years to accumulate these things. Our 65" television, home theater, Wii, karaoke player, printer, oven, dryer, microwave, and our son's X-Box. We had insurance for the X-Box, but why? I didn't expect things that I already paid for to break within a couple years. My husband Leif is a wanna be Mr. Fix-it. He takes pride messing around with broken stuff, and it makes him happy when he sees the "Junkpot." Haha! I love the smile on his face. He initially tried to fix our dryer. He took it apart trying to find out what was wrong with it. And it was a simple fix. However, come to find out, its extremely hard to find the parts. Worse yet, it was cheaper to buy a new dryer than to fix our old one! Well, my husband doesn't surrender easily, so he took apart our television and home theater also. But it was the same heartache. THIS IS NOT RIGHT!!! Why? Who is responsible? WASTE! Landfills, toxic waste, environmental harm, air pollution, chemical spills, irresponsible manufacturing. We want a green earth, and yet we don't even know what frugal characteristics are! It leads to empty bank accounts. More work and less time for family and friends. There's no place in the world for a DIY guy anymore."

Lost In The Haze.

A lot of people that I know would call me an antique. I enjoy vintage items, old styles, and music that isn't really popular anymore. Plenty of jokes are perpetuated around my preferences, but I'd like to try and explain (at least to a degree) why I gravitate towards such things and styles. In our world today, we want the newest and coolest gizmo, the shiniest car, and the phone with an electric mirror in it (haha). The only problem with this mindset, in my opinion, is that while we continue to want more and more new products, the things that are already in our possession become neglected. In essence, we become so enthralled with whats next that we don't cherish what we've been blessed with already. The Bible says that the eyes of man are a bottomless pit. What that means to me is that no matter how much we accumulate, we'll never be satisfied with it. There will always be a covetousness for more. What I see in today's products is that they're not made to last anymore. And why should they be? Most people are going to throw everything away in a couple years anyway. But while this is the popular mindset these days, I don't agree with it. Not to say that I don't find new and cool things... cool, but that I try and understand that these things cannot bring me joy. And by living a life with that thought in mind, its possible to be content with what I have, and even enjoy what other people have thrown out. Heck, if a VHS tape was good enough for people to watch a movie on 15 years ago, why shouldn't it be good enough for me? I understand that I don't "deserve" the best. In reality, I don't have any "rights," and everything that has been a blessing in my life from my lovely wife to the fillings in my teeth from eating too much candy is simply by the grace of God. Instead of fumbling my way through the haze of what is next, I'll be not only content, but satiated finding treasure in what others would consider trash.

What Captures Our Hearts.

When I was in high school, I remember playing an NES game entitled "Astyanax." A great video game if I do say so myself. The plot is about a boy in high school that is summoned by a fairy to rescue a princess in a parallel dimension. The character is equipped with a sword, shield and a suit of armour to aid him in his quest to rescue the princess. Throughout the various levels of the game, the player is presented clips to view that tell the story of whats happening in the game more in depth. The dark lord is hell bent on destroying Astyanax (the character) and will stop at nothing to thwart his attempts. But the princess continues to beckon Astyanax! If you complete the game, the last clip shows the princess thanking Astyanax for saving her, and she sends him back to his own dimension. Of course, the first time I played this game, I was expecting Astyanax to marry the princess and stay in the parallel dimension with her. But just as I was about to turn off the game and cry myself to sleep, the clip shows the fairy enter Astyanax's dimension in human form and stay with him! This made me feel so happy that I could have jumped through the roof of my house! I didn't want to turn off the video game after watching that, and I actually didn't for about 20 minutes after. When I finally did turn it off, I felt a hole that made me want to curl up and die. Why couldn't this happen to me? I wanted to be summoned by a fairy, rescue a princess, then return to my own dimension with spoil! But it never happened. My point of writing all this is... this: Don't let wild fantasies capture your heart. Its not worth your energies, and all you'll get in the end is a handful of nothing. Games are nice, but they're not worth living for. Never forget who you are, and keep your feet on the ground. Blessings come from trusting in God, and hard work. See ya!

How Perpetuating Rasism Is Done.

I just read a Yahoo news article about some racist hate crimes being committed in San Diego, California. Its really horrible that these things are still going on in our country today, but are we really doing the right things to move past them, or are we actually fueling the fire? I once read a theory on how to overcome (seemingly) impossible problems in one's life. Supposedly, the reason that so many people fail to overcome problems (i.e. addictions, bad mind sets, etc.) is that a human being cannot just take something out of their life and call it a day. A hole is left in its place, and if its not filled with something else, the behaviours that the person had been trying to overcome would fill that hole right back up. The writer asserted that to effectively overcome a problem isn't by "fighting" against it, but by focusing the energies that were used to perpetuate the problem on something else (preferably more positive). To give an illustration, say a person is addicted to alcohol. Instead of "fighting" the urge to take a drink, the person should simply throw out all alcohol and buy mass quantities of chocolate milk, and drink some every time he or she craved alcohol. In essence, its a total elimination of the temptation altogether by simply keeping the same habit, but changing subjects. So what does all this have to do with racism? Horrible crimes have been committed in the past regarding race. And by what I've read today, they're still happening. But these are just the outward manifestations of what has already been brewing. All plants have a root system. I once heard a stand up comedian tell this joke, "When you walk down the street, black folks raise their head, look down at you and frown. White folks lower their head, look up at you and smile." Everyone broke out in laughter. This is just one of many "jokes" that I've heard that have been totally accepted by the public at large. However, I believe that these seemingly small deals are what keeps the ball rolling concerning racism. What is a "white" or "black" or "brown" folk? They're people. All of us are the same. As long as we keep the idea that races are what designate us from other kinds of people, racism is still alive and kicking. I strongly believe that to overcome racism, we need to focus on something else, and just forget about "races" altogether. We're people, that's it. And every last one of us is unique.

Cynisism or Realism?

There was a movie released a few years ago entitled "About Schmidt." Its about some guy that retires from working in an office all his life. Hes worked hard all his life for his retirement, and he finally gets to enjoy his retirement life with his wife of 30 years (or something like that). However, the first week of his retirement, his wife dies and he realizes that he has to go on for the rest of his life without her. A couple of days later, he gets a card in the mail about supporting some starving orphan in a third world country. So out of his desperation, he responds to the ad and starts writing a boy named Ndugu. Throughout the movie he tries to find meaning to his life through traveling to different places and visiting his family members. To make a long story short, he doesn't find meaning. There is no meaning to his life. He worked all his life for an empty promise. The great retirement that he'd been looking forward to all those long years turned out to be worse than any reality he could have imagined. This movie really hit home base with me. I love meeting different people, and seeing what they're like. I love to learn from them. When I tell various people that I'm in the Navy, they tell me that I should definitely stay in for 20 years and reap the wonderful benefits of retirement life. How wonderful, they say, it would be to have the government take care of all my needs for the rest of my life. I just smile and say that I'm still thinking about it. Of course, I don't want to offend. But, you see, reality has a funny way of sobering up dreams of grandeur. Lets say that a perfect retirement did work out. I would retire at age 41. And if I actually lived to be 120 years old (perfect world right?), that would give me 79 wonderful years of retirement checks to reap. Then what? How fast time really flies. I can remember before I could walk being pushed in the stroller by my Grandpa. It seems like yesterday. Time flies so much faster than we would like to imagine. But lets even forget about the limitations of time. Lets say I had 1000 years of retirement. It wouldn't give me meaning. In my experience, every time I solve one problem, there are multiple more waiting for me. I used to work part time at an upper class retirement home. Very prestigious, well to do people lived there. I knew one guy that used to be a rocket scientist for NASA in the 1960s. He worked on the first rockets to go to the moon! I knew another lady whose husband used to be Secret Service for 40 years of Presidents. If ever I could find someone to show me what real retirement living was like, it would surely be these people. But they didn't have the answer. If you've ever been to a retirement home, I'm sure you've noticed people in their worst conditions. Depression is rampant. Embarrassment is commonplace. Prestige is forgotten. My point: Retirement life is a lie. You retire when you're dead, and no sooner. There will always be pain. There will always be impossible difficulties to face. There is no rest in this life. There's a book in the Bible entitled Lamentations. It was written about 5000 years ago by a guy named Solomon. The book is all about how futile this life really is. No matter what great accomplishments we achieve, it means nothing. We will die, and we will be forgotten by this world. No matter what we try to do, this life holds nothing for us. And I think that all people, if they're honest with themselves, will find this to be true. I plan on going into greater detail with this subject in a future post, but for now I'll leave you with this thought: The only life worth living is one that is given completely to others. No vain glory. No self seeking. And here's the kicker: Its impossible to do. See ya.

The Butterfly Effect.

Self discipline is a funny thing. While its mostly thought of as a situation by situation choice, I believe that its an all encompassing life style choice. There's an old Chinese theory called the Butterfly Effect (Hollywood actually made a movie about it). It generally states that the flapping of a butterfly's wings on one side of the world makes a difference on the other side (there's a lot more to it, but we'll leave it at that for this blog entry). That being said, it would stand to prove that all things are interconnected. Lets take this huge theory down a few notches and apply it to our lives, namely concerning self discipline. While we all go through our peaks and valleys in life, some experience them more than others. Regardless of what level roller coaster we ride, I believe that we can maintain more of an even keel and see goals (or whatever else) reach their end without hesitation. How this is accomplished is by applying self discipline to every area of our lives. To take an instance of how this is to be understood, brushing our teeth 2 to 3 times every day (depending on your preference) makes a difference when going to work every day. Stated simply, if we can be disciplined in the small matters, then the big matters won't be quite as enormous as we once thought them. Understanding that every action, thought, deed and word has bearing on who we are and what we shall accomplish is a sobering thought. Nonetheless, I believe that as each of us understands this and applies it, a life of dreary defeats and depression can turn into a life of victory and optimism.

Why Do We Do What We Do?

I've recently took up listening to Country and Western music. In the past I've always shied away from it because I thought that it was cheesy and lacked the intricacies that other genres contained. Essentially, I chocked it up as a waste of my time. However, I'm learning more about myself and the world around me. In the past, I've never really felt a conviction towards the types of music that I play for a living. Not to say that I don't enjoy the music I play, but just that it doesn't have a deepness to it. You must understand that this realization has been hard for me to confront, but I'm trying to be more and more truthful with myself, and I'd like to have convictions for all the endeavors I undergo. In my limited experience, Country music contains something that most others don't: Life experiences. When I listen to the stories told be these musicians (older recordings mostly), I find that they pour their hearts out beyond anything that most people would be comfortable doing (especially men). Albeit, most the songs that I've listened to don't have screaming trumpet lines, or crazy guitar solos, but these songs contain (in my opinion) the essence of what music should be. I've realised that with music (not just Country and Western), one can really tell how they feel. It doesn't have to be about releases of notes, or intonation, or even how many beats per measure. True music (as I'm coming to realise) is a spiritual connection that transcends anything that any person can Analise or write down. Its a way to tell your story, even if nobody listens. If you were to ask me what the purpose of music was... I don't think that I could tell you at this point (there just might be too many purposes). But I do know that true music should always be motivated by our life experiences, and it should tell our story... even if the song wasn't written by us. We may all be human, but music can make us individuals.