Take heart

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

*****

It is hard for me to watch the news these days.

Articles like this dash my hopes in the economy.
Reports like this taint my trust in world leaders.
Stories like this shake my faith in my fellow man.

And before long, heart sinking and mind whirling, I find myself teetering between choking anxiety and cynical complacency.

At times, I become weighed down with worry.
What will happen to us all? I wonder.
Can we really trust anyone anymore?
How will things ever be okay?

Round and round these thoughts tumble, leaving me with nothing but an unshakable heaviness and a desire to escape.

So sometimes I do.

I turn the channel to something easier, something safe, something to help me forget.

Why should I care? I scoff.

There will only be more hurt, more scandal, more pain.
What can I do about it, anyway?

And so I find myself stuck.

For fear is crippling.
And to choose a life of fear is to accept its choking chains of endless worry, doubt and indecision.

But complacency is defeat.
And I may turn my television as loud as it can go, but it will not drown out the global cries of injustice.

So I must choose Faith.

A faith that believes that just because it's hard doesn't mean it's not possible.

And just because it's painful doesn't mean it's not worth the fight.

We cannot shut ourselves out of this broken world.
Sometimes we have to question. Sometimes we have to protest.

Sometimes we have to refuse to accept what the world presents as truth.

But neither can we allow our wringing hands to be tied behind our backs.
For the world can be ugly, but it can also be beautiful.
And while there is much hate, it does not overshadow love.

Highly recommended...

• For the movie buff

• For those that can't get enough politics

• For the unfortunate souls that missed the premiere (or for those that want to relive it)
  ***note: this is a spoiler so beware!***
  

• For the sniffled and congested
  

• For everyone

Just for kicks

Courtesy of http://xkcd.com/

Born in the U.S.A...

Food for thought in this season of political frenzy and media mayhem (and just for the record, I have no ulterior motives in swaying your vote one way or another):

1. "Democracy is neither a possession nor a guaranteed achievement. It is forever in the making: it might be thought of as a possibility--moral and imaginative possibility. For surely it has to do with the way persons attend to one another, care for one another, and interact with one another. It has to do with choices and alternatives, with the capacity to look at things as though they could be otherwise."
-Maxine Greene

2. "Citizens in a democracy have the convictions and enthusiasms of their own responses, yet they are willing to keep an open mind about alternate points of view, and finally are able to negotiate meanings and actions that respect both individual diversity and community needs.

To overcome our tendency to follow authority blindly, we need to develop confidence in our own ability to interpret and judge what we observe around us in the world. But confident and out-spoken individuals must be complemented by a tradition of conduct for reconciling differences among their responses."
-Gordon M. Pradl

3. A Small-Town Mayor Vs. A Community Organizer

4. Does Race Matter In '08? The View From York, Pa.

Light in the dark

"Ring the bells that still ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." ~Leonard Cohen



There comes a time in everyone's life when one must grapple with the unsettling reality of tragedy. When each of us must wrestle with the sobering thought that unforeseen, uncontrollable events can swoop into even the most unsuspecting lives and threaten to rattle one's very core.

Left alone, it is all too easy to drown in these questions and flounder under feelings of sorrow, anger, bitterness, disappointment, and hurt. But it is also during these moments of extreme vulnerability and brokenness that one experiences sudden moments of clarity.

Over Labor Day weekend, I found myself tiptoeing gingerly across what little remained of my aunt and uncle's farmhouse. While visiting their grandchildren one typical Sunday afternoon, they received a call from a neighbor reporting their home was ablaze. They rushed home to find that they had literally lost everything.

I was unprepared for the extent of the damage. Insulation hung in tufts from the ceiling. Light filtered in through cracked windows. A bizarre combination of glass, dishes and various old toys I remembered from childhood lay strewn about what used to be the living room. It was a surreal experience to be standing in such a charred skeleton of a home--the air dense with smoke and grief--yet the birds still chirping outside. At first, it was almost too much.

My family and I had driven down in old t-shirts and worn tennis shoes eager to jump in and take action. Willing to get grimy and sweaty and covered in ash with the expectation that somehow through hauling out salvageable possessions and laboring all day, we would be making a difference and perhaps even ease the pain of our relatives.

Instead, we were faced with a situation in which there was very little to be done. And we found ourselves looking at each other, helpless.

We trudged across the country road for lunch, bracing ourselves for a heavy afternoon. Coolers were unpacked and we all squeezed around a table full of casseroles, vegetable trays and plates and plates of sugary concoctions.

We sat around that table for a long time. At first in quiet small talk. Occasionally in silence as tears rolled down my aunt's face. Sometimes in outbursts of laughter over an inside family joke.

And we sat and we ate and we did very little. But somehow, when we pushed our chairs back and began clearing the table, life seemed a little brighter, a little less bleak.

And I found myself thinking that while there is certainly a place for physical labor and breaking a sweat in the name of service, sometimes all a person really needs is someone walking right beside them in their time of need.

Because at the end of the day, isn't that all that really matters?

Resolved:

1. To send a much-overdue package to D.C.

2. To learn how to make a knock-out coconut cream pie
(just to prove to my dad that I am not a complete domestic failure)

3. To make a habit out of calling my spunky grandma, who is hands-down one of my favorite people.
(don't get her started about how much she loves this place)

4. To head south. Soon.

5. To remind myself every day of how much I have to be thankful for. (...and to quit ending sentences with prepositions. Ick.)

Note: For those more ambitious than me, check this out.

Got my lunch packed up and my boots tied tight...

Humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still.

-C.S. Lewis

*****

I have always found this time of year to be full of possibilities, particularly when armed with a bookbag full of fresh school supplies. Something about cracking open that new notebook, sharpening that new set of pencils and breaking the seal on that (outrageously overpriced) textbook that excites me. A new year. A fresh start. A clean slate. (which I realize makes me A Total Dork.)

So in the spirit of August, and as a nod to those who--in one way or another--find themselves back in the classroom, here's a list of my back-to-school favorites: (feel free to add your own)

• Favorite school supply*
  

• Favorite lunch box discovery
  
  
• Favorite educational entertainment
  
  
• Favorite recreational activity
  (especially of the frozen variety)
  

• Favorite school song

*note: these were actually BANNED at my school. Ridiculous...