I cannot describe how sick I am of reading the business section of the paper. It seems that every day, some "financial expert" gives his or her interpretation of the market, and various reasons for explaining how and why it is as bad as it currently is.
The latest chapter is a letter written from a bunch of Chief Risk Officers of some huge financial firms to the Feds. It basically blames this whole nasty situation on unreasonable optimism at the beginning, bad foresight and predicting on how fast things would deteriorate in the middle, and now investor panic at the end. The letter admits that perhaps firms like Bear Sterns, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, are a LITTLE to blame, but then quickly moves on to explain that it is the entire financial market that is to blame for getting us into this, and the investors and general public to blame for panicking when things got rough.
I personally believe that while there IS a little truth in the letter, it is mainly a bunch of finger pointing.
Let me tell you what I think happened (in short form):
A bunch of people got greedy, saw that they could make millions by scamming the everyday guy (and also by scamming other businesses), and so their lust for money and ambition for power blinded them to the fact that in the CLOSED financial system, someone ALWAYS gets hosed when someone else makes a killing. Simply put, each of these people wanted to see a redistribution of money in America - with themselves holding more.
The problem is not lack of foresight or prediction or panic, the problem is that the financial markets are full of greedy bastards who don't care who they step on in their climb to power and riches. There are too many people who are in that market because they heard that they could get rich quick. So without morals or ethics they set forth on their goal, not looking back at the trail of bodies left behind.
It doesn't take a genius to see why we are in this economic mess. Greedy people + no control = bad situation (economy). Did they think the government would just simple print more money and give it to them for free? If not, then when they were getting rich, did they ever think about who was getting poor? Did they not realize how fragile this whole economic system is? You cannot just "get rich" without any consequence! When they went after the average everyday American with a mortgage, they went too far. They didn't care how or where they got their money, even if it was the everyday consumer. And now we all pay. And guess what, the government DID print more money and give it to them for free. What a f-ed up system of bailing out of the financial markets.
When the government did that, they sent a message to everyone: take other peoples money and we'll just make more (thus diluting the value of the dollar and increasing inflation and making everything more expensive so that EVERYONE has to bear the burden of these greedy bastards).
You want to point the finger and blame someone Mr. Chief Risk Officer? Point the finger at yourself and most of your greedy cohorts.
You want to fix our economic problems? Make everyone who got rich off this give the money back! Take away their millions and use it to correct the financial markets. Make the people who got rich off this just as poor as the people who lost their homes due to their greed. I'm sure many of these greedy people have even found ways to avoid paying full taxes on their millions, further aggravating the whole economic situation! That's the solution - punish the greedy people! Make it not worth it to anyone who wants to get rich by crippling our economy.
Nothing in life is for free - especially not riches. It's a matter of who loses and how big do they lose. It is time to turn some of these "winners" into losers.
Friday, August 08, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Pondering parenting and such things
I cannot help as a newly married man to occasionally ponder about parenting. While I am not yet expecting, I do not think it is ever to early to think about such eventualities.
Last night I was having a conversation with my wife about this topic because it dawned on me that having and raising children will show me all of my flaws and weaknesses. In more than one way - I will have to confront my selfishness and laziness, but more so, my children will do whatever I do. I will be teaching them what is acceptable or not by how I act - all the time. How I treat my wife, how I treat guests, how I treat anyone. They will be watching and storing all in their little heads. Then when it comes time for them to act, they will be mini-me's doing all the things that I do - good or bad. I will see my flaws and weaknesses come to life - but taken to the extreme - as children are so great at doing. My behavior will be under the microscope of my children.
So what will they learn? What will I teach them? Will I make an effort to act (or not to act) certain ways, or will I just simply "be myself" and let happen whatever happens? Will I make an effort to change for the sake of the kingdom of God, or have I grown to tolerate my own behavior? The scary thing to me, is that I am sure that I am blind to many of my faults and bad behaviors. I do not doubt that my children will shock me as they imitate their father. I'm sure I will find myself asking my wife, "Do I really do that? Do I really say those things? Am I really like that?", followed by, "Heaven help me! Give me the grace to see my faults and the courage to change my ways!"
Ooooh, I can't wait to have kids... (note the dripping sarcasm). Really, I'm sure there is a grace for raising children and for changing my ways. I'm sure the joy of having children will outweigh the pains of dying to my old selfish ways. (I hope).
This bring me to my other point. What is my vision for raising children? I get closer to that answer every day, but I believe that it have something to do with creating a "domestic church." That is, a place where the Trinity is mirrored in all its glory. A place where like the Pope, I am the head of the family and I am responsible for the spiritual (and physical) well-being of everyone under my care. Like the Pope has the cardinals and bishops, I have help carrying out my duties of caring for my flock. I must make sure that my flock receives the Good News about the kingdom. I must make sure that my flock has the opportunity to encounter Christ. I must be Christ to my family - I must, with my wife (since we are really one), be the image of God to my children - showing them God's love and mercy. But I must also, in the appropriate time, respect their free will. I must teach them the boundaries given to us by God and then let them freely choose to love God of their own volition. As God let me stray for a time so that I could be stronger, I must be able to let go of my parenting instincts of protection and pray that I will see my children in heaven.
I have a lot to work on until that day. So let the games begin! My I run the race as if to win!
Last night I was having a conversation with my wife about this topic because it dawned on me that having and raising children will show me all of my flaws and weaknesses. In more than one way - I will have to confront my selfishness and laziness, but more so, my children will do whatever I do. I will be teaching them what is acceptable or not by how I act - all the time. How I treat my wife, how I treat guests, how I treat anyone. They will be watching and storing all in their little heads. Then when it comes time for them to act, they will be mini-me's doing all the things that I do - good or bad. I will see my flaws and weaknesses come to life - but taken to the extreme - as children are so great at doing. My behavior will be under the microscope of my children.
So what will they learn? What will I teach them? Will I make an effort to act (or not to act) certain ways, or will I just simply "be myself" and let happen whatever happens? Will I make an effort to change for the sake of the kingdom of God, or have I grown to tolerate my own behavior? The scary thing to me, is that I am sure that I am blind to many of my faults and bad behaviors. I do not doubt that my children will shock me as they imitate their father. I'm sure I will find myself asking my wife, "Do I really do that? Do I really say those things? Am I really like that?", followed by, "Heaven help me! Give me the grace to see my faults and the courage to change my ways!"
Ooooh, I can't wait to have kids... (note the dripping sarcasm). Really, I'm sure there is a grace for raising children and for changing my ways. I'm sure the joy of having children will outweigh the pains of dying to my old selfish ways. (I hope).
This bring me to my other point. What is my vision for raising children? I get closer to that answer every day, but I believe that it have something to do with creating a "domestic church." That is, a place where the Trinity is mirrored in all its glory. A place where like the Pope, I am the head of the family and I am responsible for the spiritual (and physical) well-being of everyone under my care. Like the Pope has the cardinals and bishops, I have help carrying out my duties of caring for my flock. I must make sure that my flock receives the Good News about the kingdom. I must make sure that my flock has the opportunity to encounter Christ. I must be Christ to my family - I must, with my wife (since we are really one), be the image of God to my children - showing them God's love and mercy. But I must also, in the appropriate time, respect their free will. I must teach them the boundaries given to us by God and then let them freely choose to love God of their own volition. As God let me stray for a time so that I could be stronger, I must be able to let go of my parenting instincts of protection and pray that I will see my children in heaven.
I have a lot to work on until that day. So let the games begin! My I run the race as if to win!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Marriage and other things
I recently got married and must say first off that it is a huge blessing! It is also a lot of work!
I was commenting to several people that as a single man I thought I was doing fairly well in my walk with God. I have been blessed to have had intense adult formation over the last 12 years and have finally realized what it means to truly be a "Man of God." I thought that I had 'my house' in fairly good order and that I knew what my strengths and weaknesses were. My formal formation had come to an end a few years ago and I thought I had died to my flesh in a great many ways and was well on my way to holiness. Then I married - and I now realize that my young adult formation was a mere stepping stone, a foundation, for my "real" formation which comes through married life. I have realized that I only had a shadow of what it means to truly love someone. I now know that I know very little and have such a long way to go in learning how to love someone as the Lord loves them. I am a mere infant when it comes to love.
My recent reflections as I have begun my permanent vocation have been along these lines: What is married life for? What is the purpose of marriage? Why have I decided to do this? Am I really embracing these ideas and trying to live them out?
Marriage as a vocation is a path to sanctity. It is meant to bring us closer to God by living out a life that mirrors the triune God. Marriage is where we learn to give over our own desires and pursuits in service of the other for the greater glory of God. It is where we learn to love others and God loves us. It is where we have the opportunity to empty ourselves fully so that we may be filled with Christ and where we learn to be true instruments of the Lord. It is where we become what God has made us to become - images of Himself.
I have chosen this vocation? Yes and No. Yes: In freedom I made a conscious act of the will to enter into this covenant. I said "Yes" to my wife and to God. No: God chose this vocation for me before the world began by making me as He did. I was answering the Lord's call. I was made for this vocation, in order to become the man God wants me to become. The vocation chose me, and I likewise chose it as well.
I am trying to live this great calling. It is overwhelming, especially at first, but I am giving it my full attention and effort. I fully understand that this is a journey and not a destination, and I am as prepared as I can be to keep moving forward, even in the face of difficulty and adversity. I do not know how this will all unfold, but I do know that a great price awaits me in the end.
I was commenting to several people that as a single man I thought I was doing fairly well in my walk with God. I have been blessed to have had intense adult formation over the last 12 years and have finally realized what it means to truly be a "Man of God." I thought that I had 'my house' in fairly good order and that I knew what my strengths and weaknesses were. My formal formation had come to an end a few years ago and I thought I had died to my flesh in a great many ways and was well on my way to holiness. Then I married - and I now realize that my young adult formation was a mere stepping stone, a foundation, for my "real" formation which comes through married life. I have realized that I only had a shadow of what it means to truly love someone. I now know that I know very little and have such a long way to go in learning how to love someone as the Lord loves them. I am a mere infant when it comes to love.
My recent reflections as I have begun my permanent vocation have been along these lines: What is married life for? What is the purpose of marriage? Why have I decided to do this? Am I really embracing these ideas and trying to live them out?
Marriage as a vocation is a path to sanctity. It is meant to bring us closer to God by living out a life that mirrors the triune God. Marriage is where we learn to give over our own desires and pursuits in service of the other for the greater glory of God. It is where we learn to love others and God loves us. It is where we have the opportunity to empty ourselves fully so that we may be filled with Christ and where we learn to be true instruments of the Lord. It is where we become what God has made us to become - images of Himself.
I have chosen this vocation? Yes and No. Yes: In freedom I made a conscious act of the will to enter into this covenant. I said "Yes" to my wife and to God. No: God chose this vocation for me before the world began by making me as He did. I was answering the Lord's call. I was made for this vocation, in order to become the man God wants me to become. The vocation chose me, and I likewise chose it as well.
I am trying to live this great calling. It is overwhelming, especially at first, but I am giving it my full attention and effort. I fully understand that this is a journey and not a destination, and I am as prepared as I can be to keep moving forward, even in the face of difficulty and adversity. I do not know how this will all unfold, but I do know that a great price awaits me in the end.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Awareness and Resolve
I believe that I can do anything I put my mind to. It is all a matter of will. Of course I'm not talking about physically impossible things or other impossible things, I'm talking about anything within the realm of reasonability.
I am a strong believer in "mind over matter". If I really want to do it, then there is a good chance that I can do it. However, my resolve must last from the beginning to the end of the thing I wish to accomplish. That is often where I fail -- I have great inspirations or ideas, and I act on them, but then all too soon find that I really am not interested in following through.
We must all have our reasons for doing what we do, and we should take time to reflect on our reasons/motivations. As Descarte once said, "I think therefore I am," and it must be admitted that we are primarily aware of ourselves first and foremost. It is this awareness that we often fall back on for our motivations.
It is good and noble and true to strive to get beyond our self-awareness to be aware of other people. And the ultimate step is to let the self be forgotten and be totally aware of others. This is what heaven will be - total awareness of God and others with minimal awareness of ourselves.
If we want to experience heaven on earth, all we need to do is be completely aware of others and not of ourselves. Easy to say, not so easy to do, because we must be resolved from beginning to end.
I am a strong believer in "mind over matter". If I really want to do it, then there is a good chance that I can do it. However, my resolve must last from the beginning to the end of the thing I wish to accomplish. That is often where I fail -- I have great inspirations or ideas, and I act on them, but then all too soon find that I really am not interested in following through.
We must all have our reasons for doing what we do, and we should take time to reflect on our reasons/motivations. As Descarte once said, "I think therefore I am," and it must be admitted that we are primarily aware of ourselves first and foremost. It is this awareness that we often fall back on for our motivations.
It is good and noble and true to strive to get beyond our self-awareness to be aware of other people. And the ultimate step is to let the self be forgotten and be totally aware of others. This is what heaven will be - total awareness of God and others with minimal awareness of ourselves.
If we want to experience heaven on earth, all we need to do is be completely aware of others and not of ourselves. Easy to say, not so easy to do, because we must be resolved from beginning to end.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
JPII TOB and Christopher West
There is no doubt that JPII was a genius in philosophy and theology. The Theology of the Body is a testament to his genius. However, his reasoning tends to be above what most people can handle, mainly because of his advanced education. I, however, contend that JPII wrote in a fairly approachable manner. I don't think that his ideas are so vague or lofty that the ordinary person cannot read them directly.
It is interesting to note that English was not the language used by JPII when he presented the TOB - he used Italian. But what is language? It is a tool to express ideas. JPII did not write the English translation directly, nor that of nearly all the other various translations. So who wrote the English translation? I'm not sure, but does it really matter? As long as the ideas are properly expressed, everything is ok. I contend that the English translation is generally good, but not great. Whoever translated the TOB into English must have had an incredibly large vocabulary that most Americans do not possess. Additionally, they must have possessed an extensive background in theological writing. All of these factors result in a fairly unapproachable English version of TOB - more unapproachable than the original JPII TOB.
Christopher West has become a popular authority on TOB. However, I'm not a fan because of one main point. He interprets the English translation of the TOB. Also, he uses popular U.S. media examples to frame various parts of the English translation of the TOB. First of all, while it can be fun, entertaining, and memorable to use modern media for examples, I believe they fail to convey the full picture. Secondly, he is using the English translation as his source, which I think also leads to problems. I think it is better to teach the language and framework of JPII and let people read TOB for themselves, rather than providing an interpretation. The original will always be better, and the original in the original language is even better yet. I think what we really need is a new English translation from the original language that TOB is written in - perhaps a translation that uses more approachable language. But a translation, not an interpretation.
But in contrast to my personal preferences, it is commendable that someone is making an effort to make TOB understandable, especially for young people who lack the ability to grasp the concepts in raw form. However, it is too easy for adults to take the easy way out and latch onto West’s TOB interpretation. I think that adults should not be so lazy as to be spoon fed by someone else’s interpretation. We have the same problem with scripture, do we not? People often do not read the Bible; instead they read commentaries on the bible, or mediations and reflections on the bible. Are these bad things? In and of themselves, no. But when they are substituted for the Bible, then yes, they are not a good thing. Nothing should replace reading the Bible itself. Of course children cannot grasp the concepts in the Bible, so we make children’s Bibles.
Why should we treat TOB any different? It is not a good thing to completely substitute reading the TOB itself with commentaries on TOB, like West’s. However, until we get a new English translation what can most people do? I think it is acceptable to use tools like West’s to help grasp the concepts, but then I expect adults to go the rest of the way and make an attempt at reading the actual text. Don’t sell yourself short.
It is interesting to note that English was not the language used by JPII when he presented the TOB - he used Italian. But what is language? It is a tool to express ideas. JPII did not write the English translation directly, nor that of nearly all the other various translations. So who wrote the English translation? I'm not sure, but does it really matter? As long as the ideas are properly expressed, everything is ok. I contend that the English translation is generally good, but not great. Whoever translated the TOB into English must have had an incredibly large vocabulary that most Americans do not possess. Additionally, they must have possessed an extensive background in theological writing. All of these factors result in a fairly unapproachable English version of TOB - more unapproachable than the original JPII TOB.
Christopher West has become a popular authority on TOB. However, I'm not a fan because of one main point. He interprets the English translation of the TOB. Also, he uses popular U.S. media examples to frame various parts of the English translation of the TOB. First of all, while it can be fun, entertaining, and memorable to use modern media for examples, I believe they fail to convey the full picture. Secondly, he is using the English translation as his source, which I think also leads to problems. I think it is better to teach the language and framework of JPII and let people read TOB for themselves, rather than providing an interpretation. The original will always be better, and the original in the original language is even better yet. I think what we really need is a new English translation from the original language that TOB is written in - perhaps a translation that uses more approachable language. But a translation, not an interpretation.
But in contrast to my personal preferences, it is commendable that someone is making an effort to make TOB understandable, especially for young people who lack the ability to grasp the concepts in raw form. However, it is too easy for adults to take the easy way out and latch onto West’s TOB interpretation. I think that adults should not be so lazy as to be spoon fed by someone else’s interpretation. We have the same problem with scripture, do we not? People often do not read the Bible; instead they read commentaries on the bible, or mediations and reflections on the bible. Are these bad things? In and of themselves, no. But when they are substituted for the Bible, then yes, they are not a good thing. Nothing should replace reading the Bible itself. Of course children cannot grasp the concepts in the Bible, so we make children’s Bibles.
Why should we treat TOB any different? It is not a good thing to completely substitute reading the TOB itself with commentaries on TOB, like West’s. However, until we get a new English translation what can most people do? I think it is acceptable to use tools like West’s to help grasp the concepts, but then I expect adults to go the rest of the way and make an attempt at reading the actual text. Don’t sell yourself short.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Recession, here we come...
It amazes me that "economists" keep trying to say that a recession won't happen. Recently they have been changing their mind and gave the odds of a recession a 1 out of 3 chance of happening. Are these people idiots or something? While I usually am a fan of optimism, I am not in favor of it in the face of realism, or better yet, the facts. Why can't they just own up and call it what it is?
Sub-Prime loans
I am not an economics expert, I have no job training or experience making economic evaluations, but I am not a stupid person and can put 2 and 2 together to see what is going on. It all started with a bunch of greedy lenders thinking they can make a quick easy million dollars by taking advantage of poor people. Unfortunately, some of them made several million dollars -In my opinion, we start an economic correction by taking that money back from these immoral thieves. Unfortunately for us, they were somewhat successful for a few years, and that resulted in other more risk adverse people joining in the game. Didn't anyone ask themselves (or their companies), "How are people going to pay when the interest rates skyrocket?" If they would have asked themselves that question and been honest about the answer, they would have reasoned out that people WON'T be able to pay. Did they just think that people will somehow magically come up with the money? Or that perhaps they'll work an extra job to pay for the doubled or tripled mortgage payment? Did it not occur to them that people were going to default on their loans in MASS numbers? Were these people blind to all this?
Beginning: Give people loans that have low interest rates now, but are higher in 3-5 years. ("You mean I can get a loan for that much money?")
Result 1: Houses sell for MORE money (sometimes WAY MORE money) than they are worth. Sellers are VERY happy and move into bigger and better homes. ("I can make a killing if I sell my house right now!")
Result 3: Unemployment goes down - Retailers and Construction Companies can't hire enough people to meet demand. Students and lower class people have more job opportunities - some people take second jobs. ("Now I can really afford that new cell phone - and maybe even a car!")
Result 4: Stock and Bond markets soar - it appears as if there is A LOT of money to be had. They are banking off future mortgage rate adjustments and a booming economy.
End result: A booming economy! (we had it for a few years)
Problem: As I stated earlier, the premise of this whole chain of events is faulty.
Result 1: When mortgage rates adjust, people have to stop spending in order to make house payments. Retail market suffers. ("No more eating out for me!")
Result 2: People start defaulting on their loans because they cannot pay. This is usually because they bought a home that was in reality out of their price range. ("Now where can I live?")
Result 3: People cannot sell their other home (The one they moved out of when they thought the market was good and they would get a high price for it.) In fact they can't sell EITHER home! So now they are stuck with 2 mortgages! ("How can I keep from defaulting and ruining my credit?")
Result 4: Housing market slows down (collapses in my opinion). Construction Companies lay-off 75% of work force. These people were hired at a really good wage rate, now they are jobless. Also, Retail sector slows down and they a let a large number of employees go. Unemployment skyrockets. ("I need a second job to pay for this mortgage, but there aren't any jobs to be had!")
Result 5: Banks foreclose on a lot of homes and try to recover their loan amounts. Unfortunately for them, the houses were overpriced when sold, so now they are sitting on overpriced homes in a flooded housing market. In order to recover their money, they artificially keep the cost of houses high. ("I just want to move beck into my old home, but it is too overpriced for me!")
Result 6: The Stock and Bond markets realize that the risk was too high and that they won't make money off this whole sub-prime thing anymore. They flee like rats off a burning ship. Stock market dips (mildly crashes). ("Oh great, now my retirement money is getting hosed too!")
Result 7: Most people reduce their spending in all areas. ("If I can just ride this one out, I'll be OK.")
Result 8: Businesses in most sectors downsize and try to increase efficiency (do more with less - or at least the same with less). They call their debts in and try to stabilize cash flow.
End Result: Economic Recession.
This is not anywhere close to a complete list of all the results of this whole mess-up. This is just the obvious stuff that comes to mind. We only need to open our eyes and look around to see that this is already happening and moving towards getting worse.
I think that the bigger problem is that our economy was/is still in a bubble. We are too inflated and this is a natural economic sequence of events. Our government has tried to "correct" the economic deflation, but have instead made things worse by drawing them out. A quick death leads to a sooner recovery. I think they should let this ride out to its natural end and THEN start rebuilding the economy. (And tax the hell out of the people who made millions in the process of ruining our economy).
I think that overall we as a country need to take a time out from being the Global Police and stop spending money like it is an endless source. We need to deal with some internal problems (like road infrastructure for instance) and get "our ducks in a row" before we can be fighting global wars. Just possibly, if we withdrew our troops from the dozens of countries we now are fighting in, people of other nations would be a little happier for it. I'm all for human justice and defense of the defenseless, but not when it is at the expense of our own well being as a nation. When the body gets sick, it needs rest and recuperation. Our nation has a sick body and needs some R&R right now.
Sub-Prime loans
I am not an economics expert, I have no job training or experience making economic evaluations, but I am not a stupid person and can put 2 and 2 together to see what is going on. It all started with a bunch of greedy lenders thinking they can make a quick easy million dollars by taking advantage of poor people. Unfortunately, some of them made several million dollars -In my opinion, we start an economic correction by taking that money back from these immoral thieves. Unfortunately for us, they were somewhat successful for a few years, and that resulted in other more risk adverse people joining in the game. Didn't anyone ask themselves (or their companies), "How are people going to pay when the interest rates skyrocket?" If they would have asked themselves that question and been honest about the answer, they would have reasoned out that people WON'T be able to pay. Did they just think that people will somehow magically come up with the money? Or that perhaps they'll work an extra job to pay for the doubled or tripled mortgage payment? Did it not occur to them that people were going to default on their loans in MASS numbers? Were these people blind to all this?
Beginning: Give people loans that have low interest rates now, but are higher in 3-5 years. ("You mean I can get a loan for that much money?")
Result 1: Houses sell for MORE money (sometimes WAY MORE money) than they are worth. Sellers are VERY happy and move into bigger and better homes. ("I can make a killing if I sell my house right now!")
Result 1.5: Immediate housing market boom - can't built enough homes fast enough. Everyone moves "up" a housing bracket. ("Wow, I can finally afford my dream home!")
Result 2: These new homes must be furnished - retail market boom. ("With all the money I have, now I can also afford that new HD LCD TV! And the new dining room set, and bedroom set... perhaps even a new car!")Result 3: Unemployment goes down - Retailers and Construction Companies can't hire enough people to meet demand. Students and lower class people have more job opportunities - some people take second jobs. ("Now I can really afford that new cell phone - and maybe even a car!")
Result 4: Stock and Bond markets soar - it appears as if there is A LOT of money to be had. They are banking off future mortgage rate adjustments and a booming economy.
End result: A booming economy! (we had it for a few years)
Problem: As I stated earlier, the premise of this whole chain of events is faulty.
Result 1: When mortgage rates adjust, people have to stop spending in order to make house payments. Retail market suffers. ("No more eating out for me!")
Result 2: People start defaulting on their loans because they cannot pay. This is usually because they bought a home that was in reality out of their price range. ("Now where can I live?")
Result 3: People cannot sell their other home (The one they moved out of when they thought the market was good and they would get a high price for it.) In fact they can't sell EITHER home! So now they are stuck with 2 mortgages! ("How can I keep from defaulting and ruining my credit?")
Result 4: Housing market slows down (collapses in my opinion). Construction Companies lay-off 75% of work force. These people were hired at a really good wage rate, now they are jobless. Also, Retail sector slows down and they a let a large number of employees go. Unemployment skyrockets. ("I need a second job to pay for this mortgage, but there aren't any jobs to be had!")
Result 5: Banks foreclose on a lot of homes and try to recover their loan amounts. Unfortunately for them, the houses were overpriced when sold, so now they are sitting on overpriced homes in a flooded housing market. In order to recover their money, they artificially keep the cost of houses high. ("I just want to move beck into my old home, but it is too overpriced for me!")
Result 6: The Stock and Bond markets realize that the risk was too high and that they won't make money off this whole sub-prime thing anymore. They flee like rats off a burning ship. Stock market dips (mildly crashes). ("Oh great, now my retirement money is getting hosed too!")
Result 7: Most people reduce their spending in all areas. ("If I can just ride this one out, I'll be OK.")
Result 8: Businesses in most sectors downsize and try to increase efficiency (do more with less - or at least the same with less). They call their debts in and try to stabilize cash flow.
End Result: Economic Recession.
This is not anywhere close to a complete list of all the results of this whole mess-up. This is just the obvious stuff that comes to mind. We only need to open our eyes and look around to see that this is already happening and moving towards getting worse.
I think that the bigger problem is that our economy was/is still in a bubble. We are too inflated and this is a natural economic sequence of events. Our government has tried to "correct" the economic deflation, but have instead made things worse by drawing them out. A quick death leads to a sooner recovery. I think they should let this ride out to its natural end and THEN start rebuilding the economy. (And tax the hell out of the people who made millions in the process of ruining our economy).
I think that overall we as a country need to take a time out from being the Global Police and stop spending money like it is an endless source. We need to deal with some internal problems (like road infrastructure for instance) and get "our ducks in a row" before we can be fighting global wars. Just possibly, if we withdrew our troops from the dozens of countries we now are fighting in, people of other nations would be a little happier for it. I'm all for human justice and defense of the defenseless, but not when it is at the expense of our own well being as a nation. When the body gets sick, it needs rest and recuperation. Our nation has a sick body and needs some R&R right now.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Iraqies - Who cares about them?
I know a family whose son was sent over to Iraq. I know someone else whose brother was shipped off to that land of sand. I know of a wife who lost her husband and father of their child to that hellish place. All of these people want their loved ones back. They all ask the question, "Why are OUR people dying over there?" They are tired of the rote response, "Freedom." "Whose freedom?" they ask.
I have learned that a lot of people dislike our involvement in Iraq. Many (perhaps most) Americans do not want our soldiers dying anymore. They disagree with the war and want our soldiers to come home. But when I ask, "What about the Iraqi people?" the response is usually, "Let them take care of themselves. They'll sort things out eventually. This isn't our war - it's theirs. Why should we stick our hands into someone Else's civil war?"
In the end, it seems that a lot of people think we (our country) should spend our time and money working on our own internal problems and less time and money on fixing other peoples problems. I think there is a good argument in that. However, I also think that it lacks something.
Selfishness - America has mostly become a place where we define freedom as the right to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We have become a country where many people (but not all) put their own personal needs above the needs of others. We have the mentality that we must look out for ourselves because no one else will. We have lost the spirit of charity as a nation. It stems from the belief that we can control our own destiny/lives - a major theme of democracy. But in reality we do not control our lives - and when people come in contact with this reality, much complaining and other unfavorable responses are usually involved. I've seen a lot of people freak out and lose it when they cannot control their lives (and other peoples lives as well sometimes). While we cannot control everything that happens to us, we CAN control how we respond to these circumstances.
Is looking out for our own good higher than looking out for the good of others? I think many Americans would answer, "Yes!" I say, "No!" The Catholic Church says no. We should be mainly concerned with the well being of others, and rely on God to take care of me- not the other way around. Christianity is built on self-sacrifice and charity. "You will know my people by their love for one another." We are instructed to give water, food, and clothing to our enemies. We are to conquer evil with good acts - acts of charity. "What you have done to them, you have done to me," says Jesus. Are we taking care of the poor, the helpless, the oppressed, the hungry? How we treat them is how we treat God. Gods asks for effort, not results. Are we willing to do something to help the less fortunate?
I recently read a Church document about the need for charity - not only within one's family, not only within one's community, not only within one's country, but in this day and age, within the global community. "To those who have been given much, much is expected." America has been given much in the global picture, so we as a country SHOULD be doing what we can to help out other countries who are less fortunate. This does not mean we should be doing what we are doing in Iraq, but in the big picture, we should be doing something to help people like them (the poor oppressed people of Iraq - not necessarily the wealthy or power citizens). I believe that we are obligated to do something for them, and what we are doing is doing something - regardless of how effective it is or isn't. The fact of the matter is that we are putting an effort toward helping them - and God asks for effort, not results. The church defines a martyr as someone who gives up his life for the sake of the Gospel - in others words, dies for someone else because of a deep love for God. I can only hope that the soldiers who have died were Christians who believed that they were preaching the gospel of love and self sacrifice for the sake of the love of God for his people.
I cannot control the fact we have soldiers over in Iraq fighting, dying, and trying to help - but I can control my response to the situation. I hope that the sacrifices made by these soldiers are out of love for the well being of other people - acts of selfless charity. I am proud that we as a country don't choose to sit back and let the world "take care of itself." I am proud that as a nation who has much, we are taking our global responsibility seriously and doing what we can to make this a better world. Sure we have our own problems, but the problems of many other countries are far worse than our problems. We should not by any means ignore our own problems, but we should not ignore other people's problems either. As much as I may disagree with Bush and his administration, I like that they have taken an intentionally active role in the global picture. They seem to take our national obligation to help other countries seriously - whether or not that leads to any specific results. We are called to have effort, not results.
For all of my personal disagreements with Bush and his administration, based on my Catholic perspective, I would have to say that this administration has done okay. They have defended life (in their pro-life voting and elections) and they have made an effort to make this world a better place for the less fortunate. Perhaps it came at the expense of some serious internal failures, but in the big picture, self-sacrifice is sometimes necessary - even as a nation. We are going to for sure have a very different administration after the elections next year, and I can only hope that we don't loose the few good things that have been accomplished by the current administration.
I have learned that a lot of people dislike our involvement in Iraq. Many (perhaps most) Americans do not want our soldiers dying anymore. They disagree with the war and want our soldiers to come home. But when I ask, "What about the Iraqi people?" the response is usually, "Let them take care of themselves. They'll sort things out eventually. This isn't our war - it's theirs. Why should we stick our hands into someone Else's civil war?"
In the end, it seems that a lot of people think we (our country) should spend our time and money working on our own internal problems and less time and money on fixing other peoples problems. I think there is a good argument in that. However, I also think that it lacks something.
Selfishness - America has mostly become a place where we define freedom as the right to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We have become a country where many people (but not all) put their own personal needs above the needs of others. We have the mentality that we must look out for ourselves because no one else will. We have lost the spirit of charity as a nation. It stems from the belief that we can control our own destiny/lives - a major theme of democracy. But in reality we do not control our lives - and when people come in contact with this reality, much complaining and other unfavorable responses are usually involved. I've seen a lot of people freak out and lose it when they cannot control their lives (and other peoples lives as well sometimes). While we cannot control everything that happens to us, we CAN control how we respond to these circumstances.
Is looking out for our own good higher than looking out for the good of others? I think many Americans would answer, "Yes!" I say, "No!" The Catholic Church says no. We should be mainly concerned with the well being of others, and rely on God to take care of me- not the other way around. Christianity is built on self-sacrifice and charity. "You will know my people by their love for one another." We are instructed to give water, food, and clothing to our enemies. We are to conquer evil with good acts - acts of charity. "What you have done to them, you have done to me," says Jesus. Are we taking care of the poor, the helpless, the oppressed, the hungry? How we treat them is how we treat God. Gods asks for effort, not results. Are we willing to do something to help the less fortunate?
I recently read a Church document about the need for charity - not only within one's family, not only within one's community, not only within one's country, but in this day and age, within the global community. "To those who have been given much, much is expected." America has been given much in the global picture, so we as a country SHOULD be doing what we can to help out other countries who are less fortunate. This does not mean we should be doing what we are doing in Iraq, but in the big picture, we should be doing something to help people like them (the poor oppressed people of Iraq - not necessarily the wealthy or power citizens). I believe that we are obligated to do something for them, and what we are doing is doing something - regardless of how effective it is or isn't. The fact of the matter is that we are putting an effort toward helping them - and God asks for effort, not results. The church defines a martyr as someone who gives up his life for the sake of the Gospel - in others words, dies for someone else because of a deep love for God. I can only hope that the soldiers who have died were Christians who believed that they were preaching the gospel of love and self sacrifice for the sake of the love of God for his people.
I cannot control the fact we have soldiers over in Iraq fighting, dying, and trying to help - but I can control my response to the situation. I hope that the sacrifices made by these soldiers are out of love for the well being of other people - acts of selfless charity. I am proud that we as a country don't choose to sit back and let the world "take care of itself." I am proud that as a nation who has much, we are taking our global responsibility seriously and doing what we can to make this a better world. Sure we have our own problems, but the problems of many other countries are far worse than our problems. We should not by any means ignore our own problems, but we should not ignore other people's problems either. As much as I may disagree with Bush and his administration, I like that they have taken an intentionally active role in the global picture. They seem to take our national obligation to help other countries seriously - whether or not that leads to any specific results. We are called to have effort, not results.
For all of my personal disagreements with Bush and his administration, based on my Catholic perspective, I would have to say that this administration has done okay. They have defended life (in their pro-life voting and elections) and they have made an effort to make this world a better place for the less fortunate. Perhaps it came at the expense of some serious internal failures, but in the big picture, self-sacrifice is sometimes necessary - even as a nation. We are going to for sure have a very different administration after the elections next year, and I can only hope that we don't loose the few good things that have been accomplished by the current administration.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Kings and Queens
Take something good, and twist it into something bad. This is the technique used by evil to corrupt and lead astray. The scary thing is that us humans have been tricked into doing this to each other (although some demented people to this intentionally.)
I recently read an interesting article (http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100164969) about the food we eat. While it was not breaking news to me that the food I eat isn't all its cracked up to be, I was taken aback by how dire the situation really is. I was further angered by the fact that I have given into this mentality and system without much thought.
GOOD: We are made in the image of God and so we want to be like him. We want to be treated like Kings and Queens (or perhaps princes and princesses since God is the King) and there is nothing wrong with that. We DO deserve dignity and respect, honor and praise (if we follow The King that is)
TWIST: Since we all (or most of us anyway) have a desire to treated like royalty, we can be convinced that we should be served instead of having to serve. In this day and age we aren't bold enough to think that people should serve us (slavery prevents most of that), but we still want the benefits of servitude - service. It has been often masked as "convenience." (note: there is nothing inherently evil about service or convenience, but thay can be used for bad ends)
We are a society that seems to crave good service and high convenience. This is the link to the article I mentioned above (food in America these days). Like the kings of old, we don't want to have to grow, gather, and prepare our own food. We have more important things to do, like ruling a kingdom or watching American Idol (or whatever the latest TV fad is). We don't want to be bothered with manual labor - some of us have to do that at work which is bad enough, we don't want to have to do it at home as well. Some of us have white collar jobs and God forbid if we ever have to do very much manual labor during our lives. There is a general sentiment in America that we are such an advanced society, that there is no reason we should have to do manual labor.
It has been long known that people crave service and convenience. Marketers and advertisers have been exploiting this attribute ever since they existed. The key in America was to make the royal lifestyle accessible to the average person. With the laws as they are, the only way to make it achievable was to make it cheap enough for the average person to afford. Most people cannot afford to hire a housekeeper, a butler, and a cook. So instead we refined the mass production of goods so that nearly anyone could afford them - like bread, milk, butter, meat processing, and all the other things discussed in the article.
So why do we voluntarily put this bad food into our systems? Because it is easier than doing it the "old-fashioned" way. Who wants to roll out their own dough every day and pick peas from the pod (from the garden out back), spending the entire day cooking and cleaning, when they can run to the store and grab a loaf of bread and can of peas in ten minutes? It's a dangerous combination of time saving and labor saving. We would rather be doing what we want (whether that be lounging around or doing other work) than "stuck" in the kitchen preparing meals. Deep down we want to know that we are more than a cook, a housekeeper, a butler - we want to know that we are in charge of our own time and our own lives; we want to feel as if we are capable of much more than those things. (Part of the problem is that we never have respected and valued those manual labor jobs enough - they are looked down upon - and who wants to be looked down upon?)
So we save time and respect by buying our processed bread (pre-sliced for our convenience) and our canned foods, and we prepare dinner in less than 30 minutes so we can sit back and enjoy an episode of Lost. Ah, life in America is good. Too bad we're slowly killing ourselves with the food we eat. I think living a healthy balanced life is worth turning off the tube and spending a few hours preparing a meal and enjoying it with people who can appreciate the hard work and effort. It's either that or I'll have to find a job that makes enough money to afford a family cook.
I recently read an interesting article (http://health.msn.com/dietfitness/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100164969) about the food we eat. While it was not breaking news to me that the food I eat isn't all its cracked up to be, I was taken aback by how dire the situation really is. I was further angered by the fact that I have given into this mentality and system without much thought.
GOOD: We are made in the image of God and so we want to be like him. We want to be treated like Kings and Queens (or perhaps princes and princesses since God is the King) and there is nothing wrong with that. We DO deserve dignity and respect, honor and praise (if we follow The King that is)
TWIST: Since we all (or most of us anyway) have a desire to treated like royalty, we can be convinced that we should be served instead of having to serve. In this day and age we aren't bold enough to think that people should serve us (slavery prevents most of that), but we still want the benefits of servitude - service. It has been often masked as "convenience." (note: there is nothing inherently evil about service or convenience, but thay can be used for bad ends)
We are a society that seems to crave good service and high convenience. This is the link to the article I mentioned above (food in America these days). Like the kings of old, we don't want to have to grow, gather, and prepare our own food. We have more important things to do, like ruling a kingdom or watching American Idol (or whatever the latest TV fad is). We don't want to be bothered with manual labor - some of us have to do that at work which is bad enough, we don't want to have to do it at home as well. Some of us have white collar jobs and God forbid if we ever have to do very much manual labor during our lives. There is a general sentiment in America that we are such an advanced society, that there is no reason we should have to do manual labor.
It has been long known that people crave service and convenience. Marketers and advertisers have been exploiting this attribute ever since they existed. The key in America was to make the royal lifestyle accessible to the average person. With the laws as they are, the only way to make it achievable was to make it cheap enough for the average person to afford. Most people cannot afford to hire a housekeeper, a butler, and a cook. So instead we refined the mass production of goods so that nearly anyone could afford them - like bread, milk, butter, meat processing, and all the other things discussed in the article.
So why do we voluntarily put this bad food into our systems? Because it is easier than doing it the "old-fashioned" way. Who wants to roll out their own dough every day and pick peas from the pod (from the garden out back), spending the entire day cooking and cleaning, when they can run to the store and grab a loaf of bread and can of peas in ten minutes? It's a dangerous combination of time saving and labor saving. We would rather be doing what we want (whether that be lounging around or doing other work) than "stuck" in the kitchen preparing meals. Deep down we want to know that we are more than a cook, a housekeeper, a butler - we want to know that we are in charge of our own time and our own lives; we want to feel as if we are capable of much more than those things. (Part of the problem is that we never have respected and valued those manual labor jobs enough - they are looked down upon - and who wants to be looked down upon?)
So we save time and respect by buying our processed bread (pre-sliced for our convenience) and our canned foods, and we prepare dinner in less than 30 minutes so we can sit back and enjoy an episode of Lost. Ah, life in America is good. Too bad we're slowly killing ourselves with the food we eat. I think living a healthy balanced life is worth turning off the tube and spending a few hours preparing a meal and enjoying it with people who can appreciate the hard work and effort. It's either that or I'll have to find a job that makes enough money to afford a family cook.
Monday, June 04, 2007
More of the pieces of the puzzle
Well, it has been 6 weeks since I have posted anything on my blog, so it's time to blog once again.
In my never ending quest to see the whole tapestry of the mindset of modern day Americans and the problems we face, I had a tiny epiphany today. It all started when I was about to eat lunch. I decided that I would like to eat outside because it is so dang nice out today. Then I was thinking that it would be a great day for a walk, because God knows I needs more exercise. I was thinking about the delicate balance of work or exercise (labor/expending of energy) and food consumption. I had a fleeting thought of how much I ate and the quality of food I ate (or lack thereof) when I was a kid and the cell division process of growth that was burning up energy like it was going out of style. I could eat almost anything and everything just to keep my normal processes going. Now that I am older and cell division has slowed to an adult level, I find that I need to make an attempt at finding a new balance of energy I'm putting in vs. energy I'm expending. After that fleeting moment I thought of how much exercise people got "back in the day" (aka. before 1600 - or in this country, before 1900).
Life was pretty much agricultural and men spent most of their day out in the fields working the land (by the way, I LOVE working with the soil - must be a leftover from creation). Men ate a lot of food, plenty of meat, potatoes and vegetables - 3 meals a day (sometimes 4). But because they were expending so much energy, the needed a lot of food. But what about the old Roman senators? Or the ancient Greeks and their philosophers? Or Kings and nobility of the days of old? Thinking doesn't expend nearly as much energy as labor! How did they maintain their energy balance? Well, some of them didn't - and simply became obese. (For a time obesity meant that a person was well to do and thus worth having as a spouse!) But what about the "average weight" people of the thinking occupations of old? Well, walking was a common form of transportation, as was horse riding which expends more energy than driving a car. Many of them had hobbies like hunting or fishing. Many of them played active games and such. I don't claim to know exactly what these people all did, but since they were normal humans, they must have done SOMETHING to keep their energy in balance. So I went for a walk today.
Anyway, that whole thought process took about 45 seconds and led to my new epiphany. Back in the "the day," due to lack of technology, communication was much slower and much less frequent. The average person (land worker class) didn't have access to world news, or often not even regional news, sometimes not even local news. Obviously people talked at community gatherings and in the local markets, so news did have a way of traveling. But what was rumor and what was real? Or did it really even matter to them? I'll bet they often just simply didn't care unless the news directly affected them (like an army is on the move and the are coming through town and will probably take all the local food for free or minimal compensation type news). But overall there was no Internet for breaking news or nightly news programs summing all the local, regional, and world news of interest. They took what they got and went about their lives. In a certain way, I admire their simplicity and ignorance. They didn't bother themselves with things that didn't have to do with them or things that were out of their control. They trusted that the nobility would take care of the big things that needed taking care of. They might not have always liked or agreed with the course of action of the local magistrate, but they focused on the task at hand - plowing the field. Life was simple and allowed for a certain amount of freedom that we no longer enjoy as individuals.
Look at us now. Knowledge is power and Information is Knowledge. Most Americans have access to major media sources (mass amounts of information), and so we think that we should have power. We stay up on current events so that we can... what? We stay tuned to the OJ car chase because... why? We get mad when Russia threatens to aim missiles at Europe because America is trying to help protect them because... why? To what end? Are we trying to gain information to make better and more informed decisions? Decisions about what? Do we really have any power or authority to do anything about these things that we watch so intently? Really? Do we trust the people we elected to make these decisions? Can we do anything about it before this particular event has passed? If we can't really do anything about it, why not just make a mental note (or actual note) about what it is that we really disagree with and move on without letting ourselves get caught up in the fury of the moment?
There is something we can learn from the people of old - don't get caught up in things that don't lead anywhere useful/helpful. Back in the day, people didn't elect their noble person. But they did learn to live without getting angry at every decision that wasn't agreeable. In fact, they didn't see their role as an evaluating and judging role at all. It was their role to live as best they could on what they were given. Something that is much lacking in today's culture. We often put ourselves in judgement of every decision made by our elected officials (or for everything it sometimes seems), and we declare our personal verdict and sentence people to condemnation (socially) and carry out our sentence - judge, jury, and executioner all in one. Who are we in America that gives us the right or authority to live like this? We are like 1 billion individual judges constantly scrutinizing every local, regional, and global decision, as if we know all the facts and are better at judging the whole of the situations? We act like a country of Kings and Queens all competing for control of the throne. Many people are OK with letting someone else sit on the throne (the seat takes all the blame), so long as we get to dictate what is promulgated from the throne. As long as we get our way, everything is OK. We are a country of arrogant people, all the while thinking we are victims of the government and of life around us. (By the way, not everyone is like this, but I exaggerate to make a point...)
This revelation caused me to rethink how I think. I need to evaluate the world around me less and deal with my own problems more. I am going to watch less media and purposely get out of touch with things out of my control. I'm sure I'll hear news the old fashioned way - hanging out with others, hearing a radio or TV as I take a walk, overhearing conversations at the local market, etc. But if I focus on the things I am responsible for, I won't have a lot of time to focus on things that I have elected other people to be responsible for. When elections come around, I'll pay attention and do research on the candidates and see if I agree with their track record. But until then, I'll trust them to do their job and I'll stick to mine, just like the people of old.
In my never ending quest to see the whole tapestry of the mindset of modern day Americans and the problems we face, I had a tiny epiphany today. It all started when I was about to eat lunch. I decided that I would like to eat outside because it is so dang nice out today. Then I was thinking that it would be a great day for a walk, because God knows I needs more exercise. I was thinking about the delicate balance of work or exercise (labor/expending of energy) and food consumption. I had a fleeting thought of how much I ate and the quality of food I ate (or lack thereof) when I was a kid and the cell division process of growth that was burning up energy like it was going out of style. I could eat almost anything and everything just to keep my normal processes going. Now that I am older and cell division has slowed to an adult level, I find that I need to make an attempt at finding a new balance of energy I'm putting in vs. energy I'm expending. After that fleeting moment I thought of how much exercise people got "back in the day" (aka. before 1600 - or in this country, before 1900).
Life was pretty much agricultural and men spent most of their day out in the fields working the land (by the way, I LOVE working with the soil - must be a leftover from creation). Men ate a lot of food, plenty of meat, potatoes and vegetables - 3 meals a day (sometimes 4). But because they were expending so much energy, the needed a lot of food. But what about the old Roman senators? Or the ancient Greeks and their philosophers? Or Kings and nobility of the days of old? Thinking doesn't expend nearly as much energy as labor! How did they maintain their energy balance? Well, some of them didn't - and simply became obese. (For a time obesity meant that a person was well to do and thus worth having as a spouse!) But what about the "average weight" people of the thinking occupations of old? Well, walking was a common form of transportation, as was horse riding which expends more energy than driving a car. Many of them had hobbies like hunting or fishing. Many of them played active games and such. I don't claim to know exactly what these people all did, but since they were normal humans, they must have done SOMETHING to keep their energy in balance. So I went for a walk today.
Anyway, that whole thought process took about 45 seconds and led to my new epiphany. Back in the "the day," due to lack of technology, communication was much slower and much less frequent. The average person (land worker class) didn't have access to world news, or often not even regional news, sometimes not even local news. Obviously people talked at community gatherings and in the local markets, so news did have a way of traveling. But what was rumor and what was real? Or did it really even matter to them? I'll bet they often just simply didn't care unless the news directly affected them (like an army is on the move and the are coming through town and will probably take all the local food for free or minimal compensation type news). But overall there was no Internet for breaking news or nightly news programs summing all the local, regional, and world news of interest. They took what they got and went about their lives. In a certain way, I admire their simplicity and ignorance. They didn't bother themselves with things that didn't have to do with them or things that were out of their control. They trusted that the nobility would take care of the big things that needed taking care of. They might not have always liked or agreed with the course of action of the local magistrate, but they focused on the task at hand - plowing the field. Life was simple and allowed for a certain amount of freedom that we no longer enjoy as individuals.
Look at us now. Knowledge is power and Information is Knowledge. Most Americans have access to major media sources (mass amounts of information), and so we think that we should have power. We stay up on current events so that we can... what? We stay tuned to the OJ car chase because... why? We get mad when Russia threatens to aim missiles at Europe because America is trying to help protect them because... why? To what end? Are we trying to gain information to make better and more informed decisions? Decisions about what? Do we really have any power or authority to do anything about these things that we watch so intently? Really? Do we trust the people we elected to make these decisions? Can we do anything about it before this particular event has passed? If we can't really do anything about it, why not just make a mental note (or actual note) about what it is that we really disagree with and move on without letting ourselves get caught up in the fury of the moment?
There is something we can learn from the people of old - don't get caught up in things that don't lead anywhere useful/helpful. Back in the day, people didn't elect their noble person. But they did learn to live without getting angry at every decision that wasn't agreeable. In fact, they didn't see their role as an evaluating and judging role at all. It was their role to live as best they could on what they were given. Something that is much lacking in today's culture. We often put ourselves in judgement of every decision made by our elected officials (or for everything it sometimes seems), and we declare our personal verdict and sentence people to condemnation (socially) and carry out our sentence - judge, jury, and executioner all in one. Who are we in America that gives us the right or authority to live like this? We are like 1 billion individual judges constantly scrutinizing every local, regional, and global decision, as if we know all the facts and are better at judging the whole of the situations? We act like a country of Kings and Queens all competing for control of the throne. Many people are OK with letting someone else sit on the throne (the seat takes all the blame), so long as we get to dictate what is promulgated from the throne. As long as we get our way, everything is OK. We are a country of arrogant people, all the while thinking we are victims of the government and of life around us. (By the way, not everyone is like this, but I exaggerate to make a point...)
This revelation caused me to rethink how I think. I need to evaluate the world around me less and deal with my own problems more. I am going to watch less media and purposely get out of touch with things out of my control. I'm sure I'll hear news the old fashioned way - hanging out with others, hearing a radio or TV as I take a walk, overhearing conversations at the local market, etc. But if I focus on the things I am responsible for, I won't have a lot of time to focus on things that I have elected other people to be responsible for. When elections come around, I'll pay attention and do research on the candidates and see if I agree with their track record. But until then, I'll trust them to do their job and I'll stick to mine, just like the people of old.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Cho and the death toll
Cho has something in common with me...
I, like most other people in America and abroad, have been following the Virginia Tech story that has been all over the news lately.
First of all, my prayers go out to all of the families who suffered the loss of a child. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself through this tragedy.
Secondly, I am disgusted with the media. They are shameless and seem to not care very much for individual people, they seem to only care about the "all-mighty story." The media loves scandal and has the tendency to seek out and latch onto anything that might show how "bad" society is (or individual people in our society).
That said, Cho himself sent the media packet to NBC and I am personally glad that they have aired it. I think that the American public (and the world) have a right to see and hear the truth that has been revealed by Cho. There are a lot of complaints to NBC for airing the stuff they did, and several people cancelled interviews with NBC because they didn't approve of the airing of the Cho material. While they have the right to feel the way they do, and they reserve the right to cancel their interviews, I think it is selfish for them to "send a statement" to NBC because of their personal disapproval - that is a very selfish and childish thing to do. Do they have a right to deprive the whole nation of this information because it makes them feel bad? I think not. If they don't want to see this stuff, then they can simply turn off their TV or change the channel. No one is "forcing" anybody else to view this stuff - we all have the power to choose not to view it.
I think that NBC has an obligation to presenting the material, YET they are responsible for presenting it in a way that is moral, ethical, and retains the dignity of all involved.
So, what does Cho have in common with me?
We both share the idea that this world is seriously messed up. We both share a personal conviction that we need to take action to do something about it. While I do not agree with Cho's method of presenting his view nor the actions he choose to rectify the situation, we nonetheless both know that something MUST change.
I think that if we all stop the noise and distractions coming into our heads and take a good hard look at our lives and the world around us we will realize that things are messed up. Yet many people go on living as if "that's just the way things are" and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Many people fill their lives with busyness and entertainment so that they don't have to deal with the fact that we are all sinners and change starts with myself. It is easier to give into the wide stream of society than it is to try and step out of it.
Cho saw the problem, but was misled in how he should respond to it. He failed to embrace hope. He failed to see that while we are all sinners, we are created as good beings who are capable of doing good things (if we cooperate with the One that is the source of all Goodness). Just because some people choose to serve themselves over the others does not mean that there is no hope in the bigger picture. Cho was caught in a world that was closing in on himself. He was more trapped every day and saw no other way to break free. Cho's story is a sad story, and all the more so because of the death he dealt senselessly to others. He said that he was doing this for others, that he didn't want it to come to this. As the investigators have confirmed, this was not a spontaneous action. Cho was going down this path for many many years of his life.
Where were the Christians? The *true* Christians who love through actions and not words, who bring the Good News of Hope, who say "yes, this world is messed up, but there is something better waiting for us!"
I say that we have all failed Cho - I failed Cho - and not the other way around. This tragic event should serve as a reminder that we all need to stop pursuing the serving of our own needs and instead turn outwards and care for those around us. I will give credit to the few people in Cho's life who tried to reach out and help him. But the path had already been set and there was little they could do. Cho needed to hear this message much earlier in his life, before he ever set foot on Virginia Tech's campus.
There was a time in my life what I was not Catholic, and I can say from personal experience that if someone actually takes the time to shut out all the noise of this culture, that insistent droning of the capitalistic marketing engine, one begins to see life in America for what it really is - all the good stuff and all the bad stuff - and without Faith, Hope, and Love, there is little to live for. Life in America without hope in Christ is oppressive and burdensome and can easily lead to a Cho.
Yes Cho, there is something wrong in general, you HAVE been slighted and not treated with the dignity you deserve. But let us have hope that it will not always be this way. There is Someone who has a plan for us, a plan for our welfare and not our woe, a plan for a future full of hope.
I, like most other people in America and abroad, have been following the Virginia Tech story that has been all over the news lately.
First of all, my prayers go out to all of the families who suffered the loss of a child. May the Lord draw you closer to Himself through this tragedy.
Secondly, I am disgusted with the media. They are shameless and seem to not care very much for individual people, they seem to only care about the "all-mighty story." The media loves scandal and has the tendency to seek out and latch onto anything that might show how "bad" society is (or individual people in our society).
That said, Cho himself sent the media packet to NBC and I am personally glad that they have aired it. I think that the American public (and the world) have a right to see and hear the truth that has been revealed by Cho. There are a lot of complaints to NBC for airing the stuff they did, and several people cancelled interviews with NBC because they didn't approve of the airing of the Cho material. While they have the right to feel the way they do, and they reserve the right to cancel their interviews, I think it is selfish for them to "send a statement" to NBC because of their personal disapproval - that is a very selfish and childish thing to do. Do they have a right to deprive the whole nation of this information because it makes them feel bad? I think not. If they don't want to see this stuff, then they can simply turn off their TV or change the channel. No one is "forcing" anybody else to view this stuff - we all have the power to choose not to view it.
I think that NBC has an obligation to presenting the material, YET they are responsible for presenting it in a way that is moral, ethical, and retains the dignity of all involved.
So, what does Cho have in common with me?
We both share the idea that this world is seriously messed up. We both share a personal conviction that we need to take action to do something about it. While I do not agree with Cho's method of presenting his view nor the actions he choose to rectify the situation, we nonetheless both know that something MUST change.
I think that if we all stop the noise and distractions coming into our heads and take a good hard look at our lives and the world around us we will realize that things are messed up. Yet many people go on living as if "that's just the way things are" and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Many people fill their lives with busyness and entertainment so that they don't have to deal with the fact that we are all sinners and change starts with myself. It is easier to give into the wide stream of society than it is to try and step out of it.
Cho saw the problem, but was misled in how he should respond to it. He failed to embrace hope. He failed to see that while we are all sinners, we are created as good beings who are capable of doing good things (if we cooperate with the One that is the source of all Goodness). Just because some people choose to serve themselves over the others does not mean that there is no hope in the bigger picture. Cho was caught in a world that was closing in on himself. He was more trapped every day and saw no other way to break free. Cho's story is a sad story, and all the more so because of the death he dealt senselessly to others. He said that he was doing this for others, that he didn't want it to come to this. As the investigators have confirmed, this was not a spontaneous action. Cho was going down this path for many many years of his life.
Where were the Christians? The *true* Christians who love through actions and not words, who bring the Good News of Hope, who say "yes, this world is messed up, but there is something better waiting for us!"
I say that we have all failed Cho - I failed Cho - and not the other way around. This tragic event should serve as a reminder that we all need to stop pursuing the serving of our own needs and instead turn outwards and care for those around us. I will give credit to the few people in Cho's life who tried to reach out and help him. But the path had already been set and there was little they could do. Cho needed to hear this message much earlier in his life, before he ever set foot on Virginia Tech's campus.
There was a time in my life what I was not Catholic, and I can say from personal experience that if someone actually takes the time to shut out all the noise of this culture, that insistent droning of the capitalistic marketing engine, one begins to see life in America for what it really is - all the good stuff and all the bad stuff - and without Faith, Hope, and Love, there is little to live for. Life in America without hope in Christ is oppressive and burdensome and can easily lead to a Cho.
Yes Cho, there is something wrong in general, you HAVE been slighted and not treated with the dignity you deserve. But let us have hope that it will not always be this way. There is Someone who has a plan for us, a plan for our welfare and not our woe, a plan for a future full of hope.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Prodigal Son
Today I was reflecting on the parable of the prodigal son. I recently read a homily by the papal household preacher (Fr. Cantalemessa) and he had some interesting insights into the parable that I had never thought of before.
Of course, if you have ever read or heard this parable you know that this is a story about the mercy of the Father. While I can see myself as the prodigal son in different areas of my life, I can also see myself as the older brother. The only character that I cannot identify with is the father (probably because I'm single and not responsible for anyone). One of the problems I have always had with the story is the answer given to the older son. In the past I always took the older sons side and cried out "Not Fair!" How could the Father have this attitude about the older son? Sure, all that belongs to the Father is also his, but why reward all those bad behaviors of the younger son by throwing him a party? I often get indignant at the fathers response and think that the older son does indeed get the short stick.
Fr. Cantalemessa says "The older son's mistake is to have thought that staying always at home and sharing everything with the father was not an incredible privilege but a merit; he acts more like a mercenary than a son. (This should put all of us older brothers on guard!) " Fr. Cantalemessa goes on to talk about how we can apply this parable to Jesus himself - Jesus being the first born son of God and the rest of us being the younger brothers of Christ. Jesus was not the bitter and angry older brother who refuses to come into the house, but instead is the loving and caring older brother who throws down his plow and goes out into the world in pursuit of his younger brother and to try bring his younger brother back! When He finds His younger brother, He is able to bring him back to the Father and rejoice with the Father over the lost brother! Jesus is not passive, but He actively pursues us on behalf of the Father because He loves us as much as the Father does.
I took Fr. Cantalamessa's message to heart and have been pondering the question, "In what ways do I 'stay and plow the fields' instead of pursuing my lost brother and bringing him home to the father where we can all rejoice over the returned son?" After only a day of asking this I have found many answers, but most importantly I no longer take sides with the older son in the parable.
Of course, if you have ever read or heard this parable you know that this is a story about the mercy of the Father. While I can see myself as the prodigal son in different areas of my life, I can also see myself as the older brother. The only character that I cannot identify with is the father (probably because I'm single and not responsible for anyone). One of the problems I have always had with the story is the answer given to the older son. In the past I always took the older sons side and cried out "Not Fair!" How could the Father have this attitude about the older son? Sure, all that belongs to the Father is also his, but why reward all those bad behaviors of the younger son by throwing him a party? I often get indignant at the fathers response and think that the older son does indeed get the short stick.
Fr. Cantalemessa says "The older son's mistake is to have thought that staying always at home and sharing everything with the father was not an incredible privilege but a merit; he acts more like a mercenary than a son. (This should put all of us older brothers on guard!) " Fr. Cantalemessa goes on to talk about how we can apply this parable to Jesus himself - Jesus being the first born son of God and the rest of us being the younger brothers of Christ. Jesus was not the bitter and angry older brother who refuses to come into the house, but instead is the loving and caring older brother who throws down his plow and goes out into the world in pursuit of his younger brother and to try bring his younger brother back! When He finds His younger brother, He is able to bring him back to the Father and rejoice with the Father over the lost brother! Jesus is not passive, but He actively pursues us on behalf of the Father because He loves us as much as the Father does.
I took Fr. Cantalamessa's message to heart and have been pondering the question, "In what ways do I 'stay and plow the fields' instead of pursuing my lost brother and bringing him home to the father where we can all rejoice over the returned son?" After only a day of asking this I have found many answers, but most importantly I no longer take sides with the older son in the parable.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Good face day
This week has been a billion times better than last week. Thus It is time for another profile update...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Bad face day
After having a bad week at work last week, I thought I would update my profile to show people the expression I wore most of the week. It was a pretty bad week... 
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Emotions, Feelings, and Desires
I was recently thinking about how often I do what I feel like doing. It brought back memories of some teachings I received several years ago about feelings/emotions and their role in a person.
In the original creation of man, everything was properly ordered. Pertaining to this subject, it meant that his will was subject to his intellect which was supported by his emotions/feelings. When that original man sinned, disorder was brought upon him and the world. Since that day, our emotions/feelings no longer act in a supporting role to our intellect, but they contend over the will against the intellect. Admittedly, I think emotions/feelings win this battle just as much as they lose it in my life. So as disordered beings, we must work hard to live a properly ordered life, which often means doing those things we must do/should do/need to do instead of the things we want to do.
Of course this does not mean that we should throw our emotions/feelings out the window or kick our desires out the door. Doing this would be committing a worse error than giving into them all the time! God made us with emotions/feelings and desires, so they should not be rejected. Instead we should occasionally take time to reflect on which side is in control of our will, intellect or feelings. If feelings are too often taking charge, it is time to practice a little self-control (which can be quite painful) to gain some proper order in our lives. We should also occasionally evaluate our desires, which can come from one of three places, God, evil, or ourselves. Ideally, as in original man, our desires are perfectly aligned with God's desires for us, but that changed with original sin and now we are often unaware of the source of our desires. Either source can look like our own desires and the opposite as well. This is a more difficult thing to discern, but well worth the work.
It is amazing how good life can be when proper order is established, within us and around us. It is something definitely worth working for.
In the original creation of man, everything was properly ordered. Pertaining to this subject, it meant that his will was subject to his intellect which was supported by his emotions/feelings. When that original man sinned, disorder was brought upon him and the world. Since that day, our emotions/feelings no longer act in a supporting role to our intellect, but they contend over the will against the intellect. Admittedly, I think emotions/feelings win this battle just as much as they lose it in my life. So as disordered beings, we must work hard to live a properly ordered life, which often means doing those things we must do/should do/need to do instead of the things we want to do.
Of course this does not mean that we should throw our emotions/feelings out the window or kick our desires out the door. Doing this would be committing a worse error than giving into them all the time! God made us with emotions/feelings and desires, so they should not be rejected. Instead we should occasionally take time to reflect on which side is in control of our will, intellect or feelings. If feelings are too often taking charge, it is time to practice a little self-control (which can be quite painful) to gain some proper order in our lives. We should also occasionally evaluate our desires, which can come from one of three places, God, evil, or ourselves. Ideally, as in original man, our desires are perfectly aligned with God's desires for us, but that changed with original sin and now we are often unaware of the source of our desires. Either source can look like our own desires and the opposite as well. This is a more difficult thing to discern, but well worth the work.
It is amazing how good life can be when proper order is established, within us and around us. It is something definitely worth working for.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Why do anything at all?
The title of this blog is a question I have been asking myself at various times throughout the last 15 years of my life. It can be rephrased into a specific question as, "Why do I do x?" I find it personally interesting that my answers have changed since I have been asking this question. 15 years ago I would have said something like, "Because I want to," or "Because I can." It evolved to something along the lines of "Because it makes me feel better," or "It's simply the right thing to do." When I became Catholic about 10 years ago, my answers made a radical shift to the lines of, "So I can get to heaven," and "It's what I'm supposed to do as a Catholic."
I have realized that deep down in my heart I have lived many years as an apathetic person. I cared little for my job, for hobbies, for friends, and as hard as it is to admit, I cared little for my family relationships. But what I now know is that, as a man, I need something to fight for; something to live and die for; an ideal higher than myself. The only thing I have personally found worthy of fulfilling this is the Beatific Vision. (The immense and mystical idea of living forever with God in heaven). As I have grown in my faith, I have realized that everything here is a mere passing shadow compared to what life with God in heaven is supposed to be like.
Have you ever looked out a window in the early spring and realized that because the window is dirty (on the outside and the inside) all of the colors look faded and because the window is down, all the sounds are muted and the smells entirely blocked. But because we know that the window is impeding our experience of the real thing we can imagine what it must be like outside. Sometimes (weather permitting) we will throw open the window and let in the fresh smell of spring and the chirping of the birds and see how vivid the colors of the spring flowers are.
This is like my experience thus far here on earth. There have been moments of grace where I was allowed to experience the reality of God; small moments of grace and God's personal and deep love for me. Because I have experienced this, life here seems dull and dimmed, like looking out that dirty window. I long to throw open the window and let the fresh air in! But alas I cannot; it is not within my power.
Now when I ask myself the question, "Why do anything at all," my answer is "Because I have found something worth living for!" I have a vision of what life can be like - life in God. I have realized that outside the context of the Beatific Vision, life holds very little meaning, and any meaning it does hold is but a mere passing shadow of a greater Truth and Reality that comes from God. What I have also realized these past few years of my life is that the thing that makes life bearable here on earth is relationships. My family, my friends, and hopefully someone special some day and children of my own. If I take people out of the equation, life here is no longer worth living in my opinion. So while I'm here, it's all about people - about caring for, serving, and loving them.
So why do I do x? Because doing x helps me to love and serve someone, and ultimately, makes life here worth living until I attain that great throwing open of the window.
I have realized that deep down in my heart I have lived many years as an apathetic person. I cared little for my job, for hobbies, for friends, and as hard as it is to admit, I cared little for my family relationships. But what I now know is that, as a man, I need something to fight for; something to live and die for; an ideal higher than myself. The only thing I have personally found worthy of fulfilling this is the Beatific Vision. (The immense and mystical idea of living forever with God in heaven). As I have grown in my faith, I have realized that everything here is a mere passing shadow compared to what life with God in heaven is supposed to be like.
Have you ever looked out a window in the early spring and realized that because the window is dirty (on the outside and the inside) all of the colors look faded and because the window is down, all the sounds are muted and the smells entirely blocked. But because we know that the window is impeding our experience of the real thing we can imagine what it must be like outside. Sometimes (weather permitting) we will throw open the window and let in the fresh smell of spring and the chirping of the birds and see how vivid the colors of the spring flowers are.
This is like my experience thus far here on earth. There have been moments of grace where I was allowed to experience the reality of God; small moments of grace and God's personal and deep love for me. Because I have experienced this, life here seems dull and dimmed, like looking out that dirty window. I long to throw open the window and let the fresh air in! But alas I cannot; it is not within my power.
Now when I ask myself the question, "Why do anything at all," my answer is "Because I have found something worth living for!" I have a vision of what life can be like - life in God. I have realized that outside the context of the Beatific Vision, life holds very little meaning, and any meaning it does hold is but a mere passing shadow of a greater Truth and Reality that comes from God. What I have also realized these past few years of my life is that the thing that makes life bearable here on earth is relationships. My family, my friends, and hopefully someone special some day and children of my own. If I take people out of the equation, life here is no longer worth living in my opinion. So while I'm here, it's all about people - about caring for, serving, and loving them.
So why do I do x? Because doing x helps me to love and serve someone, and ultimately, makes life here worth living until I attain that great throwing open of the window.
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Happiness and Risk
There are people who have theories about capabilities and reasonability. Specifically theories about categorizing what we should be capable of doing and those other things which are beyond our reach. Conventional wisdom says that a large part of happiness is found in being successful at the things we endeavor to do. The logic then says that if we reach beyond our grasp, more than not, we will fail to obtain happiness. So the wisdom advises us to do only those things that are within our reach.
There is no doubt in my mind that there is some truth in the wisdom, but not the whole of the truth. If we accept the definition of happiness as feeling good about ourselves, than the logic makes sense. But isn't happiness so much more than that? I cannot help but reflect on my past and regret those times when I accepted this wisdom and stayed within my reach. Indeed I experienced the satisfaction of achieving a goal, but I also felt regret that maybe I could have done more. I felt like I sold myself short, I didn't give it all I had. I sacrificed great dreams for earthly success and a feeling of happiness. This lingering disappointment I experienced ruined my happiness. Outwardly I was smiling and shaking hands and accepting praise, but inside I was pondering what I could have done if I risked failure.
The experiences of my past have shaped who I am today, and now I find that I cannot accept the wisdom laid out above. I can no longer stand to settle for less; to go only half way. I dream great dreams these days, I will not sell myself short. This has indeed led me to many failures, disappointments, and lack of earthly success, but now my disappointments do not have to do with half-heartedness or lack of risking failure. I still deal with criticism for reaching beyond my grasp, but I proudly accept it because I would rather risk great things and fail then settle for a life of mediocrity.
There is no doubt in my mind that there is some truth in the wisdom, but not the whole of the truth. If we accept the definition of happiness as feeling good about ourselves, than the logic makes sense. But isn't happiness so much more than that? I cannot help but reflect on my past and regret those times when I accepted this wisdom and stayed within my reach. Indeed I experienced the satisfaction of achieving a goal, but I also felt regret that maybe I could have done more. I felt like I sold myself short, I didn't give it all I had. I sacrificed great dreams for earthly success and a feeling of happiness. This lingering disappointment I experienced ruined my happiness. Outwardly I was smiling and shaking hands and accepting praise, but inside I was pondering what I could have done if I risked failure.
The experiences of my past have shaped who I am today, and now I find that I cannot accept the wisdom laid out above. I can no longer stand to settle for less; to go only half way. I dream great dreams these days, I will not sell myself short. This has indeed led me to many failures, disappointments, and lack of earthly success, but now my disappointments do not have to do with half-heartedness or lack of risking failure. I still deal with criticism for reaching beyond my grasp, but I proudly accept it because I would rather risk great things and fail then settle for a life of mediocrity.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Beatific desires
Recently I have been struggling with Patience. After all I have been through in life, I would think that I would have become an expert in patience by now, but alas I am not. Don't get me wrong, I can be very patient in the small matters in life. It is the "Big Picture" patience that I seem to lack of late. That is to say, I long for heaven, and I am getting a bit impatient to get there. Not that this impatience would drive me to suicide or something crazy like that. I'm not THAT impatient! But every day that passes I long to be in a relationship where I am fully known and loved and I can know and love fully in return; a deeply intimate relationship that can only be experienced through God. I love my friendships here, I have some of the best friends anyone can ever imagine. I also have a very loving family. I have great mentors, and bosses, and other examples of holiness in my life. All-in-all I am a very blessed man. But of all these great and wonderful people, none of them *really* know me. Many of them know a lot *about* me, and several of them know me fairly well (my parents and my best friends,) but none of them know me like the Lord knows me. He knows me better than I know myself! and He loves me more than I love myself (which is no small feat at times...) and this is what I long for.
This life seems like a passing dream of which I will some day wake up and find myself gazing into the face of my beloved, and experiencing a love so full that this life will seem like a dim old shadow of a memory where my love was weak and tainted. Oh, how I long for that day! May I have the patience to live out my life here faithfully.
This life seems like a passing dream of which I will some day wake up and find myself gazing into the face of my beloved, and experiencing a love so full that this life will seem like a dim old shadow of a memory where my love was weak and tainted. Oh, how I long for that day! May I have the patience to live out my life here faithfully.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Roots of cultural problems
It always amazes me how the devil can take something good and twist it into something diabolical. Last night I was watching the NFL Conference Playoff games and a commercial came on that made me sick. I was actually in the kitchen, so I have no idea what was on the TV screen, but a little jingle was playing as the theme behind the commercial, conveying an unmistakable message, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it now..." This epitomizes our current American culture does it not? This commercial is one of the most honest commercials I have heard in a while. At least they are straight forward about their message, unlike many others. It is a common marketing strategy to tell people they are lacking something (happiness is a common target - because it is often true) and if you simply buy their product, you will finally fill this "lack" (they show images of people being happy and fulfilled). If people only knew the *truth* about this stuff.
Anyway, the topic at hand is selfishness. I recently heard a great talk by a very wise man, and he touched on this subject. What he said surprised me because I had never heard much history or info surrounding the topic, I usually hear, "Don't be selfish, be generous!" Well, that sheds very little light on the subject. This man said that, consciously, our self is the first thing we are truly aware of. This is not a bad thing, it is simply how we are made. (Descartes' "I think, therefore I am.")
Since this is part of how we are made, we never lose this self awareness throughout our life. However, as we grow and mature, we are expected to go beyond this "self-first" mentality and move towards the "other-first" mentality. In God's great design, getting married moves this process along quite speedily. And then having children moves it to a whole new level. So God built this into his design of man. He knows us very well.
Well, as I hinted at in the beginning of this blog, the enemy has taken this good design and twisted it into something bad. He has planted a few lies that have become like doctrine for the secular world. One of these doctrines is that "younger is better," or what I call the Doctrine of Youth. More qualified, late-teens to late-twenties are the "golden-years" to be sought after and preserved as long as possible and at almost any cost. So we have kids trying to act like teens and fifty year olds trying to dress and act like twenty year olds. But besides the vanity aspect of this doctrine, there is the idea that if people never reach maturity, they can be held in a spiritual stasis.
It is not a surprise to any parent that kids are all about "me, me, me!" (or "mine, mine, mine!")
Kids are very aware of their needs and wants (often indistinguishable to them), and in the childs eyes, it is the role of the parent to fulfill their needs. The enemy has unfortunately done very well with perpetuating this doctrine and it has resulted in a world where a lot of people are focused primarily on themselves, often at the expense of others. It has resulted in a world where people have failed to mature to the next level - even marriage has become self-focused! Just look at all the prenuptial agreements, and the high divorce rates. Even having children has become infected - both parents work and send their child to be raised by others (others who have no particular love for their child). Why? Because of the evil doctrine of youth: "Keep them young and naive. Keep them focused on themselves about all else." Ultimately, "Keep them away from God."
So we now have commercials with the chant of a child, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it now!" Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope at all.
There IS Hope! Chirst has promised us victory. But until that day, we must do our part to dispel these myths and help people grow in maturity and in a relationship with Christ. One day at a time, one person at a time. As Mother Therese said, "God calls us to be faithful, not successful."
Anyway, the topic at hand is selfishness. I recently heard a great talk by a very wise man, and he touched on this subject. What he said surprised me because I had never heard much history or info surrounding the topic, I usually hear, "Don't be selfish, be generous!" Well, that sheds very little light on the subject. This man said that, consciously, our self is the first thing we are truly aware of. This is not a bad thing, it is simply how we are made. (Descartes' "I think, therefore I am.")
Since this is part of how we are made, we never lose this self awareness throughout our life. However, as we grow and mature, we are expected to go beyond this "self-first" mentality and move towards the "other-first" mentality. In God's great design, getting married moves this process along quite speedily. And then having children moves it to a whole new level. So God built this into his design of man. He knows us very well.
Well, as I hinted at in the beginning of this blog, the enemy has taken this good design and twisted it into something bad. He has planted a few lies that have become like doctrine for the secular world. One of these doctrines is that "younger is better," or what I call the Doctrine of Youth. More qualified, late-teens to late-twenties are the "golden-years" to be sought after and preserved as long as possible and at almost any cost. So we have kids trying to act like teens and fifty year olds trying to dress and act like twenty year olds. But besides the vanity aspect of this doctrine, there is the idea that if people never reach maturity, they can be held in a spiritual stasis.
It is not a surprise to any parent that kids are all about "me, me, me!" (or "mine, mine, mine!")
Kids are very aware of their needs and wants (often indistinguishable to them), and in the childs eyes, it is the role of the parent to fulfill their needs. The enemy has unfortunately done very well with perpetuating this doctrine and it has resulted in a world where a lot of people are focused primarily on themselves, often at the expense of others. It has resulted in a world where people have failed to mature to the next level - even marriage has become self-focused! Just look at all the prenuptial agreements, and the high divorce rates. Even having children has become infected - both parents work and send their child to be raised by others (others who have no particular love for their child). Why? Because of the evil doctrine of youth: "Keep them young and naive. Keep them focused on themselves about all else." Ultimately, "Keep them away from God."
So we now have commercials with the chant of a child, "I want it all, I want it all, I want it now!" Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope at all.
There IS Hope! Chirst has promised us victory. But until that day, we must do our part to dispel these myths and help people grow in maturity and in a relationship with Christ. One day at a time, one person at a time. As Mother Therese said, "God calls us to be faithful, not successful."
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