Gas prices go up, gas prices go down. Gas prices go up, gas prices go down. It’s really funny how mad people can get about the price they pay for their fuel. Everybody is willing to do anything to stabilize and lower the price of gasoline. You’d think someone would realize that this is just a tiny little warning light. Hello America, you’re over dependant on fossil fuel. But nobody’s listening for that. That doesn’t make gas prices cheaper. Nobody’s thinking about how in fifty years we’ll have squeezed the earth of all its oil. We’re only concerned about the here and now, and what the bottom line means to me; the selfish disease that will surely topple America.
Category Archives: Society
The Glass Elevator
Last night I got on the elevator and I felt the floor drop out below me. All around me were swirling images of products, services, and merchandise I needed. Things I couldn’t live without, things that would make me cool and accepted. Their message was plastered everywhere, and as the elevator plummeted to the floor, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bad thing. When you allow money to control a venture, someone else’s interests always take over. Objectivity is lost and it makes you wonder if can you do anything objectively and make money at it. The elevator keeps plummeting, but that’s not what the advertisers tell me, so apparently that’s not the way it is. I just hope this is a really tall building.
Writing to a 6-Year-Old Guatemalan
Yesterday I wrote a letter to a six-year-old in Guatemala. How do you even begin to communicate with someone when you’re separated by thousands of miles, two languages, and a vast age difference? Never mind that the relationship is initially based on a monetary gift. I wrote the letter to a girl in Guatemala that my fiance and I sponsor through Food For the Hungry. I feel like any response I get from this girl will be completely contrived. How would you respond to someone who was donating money to pay for your education? It just seems like an awkward situation. Certainly a six-year-old wouldn’t have issues with it, But what about when the child gets older and begins to understand the world around her? I would almost expect her to be grateful for my monthly gift. But more likely I would expect cynicism. Some well off American in Los Estados Unidos thinks he’s all that because once a month he donates the equivalent of a meal out to an average restaurant. Am I supposed to be impressed at his sacrifice? Am I supposed to be grateful that he gives so much?
Word of Mouth and Racism
Tonight in my Graphic Design class my professor was talking about a book he had been reading lately that related by tangent to design. The main point of the book was how small things can cause exponential change. It didn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense at first, but he shared a few examples from the book where something small caused a huge change.
The best example he gave was how New York City’s crime rate was dramatically reduced thanks to simple subway turnstile enforcement and painting over graffiti in the subway system. Those two minor improvements caused massive change.
Quelling the Native Americans
Usually in my Art History class I sit there for an hour and ten minutes and furiously take down five pages of notes, complete with little scribblings of the day’s slides. I usually leave the class with a blur of images and a few thoughts about the American sensibility, whatever that is. Today was different. We were talking about Native American art forms, and how the Native Americans were treated. My professor read a number laws and accounts of how the government dealt with the Native Americans. The idea was basically to outlaw their way of life so they would be forced to conform to our culture and our society. The government attempted to civilize the “savages.”
What I found horribly ironic is what America stands for and why many Europeans came here in the first place. They were fleeing religious persecution. Yet we still outlawed the religion of the Native Americans. My sense of justice and trust in the three branch system of American government has been violated. Doesn’t it seem like somewhere along the line somebody should wave a red flag when the first amendment is being violated? Perhaps I’m being a little naïve.
What really struck me is Mt. Rushmore. Four enormous heads are carved into a mountain side. The heads of four white leaders who helped found and establish this great country. Mt. Rushmore is near Rapid City in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Someone in my class mentioned that the Black Hills were sacred burial grounds for the Native Americans. We rip up the earth and gut a mountain to pay homage to our heroes, a glaring reminder to the Native American–on their own sacred land, no less–that we conquered them. I’ve always thought Mt. Rushmore was an odd attraction. Perhaps it’s just an arrogant symbol of American pride.
Do We Need All the Stuff?
So hot they’re cool, so cool they’re hot. Yeah, right. Tonight instead of popping up and flying across the room, my Pop Tart popped up and then fell into the depths of the toaster. I had to rescue it through the crumb door.
I came across an interesting dilemma tonight. My fiance and I were doing some pre-registering shopping, checking out the stores to see what we needed and where we wanted to register. While we were browsing through all the gizmos, gadgets, and mounds of stuff you need to fill a house or an apartment, I began to feel a twinge of guilt. It didn’t manifest itself until we were in a furniture store and I started to realize just how expensive some of this stuff is. I couldn’t help but wonder if we really needed it.
Bob Jones Drops Interracial Dating Ban
If you read Friday’s pondering, it should be of interest to you that Bob Jones University has dropped their no interracial dating policy. Apparently Bob Jones III appeared on the Larry King show Friday night and announced that the school was dropping the policy. I find that kind of interesting, because the letter on their web page explaining and defending their position was posted Friday. Apparently they had quite a change of heart. Jones explained the shift by saying the school doesn’t want to cause more harm to the body of Christ than they’re doing good with the rule. Also, there is no Bible verse to back up the rule, just a principle, and one that isn’t exactly being assaulted by dating between races. Jones also called it a rule no one talks about, apparently a non-issue on campus that has only served to stir up national controversy. So the school has dropped the rule.
I’m glad they’ve dropped the rule. It’s certainly a good step. It does seem to be an interesting turn of events though. Not very expected. It’s almost no fun when you’re arguing and the other person suddenly says, ‘Okay, you’re right. I give up.’ You’re kind of left saying, ‘Okay, good. Well then…’ There’s not much else to say. It still is an interesting debate to consider. The one thing that bothers me was how adamantly the school defended the rule, and now they’ve suddenly changed it. I know I sound like I’m whining because I don’t have anything to fight over now, but it just makes me wonder. I should probably just shut up and be happy they changed the rule.
I Don’t Get the Confederate Flag
Sometimes when I sit down so late at night I don’t now what to write about. My day’s been a blur and I can’t pull one idea to expand upon. At those times I turn to the news and looks for something interesting. I usually find something.
The Confederate flag. It’s been steeped in a lot of controversy lately, and frankly I don’t understand. A lot of Southern states use the flag or a portion of the flag in the state symbols. South Carolina is currently being boycotted because of it. Today 1,500 people marched on the Alabama state capitol in support of the Confederate flag. They want it returned to its “rightful position” atop the capitol building.
Bob Jones and Interracial Dating
Recently in the media there’s been a big fuss about Bob Jones University. Presidential Candidate George W. Bush spoke there, as many politicians have, and the media began harassing Bush for speaking at a university with racist policies. That’s the issue in a nut shell, and I’ve been spending my day mulling it over.
Just what are Bob Jones’ racist policies? They have a rule against interracial dating. It stems from what they call a Biblical principle against a “one-world.” They claim that when God separated people at the Tower of Babel in Genesis, he was stopping humanity’s effort for one nation, one language, one people. Apparently God wanted us spread across the world with different languages, different races, different governments. In opposition to this one-world idea, Bob Jones is against any effort to unite the world. They are against one government, one church, or anything that could lead us down the road towards a one-world system. Therefore they don’t allow interracial dating among their students.
School Violence
Twice my high school made the local news. Once as a suburban school with a clean reputation and a kid in a coma after another student punched him and his head smacked the asphalt. It happened again during lunch outside of Burger King. Ethnic tension turned into a stabbing and the news media descended once again on West Bloomfield High. But guns, shootings? It’s something I’ve always reserved for TV and video games. But the evening news is beginning to sound more and more like the last action flick I saw. I can’t help but ask why, and look for an answer. But as I gaze into the depths of humanity, I realize our answer goes much deeper than gun control and child safety locks. What happened to the love of Jesus? Is it somehow possible that this generation has not effectively seen the life changing love we have to offer? Perhaps Christ’s love wouldn’t change things, but maybe it would. Maybe the neighbor of that 6-year-old boy never took the time. I can’t help but wonder if I’m not taking the time. Maybe too many people passed that Pittsburgh man by, and his heart grew angry and callused. I can’t help but wonder who I let pass by. Some are calling for legislation, but I wonder if love is what we really need.