Sometimes, after you’ve tried everything else in your power, the best solution is just to walk away, and let the problem take care of itself.
All posts by Kevin D. Hendricks
Climb the Trees
We kids go through a lot these days. I wonder how many of us really understand what this life is all about. We’re assaulted with so many images and sound bytes and things to believe in. It’s hard to know what to believe. It’s hard to know who to trust. What others think becomes way too important. What I think becomes way too unimportant. We feel insignificant. But we’re not. We only need to realize our potential. And rise above the crap society throws at us. We need to climb the trees.
Michael Moore as Jesus
The road is straight and narrow. Black as night. The double yellow line slices down the road, accented with white lines at the road’s edge. My headlights cut into the darkness as I course into the future. In my mirror I see the airy and hazy mistakes of the past. What lies beyond the coming bend? Where am I going? Where are you going?
I don’t want to throw up my arms in despair and join the quitters brigade. I want to press on. I want to dirty my hands. I want to roll up my sleeves. What do you want to do?
I saw a portion of a documentary by Michael Moore today. He’s the man behind TV Nation, the documentary Roger & Me that exposed GM, the book Downsize This!, and a new cable show the Awful Truth. I doubt the man is a Christian, but I can’t help but see him as a Christ figure. The man is the champion of the underdog, a man of the people. He stands up for the down trodden. Roger & Me exposed the practices of General Motors in the mid 80’s that put thousands out of work. He goes straight to companies with his film crew, and asks to talk to the CEO. He knows his facts. Your company has made $6 billion in profit in the last six years, yet you’ve laid off 13,000 people. Why? He confronted the CEO of Nike about unfair labor practices in their plants in Indonesia. He begged the CEO to open a plant in Flint, Michigan, a city where 67% of the children live below the poverty line. A city that was the center of the General Motors downsizing. In the beginning of this book Downsize This!, Moore compares the Oklahoma City bombing to the destruction of a plant in Flint. A photo is shown of both buildings, and they looked identical. The caption read, ‘What is terrorism?’ Is it terrorism for a company to put people out of work and ruin people’s livelihood just to make a few more bucks? You get my point. Michael Moore isn’t afraid to stand up to corporations and speak for the people. I can’t help but see Christ in his actions. Perhaps the church should consider this approach.
Church, Quitting and Baseball
Closing the door to my truck, I scan the grounds. Everything is still and quiet. I am late, and everyone else is inside. Walking towards the building, everything feels strangely eerie. It feels like I’m walking into a war zone. I open the door, and strange faces greet me. No smile. No warm handshake. I round the corner to find the warmth of familiarity shattered. My usual row is empty and cold. I find an empty seat and my eyes look across the room. Few familiar faces smile back at me. The songs seem forced and hollow. The message seems empty, airy, and beyond me. But was I really listening? Welcome home. Welcome to church. Where unity is stranger.
The American Way. We hear a lot about this great country of America and our character. The protestant work ethic has often defined America. It’s the land of opportunity. Roll up your sleeves, dirty your palms, and you will prosper. But is that still the attitude of America? An NBC special on Jesse Ventura tonight showed a period of Ventura’s announcer days when he claimed that cheating was the American way. I think that pessimistic slide is on the right track. I’d like to claim that quitting is now the American way. When the going gets tough, the American goes walking. When things get hard, we quit. We throw our hands up in the air and call it quits. We don’t want to work anymore. We don’t want to dirty the brow. Divorce, jobs, friendships. It’s everywhere. What a great country.
Well, I can’t be all negative today. Some friends and I played some ball today. Ah, the great American past time. It’s pretty obvious it’s not my past time. Yet still, there’s nothing like feeling a bat in your hands as it connects with the ball, and you watch the ball sail through the air. It flies higher and higher, arcs beautifully, and falls just beyond the infield: My best hit of the day. Kevin D. Hendricks, baseball legend.
Random Thoughts During a 12-Hour Drive
And 600 miles later I’m home. Whew. What a trip. Too many sights, too many thoughts, and too many miles.
A 12 hour drive is pretty boring, and you have to find someway to entertain yourself. I think I managed nicely. The 6-disc CD changer helps too.
Way-too bright, fluorescent, spandex pants on a guy in the bathroom of a rest area in Michigan and free donut holes at a gas station in Wisconsin.
In Chicago, express lanes mean just that. You always thought a meat wagon was an off color name for an ambulance? Nope, in Wisconsin that’s the truck that drives along the shoulder of the freeway picking up the road-kill deer.
Eerie fog tinted red with brake lights and lightning so heavy in the distance it looked like a strobe light.
Kevin, the navigation wonder, makes a blunder and tours parts of downtown Chicago. I should get lost more often, downtown Chicago looks like a fun place.
People fighting in Target over a shopping cart, you consider doing something, but what can you? They were acting worse than 5-year-olds.
And if you really want a thrill, try driving through Chicago-rush-hour traffic while playing the soundtrack to the new Star Wars movie. That’s freaky.
Just Saw Star Wars: Phantom Menace
As a proud member of the Star Wars generation, I just returned from seeing the new movie. Wow. I must say, it’s quite an experience to grow up with the original trilogy, play with all the toys, and now watch the phenomenon happen all over again. It’s way cool to see it happen and notice all the intricate little plot details. Lucas is a pretty keen guy. I’d love to write to no end about all the cool stuff I saw, but then I’d probably ruin the movie for you. So I’ll shut up. All I can say is stay in the theater until the credits are totally done rolling. There’s something cool at the end.
“You can’t stop the change.” Shmi (Anakin’s mother)
“Who would have thought that Darth Vader was Luke’s father!?” Homer Simpson
Oh yeah, I’m heading home now.
Lion’s Den
Inch thick dust soaking into your pores and the strain of tendons and muscles as you mount the last step with the heavy box. The falling droplets of water, dotting everything and drenching to the skin. The steady lull of windshield wipers and a hazy rain that fogs the window. A metal grate and a ten foot drop. I look through the iron bars, down to the pit below. The lion’s den. The still water mirrors everything, and the gray night sky provides the perfect backdrop. A cool breeze, finally. It’s time to say goodbye. But I just want to sit and stare.
Too Much Stuff
Oh the joys of packing. I realized today that I have too much crap. I spent an hour or so deleting old e-mail messages this afternoon. I think I need to learn how to throw stuff away as soon as I don’t need it. I’m also wishing I was more organized. I keep finding all these slips of paper with quotes or book titles written on them. I end up labeling a folder “quotes” and sticking ’em all in there. What a filing system. I probably have six folders that are essentially “various.” Well, you never know when I might need something. Yeah, right. How useful are my CIFA theater reviews? There’s something about being in college and having to pack and move all your stuff twice a year that makes you want to keep a lot less. Especially this summer since I’ll be living in Chicago. I’m trying to figure out what I need. What I really need. I might need a lot of things. But most likely not. I’m trying to pitch a lot of that most likely not stuff. Some kind of a Thoreau-esque attempt to live simply.
Packing, Hockey and House Numbers
I’m done. I can wipe my hands of school work, I can shake the dust off my feet. My last final was tonight, and the school year is pretty much done. Of course I’m still here. I’m not going home until Saturday. I’ll just take my sweet time packing. Speaking of packing, you’ll be impressed to hear that I cleaned. Well, sort of. There is no longer a mound that my desk is located beneath. There is now one small pile located on the floor, a few things on my desk, and one overflowing grocery bag waiting to be ushered to the dumpster. My roommate must be breathing a sigh of relief.
Speaking of things that are done, the Red Wings lost to the Colorado Avalanche tonight, 5-2. Thus, the Wings are eliminated from the playoffs, and Colorado advances to the Conference Finals. I’m kind of bummed. But to tell you the truth, I’m not so bummed that they didn’t win a third straight Stanley Cup. I’m bummed because I won’t get to watch anymore Red Wing hockey. Nothing beats playoff hockey, and I love watching the Wings. But now it’s over, and I only got to watch two or three games.
Did you know that there are places in this country where the house numbers are single digits? You could live on 7 Recreation Drive. A friend of mine lives on 3 Ellen Lane. No boring three or four digit house numbers for them. America. What a beautiful country.
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I look up into the dark night sky and ask what sweet perfume this is on my lips.
One More Day of Finals
Ah, one more day of finals mayhem to go. Yeah, I admit it, I do get off pretty easy. But I’ve had a fairly stressful few weeks. But it’s almost over. Ah. Then I can finally dig my desk out. See what color it really is.
Why is it that when I’m the busiest, the most stressed out, and the most in need of it, I don’t turn to the one that can truly help me?