tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48811005639561499342024-03-04T20:36:02.691-08:00The Eternal InternAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-42063756342017541872014-06-05T12:51:00.001-07:002014-06-05T12:54:15.228-07:00When Great Trees Fall<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0EqBMg7774zfjWJ5ZfPf2KD33NmcBLx_ghsVbNCuvtN85LloZlwuUwfJWaz_R9a9ulsc-okavAUVuqbzMfXC9BPGp7x6Eqzk77cU3iW2gC3gPcJSFr4cOMyTItatw5ntAN-syvLabZ6y/s1600/img_2459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA0EqBMg7774zfjWJ5ZfPf2KD33NmcBLx_ghsVbNCuvtN85LloZlwuUwfJWaz_R9a9ulsc-okavAUVuqbzMfXC9BPGp7x6Eqzk77cU3iW2gC3gPcJSFr4cOMyTItatw5ntAN-syvLabZ6y/s1600/img_2459.jpg" height="191" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arabic Typesetting"; font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;">When great trees fall,<br />
rocks on distant hills shudder,<br />
lions hunker down<br />
in tall grasses,<br />
and even elephants<br />
lumber after safety.<br />
<br />
When great trees fall<br />
in forests,<br />
small things recoil into silence,<br />
their senses<br />
eroded beyond fear.<br />
<br />
When great souls die,<br />
the air around us becomes<br />
light, rare, sterile.<br />
We breathe, briefly.<br />
Our eyes, briefly,<br />
see with<br />
a hurtful clarity.<br />
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,<br />
examines,<br />
gnaws on kind words<br />
unsaid,<br />
promised walks<br />
never taken.<br />
<br />
Great souls die and<br />
our reality, bound to<br />
them, takes leave of us.<br />
Our souls,<br />
dependent upon their<br />
nurture,<br />
now shrink, wizened.<br />
Our minds, formed<br />
and informed by their<br />
radiance,<br />
fall away.<br />
We are not so much maddened<br />
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance<br />
of dark, cold<br />
caves.<br />
<br />
And when great souls die,<br />
after a period peace blooms,<br />
slowly and always<br />
irregularly. Spaces fill<br />
with a kind of<br />
soothing electric vibration.<br />
Our senses, restored, never<br />
to be the same, whisper to us.<br />
They existed. They existed.<br />
We can be. Be and be<br />
better. For they existed.<br />
<br />
-Maya Angelou<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-37576691779381817422014-05-30T21:41:00.001-07:002014-05-30T21:41:13.980-07:00MiraclesBelieve in miracles. I have seen so many of them come when every other indication would say that hope was lost. Hope is never lost. If those miracles do not come soon or fully or seemingly at all, remember the Savior’s own anguished example: if the bitter cup does not pass, drink it and be strong, trusting in happier days ahead. (Like a Broken Vessel -holland October 2013)<br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDeLF0qk-3eHvbbJWHfOf3JD4qQ1NzZ6CF6noMcG46H2llzsdktsrd5oiJCNzmPO4Q-_0rBWsAgid3mVBWGglDRLup1cBelYI9yoAoFZxoXfgfFdxAjUJd1NKxWwFJ1lwe0pe1JIraMez/s640/blogger-image-50447392.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDeLF0qk-3eHvbbJWHfOf3JD4qQ1NzZ6CF6noMcG46H2llzsdktsrd5oiJCNzmPO4Q-_0rBWsAgid3mVBWGglDRLup1cBelYI9yoAoFZxoXfgfFdxAjUJd1NKxWwFJ1lwe0pe1JIraMez/s640/blogger-image-50447392.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-42900259905929050012014-03-05T11:59:00.002-08:002014-03-05T11:59:25.071-08:00From the movie, A Time to Kill: What is truth?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
What is it in us that seeks the
truth? Is it our minds or is it our hearts?</h3>
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I had a great summation all worked
out, full of some sharp lawyering, but I'm not going to read it. I'm here to
apologize. I am young, and I am inexperienced. But you cannot hold Carl Lee
Hailey responsible for my shortcomings. Do you see, in all this legal
maneuvering, something has gotten lost. That something is the truth. Now, it is
incumbent upon us lawyers not to just talk about the truth but to actually seek
it, to find it, to live it. My teacher taught me that. Let's take Dr. Bass, for
example. Now obviously, I would have never knowingly put a convicted felon on
the stand. I hope you can believe that. But what is the truth? That, that he's
a disgraced liar? What if I told you that the woman he was accused of raping
was 17, he was 23, that she later became his wife, bore his child and is still
married to the man today? Does that make his testimony more or less true? What
is it in us that seeks the truth? Is it our minds, or is it our hearts?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I set out to prove a black man
could receive a fair trial in the South, that we are all equal in the eyes of
the law. That's not the truth 'cause the eyes of the law are humanized, yours
and mine, and until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to
be even-handed. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own
prejudices. So until that day, we have a duty under God to seek the truth - not
with our eyes, and not with our minds where fear and hate turn commonality into
prejudice, but with our hearts - but we don't know better<o:p></o:p></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-82959286069862750672014-03-05T07:09:00.001-08:002014-03-05T07:09:19.085-08:00i am going to paste this on my forehead <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr6ElxeUaMjAZeVmYVvKZm0QlwjIpC9jN9CmZ-xaFSrrK0Zm9IcvyzVcf3R2_9RyErBUkmymjqVVzYMJD6rZCvpGnrLzJTOUTNQPo4lZHa8DJ2t3xVxeGwuo5rrzJZFNeXi-aa3RBzYHN/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEr6ElxeUaMjAZeVmYVvKZm0QlwjIpC9jN9CmZ-xaFSrrK0Zm9IcvyzVcf3R2_9RyErBUkmymjqVVzYMJD6rZCvpGnrLzJTOUTNQPo4lZHa8DJ2t3xVxeGwuo5rrzJZFNeXi-aa3RBzYHN/s1600/unnamed.jpg" height="303" width="400" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-71180584604093888582014-02-25T00:22:00.002-08:002014-02-25T00:22:47.997-08:00The Great Gatsby, a wealth spring of knowledge<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just found this quote from one of my favorite books:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6JHJ6GuchoD-TxHXzGCu-lbmcMT7snwKVdS2sulolwAQEKZRsZohbh1GfAl7lINCW_3JUpOkyaCeXmFAZZdW-8O6TCS2HhsMwPd4v0y-jcdwYFD8-PYWV4HKO29ltGd6qsHnAxYD-4Y1/s1600/photo+(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA6JHJ6GuchoD-TxHXzGCu-lbmcMT7snwKVdS2sulolwAQEKZRsZohbh1GfAl7lINCW_3JUpOkyaCeXmFAZZdW-8O6TCS2HhsMwPd4v0y-jcdwYFD8-PYWV4HKO29ltGd6qsHnAxYD-4Y1/s1600/photo+(1).JPG" /></a></div>
<br />
"...I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life."</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-4280018313288527822014-02-12T09:19:00.002-08:002014-02-13T00:02:23.675-08:00Time to give power to a third political party<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt23LYzjasSGBbU59c1leMqm4TPvBxWhem7_lpsX_YFE1uV1pFSWTRc_xyFvBU3U2j7gxDh7j2Ld9aaeSlHQOUl2GGnRc2Up79AYopGHGQoATIar38lNWEj1pFJ6aD3tEuoIqEjctDu4lv/s1600/party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt23LYzjasSGBbU59c1leMqm4TPvBxWhem7_lpsX_YFE1uV1pFSWTRc_xyFvBU3U2j7gxDh7j2Ld9aaeSlHQOUl2GGnRc2Up79AYopGHGQoATIar38lNWEj1pFJ6aD3tEuoIqEjctDu4lv/s1600/party.jpg" /></a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">"Since
then common sense has been bound and nourished by tradition, so that when
traditional standards cease to make sense and no longer serve as general rules
under which all or most particular instances can be subsumed, common sense
unavoidably atrophies."</span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">-Hannah Arendt</span></h3>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Lets’ give power to a third party. This isn’t such a
crazy idea, I promise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Neither the Republican nor the Democratic
establishment represent the American peoples at present, and this division
between the “Man” and citizenry is only growing, not decreasing. Just take a poll or ask your neighbor. Each party has become more subsumed in parroting
their respective ideological mantra, more infatuated with the cult of personality
surrounding X political figurehead of the week, than on focusing on and/or
advocating a particular truism or principle, let alone represent the American people. Abraham Lincoln would be upset. Of
course every nation deals with the ebbs and flows of various ideological and
political cycles, however, there is a point when a remodel of the status quo
wastes more time and energy than necessary. Back to the drawing board.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In thinking about what this new third party should
be, we first need to acknowledge the age-old, most fundamental question that governments
have posed time immemorial—what is the role of government? In order to do this,
we first need to define what constitutes a political issue, and what a social
issue. This is a nasty, knotted ball of yarn to undo though, living in an age
where political and social issues have become fused together, and moderns don’t
know what the difference is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For example, while individuals try and make the
legalization of pot or gay marriage into a politically left or right issue, the actual
underlying <i>political </i>issue is not about the moral conflict between being a liberal pro-pot hippie and a conservative
Christian anti-pot hater—these types of understandings ultimately distort what
the real <i>political</i> conflict is about.
Legalization of pot, in and of itself is a social issue. I know conservatives
who advocate legalizing Marijuana and Democrats against it. No, the correct
political question, for these types of situations is about deciding whether
legalizing pot should be a state or federal issue. Should the central government hold
the majority of the power, or do individual states assume primary responsibility? This
is the political question that people need to engage with, not a social one. The
national government, as one united entity, does not determine whether smoking
pot, legalizing same-sex marriage, or walking outside on a rainy day is moral
or not—individuals do. When you get into labeling the “enemy” in a social
context, you quickly run into paradoxical conundrums. Who is who exactly? Can
you believe in X and Y, but not Z if you belong to group F? For example, there is more politically in common
between the “liberal” urban homesteader and the self-sufficient “conservative” doomsday
prepping man, than perhaps liberals have in common with liberals or conservatives with
conservatives. Both the homesteader and the Apocalyptic, place a high value on their
right to govern themselves, and live accordingly to how each one sees fit (within
a limit of course—now entering Supreme Court territory).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Instead of asking the deeper political or more philosophical
question though, like what is good governance, as of late, Americans fill their
political lives more with the superficial minutia of social issues—yes important,
but citizenry should not assign their central government the role of dictating
morality about each pot, marriage, homeschooling decision. Because when we, the
citizenry, make dealing with social issues <i>the </i>primary concern of our political realm, our candidates for office only talk and think about these
social issues, rather than focus on issues of federalism--and the mechanics of government.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Because politicians appear disengaged from discussing these deeper,
political, philosophical and mechanical issues, we need a third party that addresses, and
delves into these questions: what is the role of government and why do we need
it, combining tenets of liberalism and conservatism into one whole. Perhaps, classical liberalism
anyone? I don't know.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It is not just the focus on social issues that has made the political scene increasingly vapid and frustrating per usual for the voter, but
the lack of dialogue and civility observed within each respective party, and
between one another as well. This makes a third party sound all the more desirable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If our only
likely and viable candidates for the 2016 Presidential Election are Democrat
contender Hilary Clinton and the Republicans’ Chris Christie, with the possible Jeb
Bush/Marco Rubio thrown in there, America’s future political outlook is even bleaker
than I previously anticipated. These candidates make social issues paramount,
and do not delve into the mechanics specifically, of what makes good governance. Should we require that
candidates write their own version of the Federalist Papers, as a qualification
to run? It is not necessarily that these candidates are inherently evil,
arrogant, or incompetent (as I am sure many would argue), but rather that if
these folks, with the addition of maybe a “Hail Mary” candidate jettisoned into
the race at the last minute, are the best and the brightest representatives America has to offer...the 2016 race should take a rain check (if
only). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">If people don’t start examining the root of current political discontent,
looking at what the real political issues are—how much should the state be “left
alone” and when should the federal government intervene, we will be looking at
candidates that increasingly talk more about social issues, until the louder
voice wins or the popular one triumphs—rather than dealing with age-old
questions about the necessary components of good governance, diminishing true political debate and inquiry. People should ask <i>how</i>
we should govern, not <i>what</i> should we
govern. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">The meager selection of qualified presidential
candidates however, is only one symptom of the dissonance, discontent, and incivility that has manifested itself in the realm of politics. Making social issues the </span></span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">main </i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">issue has contributed in significant part, to the oversimplification and </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 17.1200008392334px;">dumbing</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"> down of the electorate, because people do not <i>think </i>or ponder enough about <i>how </i>they should be governed. Parties are more concerned with disseminating their ideological slogan, propaganda,
and rhetoric about gay marriage-this, homeschooling-that than in applying practical
solutions or employing moral methods to build a stronger country, looking at
the political aspect of these issues. When parties are more concerned with rehashing
various ad hominem attacks against each other (Reid vs. Boehner, Hilary vs.
Obama, list personal squabble of the week.) rather than engaging in productive dialogue
about what constitutes good governance, it’s time to reassess. However, this “reassessment”
is not panning out to well. For example, recently, Republicans created a think
tank in order to revamp their image (which is in sore need of a makeover)
called, Para Bellum Labs. So, what is the problem? The GOP not only named its innovation
lab after a Nazi Pistol, but in Latin, the literal meaning is “prepare for war (see
</span></span><a href="http://gawker.com/the-gop-just-named-its-hot-new-innovation-lab-after-a-n-1515675052" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">Gawker</a><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 107%;">
for further details). Huh? I don’t understand how this approach cultivates a
more engaging or productive political climate, or fosters deeper thinking
beyond, “you—bad, we—good.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But, while Republicans scramble to upgrade and
improve their image, appeasing all their Tea Party, moderate and Libertarian
members alike, the Democrats aren’t exactly a winning team to pick either. From
Obama’s usage of executive orders to the less-then-stellar implementation of
Obamacare, a lot of Democrats are finding themselves increasingly at odds with
their own presidential elect. For example, Democratic congressmen are just as
infuriated with Obama, as their Republican counterparts are, when Obama’s imperialism
begins to undermine their congressional authority. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Listening to enraged citizenry on the phone
during the government shutdown of 2013 only furthered my general awareness, of the seething
and, also, not-so-subtle anger and angst which Americans harbor towards their government
right now. I mean, I don’t really know if Todd from West Virginia is serious
about storming the Capitol alongside his comrades in arms, but I certainly don’t
want to find out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">How about
that third party anyone? Who is in charge anyway?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-31455851695217248872014-02-02T07:41:00.002-08:002014-02-02T09:07:05.957-08:00Myers Briggs personality test...I am an INFP<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8EofnvST1SnsdSOsLkvakYRWSHTiFQlBpzcw5vtUJBVJxXA1sb1vCWPcEDQNwlrDOB2dkuuiKheWmXYNVOKyqQs5aXfvxxe_2Q8TT9d_L7F0HLNAWDmDUUyt-R1oyaMZfEI8G8qYTJlZI/s1600/depp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8EofnvST1SnsdSOsLkvakYRWSHTiFQlBpzcw5vtUJBVJxXA1sb1vCWPcEDQNwlrDOB2dkuuiKheWmXYNVOKyqQs5aXfvxxe_2Q8TT9d_L7F0HLNAWDmDUUyt-R1oyaMZfEI8G8qYTJlZI/s1600/depp.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
I took the Myers Briggs personality test and while I was once an INTJ, ENTJ, and ENFJ I am now an <b>INFP. </b>You should take the test too here: <a href="http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test">Myers Briggs Test</a><br />
<br />
And INFP means....what exactly?<br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Introverted (I)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Reserved, listen carefully, prefer solitary
activities, more comfortable when alone than when around other people, get
exhausted by social interaction<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Intuitive (N)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Introspective, rely on their imagination, absorbed
in ideas, focus on what might happen<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Feeling (F)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sensitive, follow their hearts, keep feelings close
to the surface, focus on harmony and cooperation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Prospecting (P)</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Probing, prefer keeping their options open,
reluctant to commit, relaxed about their work, seek freedom<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><b>INFP strengths</b></span></div>
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<ul style="margin-top: 0in;" type="disc">
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Passionate
and energetic</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. INFPs tend to be very energetic
when it comes to causes they believe in and are willing to fight for. They
may be quiet and even shy in public, but their passion should not be
underestimated.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Very
creative</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. INFP personalities find it easy
to interpret signs and hidden meanings – furthermore, their well-developed
intuition has no difficulties connecting the dots and coming up with
interesting, unusual ideas.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Open-minded
and flexible</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. INFPs dislike being constrained
by rules and do not seek to impose them on others. They tend to be fairly
liberal, open-minded individuals, as long as their principles and ideas
are not being challenged.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Idealistic</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">.
INFPs are perhaps the most idealistic of all personality types, believing
that people are inherently good and everyone should do their best to fight
evil and injustice in the world.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Seek
and value harmony</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. INFPs do not want to
dominate and work hard to ensure that everyone’s opinion is valued and
heard.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Can
be very dedicated and hard-working</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. As mentioned
above, INFP personalities are both very passionate and idealistic. Not
surprisingly, they can also be unbelievably dedicated to their chosen
cause or an organization. It is unlikely that an INFP will give up simply
because everyone else has abandoned the cause or it is getting difficult
to keep going.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b>My favorite bit was this one though: </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">INFPs may also often retreat into their “hermit”
state (this personality type can easily switch between the two states),
withdrawing from the world and getting lost in their deep thoughts – their
partner may then need to spend quite a lot of effort to energize and “awaken”
the INFP."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Hahahahaahaha. I guess I am a hermit. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-76889163936316421802014-01-29T14:04:00.001-08:002014-01-29T14:04:36.155-08:00My special place: St. Paul's Cathedral<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkA1IYMXqlY_SEz_wBLMkhUZwquPo4wBsMzjFHvL2fAugheaOJmqWV0oZRaIrpaF4Z3HNHdcD1LxypISSL19JY3GMcu3fDw4hBpBXR2y-G0pi-vuXqbhG699YshSc0faIO84_EnG-7ZZa3/s640/blogger-image-1491733208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkA1IYMXqlY_SEz_wBLMkhUZwquPo4wBsMzjFHvL2fAugheaOJmqWV0oZRaIrpaF4Z3HNHdcD1LxypISSL19JY3GMcu3fDw4hBpBXR2y-G0pi-vuXqbhG699YshSc0faIO84_EnG-7ZZa3/s640/blogger-image-1491733208.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Braved the blitzkrieg. Braved the SAJ. She still stands tall. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-64809385130256610142014-01-24T06:08:00.001-08:002014-01-24T06:13:25.431-08:00God always answers our prayers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0" height="225" id="flashObj" width="300"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=2559963664001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lds.org%2Fmedia-library%2Fvideo%2F2011-10-057-peters-revelation-to-take-the-gospel-to-the-gentiles%3Flang%3Deng&playerID=710849472001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAApYNoccE~,xDmRWfqDlPhbhwoOkZ1F_TSoe20nAtRQ&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=2559963664001&linkBaseURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lds.org%2Fmedia-library%2Fvideo%2F2011-10-057-peters-revelation-to-take-the-gospel-to-the-gentiles%3Flang%3Deng&playerID=710849472001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAApYNoccE~,xDmRWfqDlPhbhwoOkZ1F_TSoe20nAtRQ&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="300" height="225" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" swLiveConnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br />
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It often seems like an eternity, painful, and utterly frustrating, in getting answers to our questions and in fulfilling our deepest desires. But no matter how seemingly small, or miraculous His response appears to be, the Lord ultimately always astonished us beyond out own comprehension, using both the most unexpected of ways and individuals to solve some of our most puzzling conundrums, curing our anguish. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-60676496907221744262014-01-21T09:18:00.002-08:002014-01-21T09:18:49.958-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgpLbLTLcFt6F-Nz7AhE22UtZx3pP-qK2Ss75sSvnxyHkbV3i-SZ7kukLy30xoCcGC65uByHJb4631h_UgsHIvdCOoTtGxx42160w9lui9SpIk_IC-5LY4NBZA7yXufUF8spbEiXzyUfw/s1600/stalin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgpLbLTLcFt6F-Nz7AhE22UtZx3pP-qK2Ss75sSvnxyHkbV3i-SZ7kukLy30xoCcGC65uByHJb4631h_UgsHIvdCOoTtGxx42160w9lui9SpIk_IC-5LY4NBZA7yXufUF8spbEiXzyUfw/s1600/stalin.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.</b></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>- George Orwell </b></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOYe7XzVmMwN-gXBuesb8RXj606MJEZgeeWUZDTJd3FuWDf1PlshFeqI9BeEPp2Rm2-1SnU05CLhhSUXGJHKud3_9okWpGCCh3Z1CZllEXqM3ice9TrfF2S_LXTFjT1EvXf0_JjMTXnwJY/s1600/russian+prop.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOYe7XzVmMwN-gXBuesb8RXj606MJEZgeeWUZDTJd3FuWDf1PlshFeqI9BeEPp2Rm2-1SnU05CLhhSUXGJHKud3_9okWpGCCh3Z1CZllEXqM3ice9TrfF2S_LXTFjT1EvXf0_JjMTXnwJY/s1600/russian+prop.JPG" height="252" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdZwPo1s3VjMSa4BOBXlBtmoYxli_3RURdVHV8WXFQxwEVeesJgcliY0vEbTpc1ak7OqHOYaPdaCC4Ny5NKnLDxFNYKIiUrYSF8PLLKk9XieZkJ9hg71qPnbaqKTiTbT0Otjd8VgvGDFL/s1600/soviet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdZwPo1s3VjMSa4BOBXlBtmoYxli_3RURdVHV8WXFQxwEVeesJgcliY0vEbTpc1ak7OqHOYaPdaCC4Ny5NKnLDxFNYKIiUrYSF8PLLKk9XieZkJ9hg71qPnbaqKTiTbT0Otjd8VgvGDFL/s1600/soviet.jpg" height="320" width="244" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;"><br /></span></div>
I love Soviet Propaganda pictures. Gems they are.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-7130716512138801622014-01-17T15:48:00.000-08:002014-01-17T15:48:48.889-08:00Done outside of the Hollywood bubble, "The Square" is a must see Netflix original <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJoVBIHkzl1BcjoFPRl4RECB6bGp3lC4N2yN4oIeoLLtZccgN4jgX89XxiYsd0xipJVdwAqJYG4uANWzrn7ZBMO1yofclY6q_atHmOu2Q5aofwWLD3NC813ohDMA2hERNnBoSsC2f2QBqN/s1600/the+square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJoVBIHkzl1BcjoFPRl4RECB6bGp3lC4N2yN4oIeoLLtZccgN4jgX89XxiYsd0xipJVdwAqJYG4uANWzrn7ZBMO1yofclY6q_atHmOu2Q5aofwWLD3NC813ohDMA2hERNnBoSsC2f2QBqN/s1600/the+square.jpg" height="320" width="219" /></a></div>
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We are not looking for a leader as much as we are looking <b>for a conscience</b></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
What is a leader anyway?</div>
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Are they going to offer solutions from the heavens?</div>
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They won't do that.</div>
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The thing is if we are able to <b>create this conscience </b>within the society, we'll be able to find a good president.</div>
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We are not looking for a leader to rule us. Because everyone that went to Tahir is a leader. </div>
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We are looking <b>for a conscience.</b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
-<i>Ahmed Hassan </i></div>
<br />
Good presidents come from a moral people. Not vice versa. However, more often than not, civilians fall into the mistake of worshiping demigods of particular movements, rather then relying on the more "boring" and sturdy age-old virtues of the past, which gave individuals their moral center in the first place. People can chant slogans, but if they don't understand the meaning of them, the reasoning behind positive change eventually becomes lost. If individuals are set on changing society for the better, then communities have to place an emphasis on building a societal conscience and set of values among its members. Without a unified understanding and agreement of what makes right or wrong, old mistakes are inevitably repeated, and new inroads are never made. After all, the majority of individuals have the ability to obtain and maintain power, and then loose it just as easily, repeating "Roman Empire Cycle." However, it is a lot harder to be a consistently good and honorable person-- or people for that matter.<br />
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<u>Check the film out on the official website:</u> <a href="http://thesquarefilm.com/about">http://thesquarefilm.com/about</a> and watch it on Netflix. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-16157860003026290732014-01-14T12:35:00.002-08:002014-01-14T12:38:05.119-08:00Two-dimensional Living<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPeiRUn8draoinN7823h0vd6LSgxayiE1Qn7kMp5i8YhqwVyR1Th6ogRAR2J7ZwEi-Wb3iRtEF0WgpZ_TURKg4WFO2Hl2QYY4gU9PWPSeckWWNWIhVlxKAkhiBO-XckVUmRgFe2hwTCx-8/s1600/adam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPeiRUn8draoinN7823h0vd6LSgxayiE1Qn7kMp5i8YhqwVyR1Th6ogRAR2J7ZwEi-Wb3iRtEF0WgpZ_TURKg4WFO2Hl2QYY4gU9PWPSeckWWNWIhVlxKAkhiBO-XckVUmRgFe2hwTCx-8/s1600/adam.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px;">Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?</b></div>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="line-height: 17px;">Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?</b></div>
</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 17px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
(T.S. Eliot)</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">While
the 21<sup>st</sup> century provides many opportunities to participate within
the three-dimensional space and live a life to its fullest—with more opportunities
and advantages present today than in any other era, many, instead choose to believe
in and view the world through a two-dimensional lens. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Two-dimensional living
though, distorts rather than sheds further light onto reality, distorting both
one’s personal life and an individual’s understanding of the world at large. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And, what exactly is two-dimensional
living?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhw7THXxHb32Idgve8zBT-01HFf_G5nc24z40Wh3d4nqW9LDwybxU04kSCkQdCdfOKK4hqbuZAdPkRXC8bWcZYenvraGKPz_pE1nbT9TB93VI0LBjsdjOC1CdkdOHu0IjS52Ji7bDYNgNa/s1600/elle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhw7THXxHb32Idgve8zBT-01HFf_G5nc24z40Wh3d4nqW9LDwybxU04kSCkQdCdfOKK4hqbuZAdPkRXC8bWcZYenvraGKPz_pE1nbT9TB93VI0LBjsdjOC1CdkdOHu0IjS52Ji7bDYNgNa/s1600/elle.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">For instance, we view
celebrities as two-dimensional beings. We see them on TV, in movies, and on
magazine covers—the 2D world. However, celebrities are three-dimensional
people, not 2D images. They are not flat. They are very real— I mean just ask
them if they are, after the umpteenth paparazzi attack. And I know that’s a
“captain obvious” observation, but do we really think about or understand the
ramifications of constantly viewing them, and many others things in the world from
our respective 2D glasses? After all, two-dimensions isn’t reality, but rather a
snapshot—and usually a very well-crafted one at that. We see the <i>Vogue </i>photo shopped images, the smiles
and the wit, gracing a 2D picture, but the circumstance surrounding that
person’s 3D reality is usually quite different. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A 2D perspective and subsequent
living habits that accompany it have ramifications in every aspect of our life—not just within
our entertainment realm. We spectate at everything, rather than participating
in it. From watching TV, sports, movies, engrossing ourselves in social media
(here comes the customary Twitter and Facebook shout out) we over time gradually
detach ourselves from reality rather than recognizing the truth more. We don’t
play soccer—we watch soccer. We don’t go to a play as often or read a book—we
watch a movie. 2D realities are even more commonplace within the work
environment now, individuals existing on a computer, engaging their reality and
with others electronically, rather than through a face-to-face interaction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I mean I love my Amazon
Prime <i>Justified</i> marathons. Let’s be
honest. And 2D interfaces whether they be computers, TVs, movie screens, phones
(the list goes on) all have their place. However, when people start to live
more in cyberspace than within real space, it’s only a matter of time before we
subject our 3D life to the 2D perspective that we, ourselves, have become more
accustomed too. Everything, whether a person or situation, soon become either
more exaggerated or unnecessarily under-exaggerated. We become obsessed with
talking-heads and their opinions, mimicking everything they say, while under-valuing
our neighbors more real, and perhaps more accurate perception. We begin to hear more statements like, (as
someone is pointing at a movie screen), “She has the <i>perfect </i>life,” (or while listening to the headlines), “That
politician is a womanizing-whore-SOB-DC bureaucrat.” When you view reality from a 2D lens it
becomes even that much easier to jump to conclusions and make sweeping
generalizations. We see 10% of a person or a situation. And over time, this limited 2D viewpoint, something
which once we only engaged with occasionally, becomes more and more oft, until this
2D perspective metamorphoses into our tangible day-to-day reality. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Although we acknowledge
to our peers and family members, that of course we know that “nothing is real
on magazine covers” or that “Facebook is a “false reality,” do we truly
internalize those messages within ourselves, or do we yet again take another
Instagram of a sunny beach in CA, while really harboring angsty feelings behind
our camera phone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwuiNmmdvx7o0j14LuOyNqWEKy9m2TYnAV8lGOTRaY7i7RnsfSYsDDb_IvcF4YyWFh7msr4R5vfrT6VKFnWaCjQxJfXPhKiQ5YsdSlV8ul_yf-kf2vk2hfs4BMZycl2DUuVRUD3qWC4Frr/s1600/icon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwuiNmmdvx7o0j14LuOyNqWEKy9m2TYnAV8lGOTRaY7i7RnsfSYsDDb_IvcF4YyWFh7msr4R5vfrT6VKFnWaCjQxJfXPhKiQ5YsdSlV8ul_yf-kf2vk2hfs4BMZycl2DUuVRUD3qWC4Frr/s1600/icon.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Our modern world is more
akin to the medieval variety wherein artists communicated to the viewer using two-dimensional space, rather than though painting three-dimensional compositions.
The many Madonna and Child icons you find in early Christian cathedrals attest
to the more common 2D perception of the era. While these folk viewed their God
in the 2D realm, the reality of God is of course incomprehensibly beyond any
dimension and understanding. And while we cannot understand the complexity of
God, shouldn’t we at least try to get as close to that reality as possible.
For, I believe that while God is not only infinite and vast, he is also very
personal and intimate and wants to help us. Don’t those sentiments echo more of a 3D vibrancy rather than a 2D abstraction? This statement isn’t an all-out-call to arms against
early Christian art, however, I do believe that because most Medieval folk viewed
religion through such a limited lens, they in turn created more distance
between themselves and their maker, rather than less. Just as we cannot truly assess the worth of
an individual through a 2D picture on a magazine cover, the secrets to godliness
are also not quite as simply depicted in a 2D icon. The daily hash out of “some folks go
to heaven” and “some to hell” is not what all religious sentiment entirely comprises. However,
because people have become so accustomed to viewing a simple 2D reality, it increasingly
becomes that much more difficult to recognize and find the real thing—the actual
God, the real person. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It wasn't until the
Renaissance, when the likes of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci began sculpting,
inventing, and painting 3D objects, that suddenly a richer, more vibrant
universe seemed possible. This humanization of art enabled people to relate
more easily to their God and surroundings, rather than feeling further alienation.
Humans, at last, became a little bit more than the mere mortals whom Zeus played around with, but rather God’s children—beings worth protecting and loving.
These Renaissance masterpieces possessed vast dimension, gaping-in-awe angles, and
filled a space which had rarely been explored or depicted. Perhaps, now, when greeting St. Peter at the
gates of heaven you will at least be a little closer to recognizing the Patron saint in his Michelangelo-esque form, rather than confusing him with John, the
cashier from the local Whole Foods. Because you had a taste for the real thing before, you can now recognize it later--when it means more. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Three-dimensional
living not only sustains and provides a more intimate and realistic environment, but also provides a
greater depth, joy and satisfaction in life that can never be found within the
hollow, insubstantial, and anxiously unfulfilled 2D realm. You can stare at the
picture all you want, but you will ultimately will always come away with either
a flawed, or at most, a basic understanding of the individual. She has brown
hair and green eyes. And while you can even read a statement she says, you will still never be able to ascertain the exact meaning or emphasis the
individual really ascribes to it. The need for more person-to-person interaction, or
at least living that involves more participating and less spectating is
necessary for a rich life. Duh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">2D information
communicates necessary information—true, but ultimately that is its ultimate and final function. I
post pictures to my Facebook and write quipping phrases in emails, but that
limited form of interaction with others will never replace <i>real meaningful </i>interaction. Whether it is by
phone, or if you are lucky, in person. Letters can be infused with 3D
meaning as well, but unfortunately modern lingo has suffused the previous
poetry which once inhabited letters and correspondence of the past. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I mean, I guess I
probably shouldn’t be talking. After all I am writing this entry on a computer,
while listening to Spotify, and watching the BBC version of <i>Sherlock Holmes</i>. Whoops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-37836445452219174392014-01-10T09:42:00.001-08:002014-01-10T09:44:04.044-08:00thanks Mumford and Sons. you guys are real gems<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVsNdSzPUMoQ2I-T6FOROoUjBPlCYAJELSIw8pg65CQITZH_5KxRi9HJcWQFN5W6JrL148T3BJX8bLB1TLdrLhxRzLFrSNLy_0fSJRP4TRBf87fAy9oUgHT9xPH16vtwdWtjEjvrrLACf/s1600/Mumford-Sons-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbVsNdSzPUMoQ2I-T6FOROoUjBPlCYAJELSIw8pg65CQITZH_5KxRi9HJcWQFN5W6JrL148T3BJX8bLB1TLdrLhxRzLFrSNLy_0fSJRP4TRBf87fAy9oUgHT9xPH16vtwdWtjEjvrrLACf/s1600/Mumford-Sons-4.jpg" height="238" width="400" /></a></h2>
<h2 style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-large; text-align: center;">Roll Away Your Stone </span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
I have tendency to sing out loud with the radio wherever and whenever (much to the dismay of my more socially aware friends). I was listening to this song by Mumford and Sons recently and was attempting to sing along but, found I was just mumbling some random SAJ nonsense. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Bah. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
Anyway, I looked up the lyrics and found out what they were actually saying. Its a REAL gem. That's all. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Roll away your stone, I'll roll
away mine</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Together we can see what we will find</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don't leave me alone at this time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For I am afraid of what I will discover inside</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
'Cause you told me that I would find a hole</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Within the fragile substance of my soul</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I have filled this void with things unreal</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And all the while my character it steals</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Darkness is a harsh term don't you think?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And yet it dominates the things I see</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It seems that all my bridges have been burnt</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But you say that's exactly how this grace thing works.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's not the long walk home that will change this heart</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But the welcome I receive with every start</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Darkness is a harsh term don't you think?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And yet it dominates the things I see</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Darkness is a harsh term don't you think?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And yet it dominates the things I see</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Stars hide your fires</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
These here are my desires</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I will give them up to you this time around</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And so I'll be found</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With my stake stuck in this ground</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Hide your fires</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
These here are my desires</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And I will give them up to you this time around</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And so I'll be found</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With my stake stuck in this ground</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Marking the territory of this newly impassioned soul</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
But you, you've gone too far this time</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You have neither reason nor rhyme</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
With which to take this soul that is so rightfully mine</div>
<o:p></o:p></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-77639925357952531812014-01-06T15:26:00.000-08:002014-01-07T08:14:43.623-08:00Keeping the Divergent element alive in society and why being different is important<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 17px;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 17px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7iAhMVISmFuZhuBLUrdpqXk4pdmyKEIjxbAQ5eaS1c2uMnvabLNaaKo9zqXuTPdgYg_htYmkVpjy__qbwVGnSB9pEOKE_g5v4xZeG7jka2LHlXpdEwyYRjXpDkxTSyeW4488AMJVUS_Q/s1600/Margaret-Thatcher-BW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7iAhMVISmFuZhuBLUrdpqXk4pdmyKEIjxbAQ5eaS1c2uMnvabLNaaKo9zqXuTPdgYg_htYmkVpjy__qbwVGnSB9pEOKE_g5v4xZeG7jka2LHlXpdEwyYRjXpDkxTSyeW4488AMJVUS_Q/s1600/Margaret-Thatcher-BW.jpg" height="292" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
You might have died on the front line, member of the team, but did you really know what you fought for?</div>
</span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Where are the reasonable people? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These days,
whether in the midst of, or as witness to the many discussions occurring online,
in person, on the phone, or as seen in the daily MSNBC/Fox News/insert-other-network-here
roundup, certain voices are being sidelined and silenced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This isn’t a call to revolution just yet. Put the
banners away people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In fact, you probably wouldn't even know which
particular people or group I refer to. You weren’t aware of them being discriminated
and sidelined in the first place. Because while some of them do get noticed—
the-march-to-the-beat-of-their-own-drummer folk—the Lawrence of Arabia’s and
the Nelson Mandela’s of the world type, most of the people from this particular
group will never attain worldly acclaim. It is hard to classify them, because
they don’t belong under a true title, and therefore harder to address their problems—but
it is necessary nonetheless, because these individuals are crucial. They are
necessary for both society’s survival and continual edification. I can’t categorize them. These folks are too
different and un-box-able, and thus, will never fit. Their personalities are
located too much in the the middle of the Venn diagram, rather than leaning toward
one particular side. These individual are too complex.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So, just by nature of who they are, and because
society usually doesn’t like to deal with individuals more akin to a cryptex
from the <i>Da Vinci Code</i>, preferring the
simplicity of a <i>Disney </i>Lizzy McGuire
type, their breed goes unnoticed and over time sidelined. They are just too
difficult to deal with. These individualists have no advocacy group or Super Pack
to ensure financial security or lasting success though, which makes them all
the more likely to become extinct. In fact, these folks left their ideological
flags and mantras at home today, and because they did so—these people won’t be
heard, or it will take a long time to notice them. They only shout when needs
be. They are Divergent. They are independents. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Go home Joe Lieberman. No one wants you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Didn’t anyone tell you? Purple is so not the color
for 2014. It wasn’t for the year before either, or the year before for that for
that matter……. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Who are these people then and why do we need them?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">These people are a mixture of colors. These people
agree with some of the social issues that their liberal-leaning friends
espouse--#Bartlett4America2014. But, they also give kudos to their conservative
contemporaries and colleagues as well. Sometimes the old guys really do get it
right. But these “different” individuals are more of an endangered species in
the 21<sup>st</sup> century than commonplace. And, even if perhaps there are
more of these diversifying thinking types, than what currently there appear to
be, for most of these sorts of individuals, their lives will be separate from
others. They will remain so until becoming more comfortable in expressing themselves,
gaining some acceptance and security from fellow peers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The Divergent
or “different” individual understands that no one group possess the <i>entire truth</i>—and one entity never will.
Whether these entities I refer to are of a political nature, entertainment
conglomerates, businesses, or government institutions makes no difference.
Conformity and ideological assimilation occurs just as easily in Hollywood,
D.C., or at the local PTA meeting as anywhere else. Groupthink is a mass
problem, not solely reserved for either the exclusive or the common. When
individuals only stick to the “pack” or adhere to the “group” mentality though,
crucial progress for humanity becomes lost, because <i>no one </i>(or few did) took the road less traveled by—everyone took
the common thoroughfare. Whoops. Farewell Michelangelo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The only way to discover which portions of the “group”
are correct and which are diseased or misinformed, is to perform your own research
on the matter. Do your own digging—and not just a garden shovel full, but a
real excavation. I mean Scully and Mulder really were onto something—“The truth
is out there.” Key phrase: <i>out there</i>.
You have to move— the truth is out there, it’s not found here (as you constantly
refresh your Facebook feed). It means you have to <i>actively</i> search for it. You have to think about it. You have to
analyze it. You have to put it into action. You have to play the devil’s
advocate once in a while. You have to try the truth, and then try it again.
Does it work?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Indeed, the
truth is out there—but it’s going to be a looonngg journey. And at times you
are going to hate yourself—wishing you really would have chosen the blue pill, rather
than the red. So pack up. Head for Mordor. Find out where the aliens abducted
your sister to. Save Panem. Go find Private Ryan. And for Pete’s sake when you
come back tell the rest of us what it is all about. So we can learn something too,
and take our own roads less traveled by, using some of the lessons you learned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Discovering truth requires sacrifice, alienation,
and aching loneliness at times though. Hence, there is a reason why the
majority of the populace hunker down into their comfortable ideologically-driven
Lazy Boy chair—because it’s easy. There is no going out there to find it—and in
subsequently doing so you produce nothing of significant worth. You just sit
here. Here is a place where quoting the party line is always easier. Bashing
someone everyone already bashes is safer. Loving someone everyone already loves
is so much easier than loving someone everyone hates. Why do we hate them? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Finding the truth is harder. Try it. You could win
nothing and lose everything, but the opposite might also occur. And if no one
recognizes your genius, or your bravery, or your differentness in this
lifetime, maybe someone will make an epic Paramount Pictures movie about it in
the future, saturated with the tracks from a John Williams-type, and staring—I don’t
know someone. Or maybe from all of your errors, and mistakes, someone else can
pick up where you left off—and head off on their own journey. At least we are
getting closer now. Closer to fulfillment, closer to happiness, closer to
something that is always better than—well this—stagnation. There are no guarantees
on this journey though. People might build a Lincoln-esque Memorial to you, or
one day skim your name down a list of ancestors while looking at genealogical
records on FamilySearch.com. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It
doesn’t matter though.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">And forgive me if I sound bleak, or harsh, but
everyday whether it be in the political realm, religious, entertainment arena, or
even when choosing the damn color for the sofa covers—someone has to take a
specific side on the issue, and per typical, you not only have to choose <i>now </i>you need to have your decision go
along with the crowd as well. <i>You have to
pick a team.</i> You have to fit into the mold of from-wherever-you-were-born.
You have to belong to a certain party and if you don’t—well, then, you lose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Right now, you’re brave by society’s standards if
you fight alongside your brethren, in following the leader, always remembering to
look ahead into the future. Technological advancement has made us faster at
choosing things, and more efficient in conducting our daily business, but it
has also shortened our attention span, and made us more prone to mass homogeneity.
Picking a team, because everyone else you know is on that one, or not thinking
about anything because it requires too much thought isn’t bravery though—it’s
blind conformity. You might have died on the frontlines, member of the team,
but did you really know what you fought for?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Of course, we will all agree with, and belong to
various groups throughout our individual lifetimes and this is how it should
be. I am not heralding a call for anarchy. Abandon your post. The world is a lie.
Throw yourself off a tower. We do <i>need</i>
organizations. Organizational entities and factions, to a certain extent, are
necessary for societal cohesion. But, when organizational goals become more
important than valuing individual opinion and belief, and when celebrating diversity
becomes more of a trite, politically infused statement, rather than an actual
truism—society has a problem.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So, go out. Solve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-88673073921284061652013-12-18T22:28:00.000-08:002013-12-18T22:45:20.278-08:00Our Willful Blindness to Deadening Noise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
</h3>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
</h3>
<h4 style="text-align: left;">
</h4>
<h3 style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<h3>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<h4>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxFt6-YpJ3tdG3I_e7McC7lZIwKP7lhx9ng5qGJOLXvI7v9W6hjPWhVAbRLA0plmcKSP0Adz_rphYLJ83hwm3qQE6S1UzF7N_Cqd1N0zfs7tdGF-8svcDt_vW2WOacQGRMuzELo-fdTJ5/s1600/Sara's+iPhone+194.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWxFt6-YpJ3tdG3I_e7McC7lZIwKP7lhx9ng5qGJOLXvI7v9W6hjPWhVAbRLA0plmcKSP0Adz_rphYLJ83hwm3qQE6S1UzF7N_Cqd1N0zfs7tdGF-8svcDt_vW2WOacQGRMuzELo-fdTJ5/s320/Sara's+iPhone+194.JPG" width="239" /></a></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;"><i>They're
screaming at us, we don't need your kind</i></span><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Sometimes
I wonder if the world's so small</i><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">That we
can never get away from the sprawl</i><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Living
in the sprawl</i><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">Dead
shopping malls rise like mountains beyond mountains</i><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">And
there's no end in sight</i><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: medium;">I need
the darkness, someone please cut the lights</i><br />
<i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">-Arcade
Fire, "Sprawl II"</span></i></div>
</div>
</div>
</h3>
</div>
</h3>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I often feel like I am drowning in the incessant sound
and the reflective screens of the modern era. So, I'll spare you mine and offer
Sherlock's finer words, from the show, "Elementary" on the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sherlock:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> I
often wonder if I should have been born at another time. My senses are
unusually, some might say unnaturally keen, and ours is an era of distraction.
It's a punishing drumbeat of constant input. It follows us into our homes and
into our beds. It seeps into our... Into our souls, for want of a better word.
For a long time, there was only one solution for my raw nerve endings and that
was copious drug use. In my less productive moments, I'm given to wonder.... If
I had just been born when it was a little quieter out there, would I have even
become an addict in the first place? Might I have been more focused? A more
fully realized person? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Questioner:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> What
like ancient in Greece?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sherlock:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> Do
you have any idea what passed for dental care in the Hellenic era? No, I would
want some of the wonders of modernity, just before everything got so amplified.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-45381583233442113762013-11-26T11:41:00.003-08:002013-11-26T11:41:51.213-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Thoughts on change and what not: "You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the
shore." </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
–Christopher Columbus</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-50192853741150697492013-11-11T17:24:00.001-08:002013-11-11T17:24:04.494-08:00Poem I wrote before going to Russia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5JnI7chWYvWeByc-oFbuvfskAIm1Ujib8EVlWAazNkYkwtq5UYG590iI1ASqkMjMp0xLMOTMxGcGkGJIxmcynpc2ivd9W5u9ndRK9AAemirH0Jb59h1naG0wv6qL1TML6-AH3GODNles/s1600/Sara's+iPhone+176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu5JnI7chWYvWeByc-oFbuvfskAIm1Ujib8EVlWAazNkYkwtq5UYG590iI1ASqkMjMp0xLMOTMxGcGkGJIxmcynpc2ivd9W5u9ndRK9AAemirH0Jb59h1naG0wv6qL1TML6-AH3GODNles/s320/Sara's+iPhone+176.JPG" width="239" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-align: center; text-indent: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> strings </span></span></b></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It’s
continuously a perpetual “Cold War” but on an individual level. The other never
knows of, never trusts the other side. Oh how can this miscommunication be
healed or where is the peace that lies between both—where can understanding be
reached?</span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> But not temporary understanding, but true, consistent definitive
relationships? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Is there a way to overcome perpetual defense and attack, defense
and attack, perpetual misperception and perpetual confusion? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">How many years
does it span and how long must a soul harrow up this perplexity? Is there
solace? Is there a bridge? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Oh, if there could be a rope even at least a sturdy
one, for even a single point to be communicated exactly and in a manner that
the other side has no hesitancy in understanding, what it is? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">What is the modem
with which we may build this street, this passage, this tunnel or this car? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Can it
ever come to fruition? Is it impossible
to see a unified place or connect between two different personal histories? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I
can’t understand. I can’t communicate singular thoughts. I know not the
hardship, nor the pain, nor distress, nor agony. I know not, for I have
experienced not. How then with my background of my own can I explain or attempt
with some coherence and honesty of my own, connect and share my meager
experience with something over there? With a pain I don’t understand. Can
different frequencies become one or do they always distinctly remain themselves
un-interrupted, everlasting and whole but trying not so for they never met. </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">What is the point in all our separation and longing to remain apart
consistently without ever a place to meet? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">It is so painful. Why must we remain
such?</span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Can miss communicated animosity build harmony or similar wavelengths,
does perpetual distinction and separation produce a whole. </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Does completion
between two separates create a solution that we so desperately yearn for? </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Or
does remaining apart—the only answer perpetually ingrained in ones own self or
unit—never stepping outside alone. </span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Maybe crossing the barrier to the other sea
is right. Where you know, no one has want of me. Perhaps you cannot understand,
what stepping and crossing and realizing the other sand will truly bring.
Perhaps you can be a rope or a string that will begin a bridge for generations
unseen. Perhaps. Perhaps not. But then let me throw my string across and see.
For if I but fail at least I will know that I did, instead of not testing the
experiment and sitting idly by, wondering what my little string would have done
for a person, a people and why…I feel so desperately weak and tired and useless
as a string, but maybe bringing other strings will build a better bridge. Oh if
only people could see what my little string did…and what theirs could have
been. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">- Sara Jarman</span></div>
<br />
<div class="NoteLevel1" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-41852021882568542692013-11-01T09:19:00.003-07:002013-11-01T09:22:58.638-07:00I never know how. I only know who. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span> </div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
Thoughts on fate.</h2>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have always been obsessed with the idea of fate.
Some things are just fated to be. However, an individual’s agency also plays
into fate’s power. Thus—the paradox. So, how can fate determine destiny if we
make conscience decisions every day that are of our own accord. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All I know is that throughout my life I have found
myself in the right places at the right time when I needed to be. The majority
of the time life just happens in some chaotic pattern (at least seemingly so),
and the greater universe isn’t necessarily concerned with whether we go to
Safeway or Whole Foods on our 6:00 shopping run. But sometimes, sometimes the universe
does care. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I have found that the greatest events in my life
have often come about through the small and simple things—the events that don’t
seem so earth-shattering. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Often our fates are actively written unawares. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So, until I find a crystal ball it will be just day by
day living then. And perhaps maybe one day, my decision about whether or not to
go to Safeway or Whole Foods will matter. But I can’t know that now—right?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
Just some other random thoughts sort of tied in....<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">"But I would argue that as the shape of time
has changed around it, the meaning of patience today has reversed itself from
its original connotations. The virtue of patience was originally associated
with forbearance or sufferance. It was about conforming oneself to the need to
wait for things. But now that, generally, one need <i>not</i> wait for things,
patience becomes an active and positive cognitive state. Where patience once
indicated a lack of control, now it is a form of control over the tempo of
contemporary life that otherwise controls us. Patience no longer connotes
disempowerment—perhaps now patience is power"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jennifer L. Roberts<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-92076787920459954802013-10-28T08:03:00.003-07:002013-10-28T08:05:36.594-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hween.</div>
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I was the famous Afghan girl, Sharbat Gula, from the National Geographic magazine and that is Lawrence of Arabia.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-5275196084509889782013-10-25T09:31:00.004-07:002013-10-25T09:31:55.593-07:00Timing-the great foe of my existence. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I dont want to wait anymore.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQHREDBUNARWN3LdP4ZuYwa0Ggab-EBNFNS3s26hgdAq8m80gonewh0fRbzUtKgh_gW8zkKajvkBaZUHBoe28w7A_i7CjlO0V112QAsncRht4werkv78O_putZQ_Ojt0GXp1hrCZAlAzKF/s1600/227697_10150169466052805_1127279_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQHREDBUNARWN3LdP4ZuYwa0Ggab-EBNFNS3s26hgdAq8m80gonewh0fRbzUtKgh_gW8zkKajvkBaZUHBoe28w7A_i7CjlO0V112QAsncRht4werkv78O_putZQ_Ojt0GXp1hrCZAlAzKF/s320/227697_10150169466052805_1127279_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Waiting sucks. I mean
it really sucks. There are few things in my life that I want right now. I mean
really really really badly. People who know me well also know just how
intensely I can will things into existence—even if it almost kills me. Part of
me is writing this post because I am hoping that it provides some sort of
catharsis. Maybe someone else out there is going through the same thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I am a very impatient
person by nature though. I mean if I had one horrible wretched vice it would be
my impatience. I find that my lack of patience has given my friends license to
frequently throw down the phrase, “the case of too soons” regarding my actions
regularly. I have probably botched more relationships, activities, events, homework,
projects and a countless number of other things because of this horrible vice.
Really, though. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So, if you recognize a
problem though apply a solution. Not so much. Patience is a characteristic that
you have to work on day by day, minute by minute, and second by second. It is
the characteristic that is the worst to develop because the people who are
impatient by nature—will never spend the necessary time or fermentation to
develop it. They will just scramble for another quality to work on—one that
requires less time. I do this. I have learned how to be stronger, faster,
smarter, exe. However, patience—the one elephant in the room—still stands there,
immovable and large and I hate it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In order to defeat this
foe perhaps I should just do what it wants me to do. Give in. Wait. Be patient.
Now that really sucks. I thought that developing qualities meant that you had
to actively fight to win and pursue them. In order to be faster, you need to go
running more. In order to paint better you need to take an art class. In order
to learn more you need to attend class frequently and read books. But what do
you do to develop patience? I mean really. I have not found a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Patience for Dummy’s</i> book at the local
Barnes and Noble lately. Boo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I could offer a lot of
really deep quotes about this topic. I am sure some Russian author has
something to say on the “time heals all wounds” mantra. But I don’t know, their
words still only give me ten seconds of relief and then one long hour later I
am bemoaning the fact that nothing I want has still happened yet. I mean if you
knew you were going to win the lottery in one year, but had to wait exactly one
year in order to claim your winnings, could you wait? or would you fight to
bring it sooner? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe happiness and
satisfaction is found in the small and simple things though. I should look at a
flower differently today. I should smile at a child. I should not want the
future so badly. I don’t know what the future brings. Even if it does bring
good things—with the good always comes the bad. For every action there is an
equal an equal and opposite reaction. Greatest joys are often accompanied with
the greatest sorrows. So, if I want the greatest happiness I must also be
prepared to deal with great sadness as well. This is true. Am I ready for great
sadness? Nope, maybe—I don’t know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is back to working
on patience then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-49863097059435167382013-10-24T16:05:00.001-07:002013-10-24T16:05:09.473-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Came across this on my run. Someone stole their chessboard.<br />
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Pretty upset about that.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-11052549921703496472013-10-23T14:44:00.001-07:002013-10-23T14:57:37.733-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
More thoughts on Russia. It was hard. Click below to learn more!<br />
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<a href="http://www.forwardwalking.com/what-is-giving-up/">SAJ's Russia Journey </a><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-41347046216292258612013-10-21T18:09:00.000-07:002013-10-21T18:13:33.777-07:00more thoughts on vulnerability....<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCBUi9idj1WqIKC-Wrkw8YSAFmPFZqSAUaF67y5TrfbE1CprJBENGZJDpye7QwmawwOho8e2BQvwlNwyDVgc7KUBOhouqKfjyMDuv9MWqhKlLZZ2mJ9E3onmyS8OI5iTipii8ZoYG3YTk/s1600/cold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRCBUi9idj1WqIKC-Wrkw8YSAFmPFZqSAUaF67y5TrfbE1CprJBENGZJDpye7QwmawwOho8e2BQvwlNwyDVgc7KUBOhouqKfjyMDuv9MWqhKlLZZ2mJ9E3onmyS8OI5iTipii8ZoYG3YTk/s320/cold.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
I found this mission farewell talk from when I left on my mission to Russia in 2010. Reminded me of some good times (not really). I've just posted some of it though.</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many of you don’t know me, but I am hoping that by
the end of this talk you will have a better idea both of who I am and why I am
serving a mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In assessing the steps that I took in preparing for
my mission I don’t necessarily recollect any one particular circumstance—or
that Ah Ha moment when I decided to serve, but rather in looking back over the
past year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I find that it was a series of events that led me to the place where
I am at right now, as so often is in the case in achieving goals and developing
oneself further. For as the Lord says in Isaiah Chapter 28: 10. “For Precept
must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line; here a little and
there a little.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In order to show how I came to accept the idea of
serving a mission I’d like to divide the past year into four separate
categories, each reflecting a different stage in my preparation. Firstly, early
on in the year I had to change my frame of mind. Secondly I had to develop
faith. Thirdly, act on that faith and lastly continue to go forth and endure in
these principles. Through each of these stages I became more confident in my decision
to serve a mission and subsequently more </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">acquainted </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> with the gospel, and the
savior.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">First off, changing my mindset was by far the hardest step in this process. In order
to illustrate this point I’d like to share an experience from a couple years
back that sheds light onto why this was the hardest step for me, for I can be
quite stubborn. When I was 16 years old, I went out to a nearby lake with some
of the youth in our ward at the end of the summer. I had never been </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">wake boarding</span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"> before and I was anxious to accomplish such a feat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As I was hanging off the back of the boat, Brother
Attack, second counselor in the Bishopric was explaining the basics of getting
up on a wakeboard. He said one thing in particular to me that has reverberated
throughout my life: “Sara he said (looking at me directly in the eye) you have
to let the boat pull you up—you can’t pull yourself up, if you do you’ll get
tangled or dragged—you have to let the boat pull you up”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For the next minute I repeated in my mind: “let the
boat pull you up, let the boat pull you up” Alas though, per typical Sara--
when the boat began to pick up speed. I didn’t let it. I pulled myself up, and
of course wiping out in the water failing at my attempt. I did this two more
times, before Brother Attack pulled me back to the end of the boat to give me a
little pep talk: “Sara, look I know you are strong. I know you can pull
yourself up, but don’t, you are never going to make it up” So in absolute
determination—accepting that perhaps the key to success was in submitting to
the boat’s power rather than in trusting my own I let myself fall back—the next go around,
allowing the boat to pull me up. Lo and behold it worked, I got up—and for one
of the first times I realized that success sometimes lies in allowing other
forces—whether they be friends, family and most importantly God to help you up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think back on this experience in my life and
realize how hard we make the simplest and easiest decisions the hardest and
most difficult ones in our lives. In relating this to developing the appropriate
mindset in serving a mission, I had to for once in my life—let the boat once
again pull me up. Let the Lord into my heart and mind and let Him help me to
change my outlook. I tried for literally months through sheer will power to
make myself happy when I knew that I was not doing what the Lord wanted me too.
Instead of accepting the Lord’s desire for me to serve a mission, I for many
months forced myself into distraction after distraction--turning the decision
to serve a mission into an endless maze of distress rather than one of ease. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-49645942603967750942013-10-20T17:25:00.002-07:002013-10-20T17:43:54.727-07:00#vulnerability<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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"Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It's about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen"</div>
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-Brene Brown </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I know that many people have seen the TED Talk on vulnerability, but you can never watch this gem too many times. I was most particularly struck by her take on the political situation (mind you this is from 2010). When we numb ourselves to feeling pain, anger, sadness ext. we begin to blame other people for our problems rather than work through them. One can see an example of the "blame game" from the recent political rhetoric used during government shutdown. Rather then in engaging in civilized discourse both sides attacked one another than working through the problem in a rational, yet empathetic way. When people are vulnerable and acknowledge their faults civil discourse becomes natural rather than a strenuous exercise in futility. I mean maybe this notion is too idealistic to adapt in Washington. I mean who wants to acknowledge their mistakes. Duh. But perhaps if everyone in the nation's capital took a mere 20 minutes to watch this short segment of enlightenment, there would be a little more political serenity and little less catastrophe and death. Just saying.</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4881100563956149934.post-14898921347843918702013-10-19T08:06:00.003-07:002013-10-19T08:10:01.091-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #38761d; color: yellow; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Just a thought for the day from one of my favorite books:</span><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: yellow; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #38761d; color: yellow; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">“The world says: "You have needs -- satisfy them. You have as much right as the rich and the mighty. Don't hesitate to satisfy your needs; indeed, expand your needs and demand more." This is the worldly doctrine of today. And they believe that this is freedom. The result for the rich is isolation and suicide, for the poor, envy and m</span><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: yellow; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">urder.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: #38761d; color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― The Brothers Karamazov </span></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08536876888924397830noreply@blogger.com0