My symphony?

Recently I was at my favorite coffee shop and came across what I thought was an interesting piece of art. You see this particular coffee shop allows local artists to display their works for a month at a time. This particular exhibition was done by a graphic artist and the one that caught my eye was a piece made up of about 100 small pictures of kids with a statement written over them. I later found out that the pictures were of the artists son which I think adds another layer to the piece. Here is what it said ...

To live content with small means;
To seek elegance rather than luxury;
And refinement rather than fashion;
To be worthy not respectable;
And wealthy not rich;
To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly;
To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart;
To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occaision, hurry never;
In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious grow up through the common.
This is to be my symphony.

This is your life

"And you step inside, we're inside our hearts. Now imagine your pain is white ball of healing light."

"I don't think so."

There is something about this clip that sparks anger and rage within me. I think this anger and rage is good.

"You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake."

It sparks in me a notion that my life is crap and that there is something more for me out there in the great wide world.

"You have to realize that someday you will die. Until you know that you are useless."

I am so sick and tired of this monotonous, do nothing struggle that life has become. At least that's how I see it. I am so sick and tired of this culture of materialism and consumerism dominated by the vapid, weak, moronic, lying empty husks of human flesh we call leaders, celebrities and corporations.

"We are the all singing, all dancing crap of the world. You are not your bank account. You are not the clothes you wear. You are not the contents of your wallet. You are not the car you drive."

You and I are none of these things despite what we have been told. We are the ever changing and struggling brothers and sisters of humanity striving to break free.

"This is your life ... you have to fight."

The realities of war

Each week I get an email newsletter from Christianity Today. It's a monthly magazine targeted towards evangelical Christians. Traditionaly it has held to a right-wing conservative editorial stance but over the years has become more centrist in its stance (in my opinion). This week I was reading an article about Christians in war and the toll that killing someone in battle has upon soldiers. The writer of the article, Patrick Stone, is himself a war veteran having served in Vietnam. I wanted to share the following with you ...

On the home front, most non-combatants do not wish to confront the emotions
these TV images engender. They rarely make the connection of their own personal
involvement in these moments. The soldier is only the tip of the spear. The
voters and taxpayers do not see their participation as meaningful, yet without
them, young soldiers would not be in deadly positions that require killing.

The truth of this statement I believe is self evident. As a Canadian it is not often that my country goes to war. It may be a case of semantics but most often we are involved in Peace Keeping duties around the world. When Canada does go to war I believe that I can honestly say that it was the right thing to do. That is why I'm glad that we are not involved in the present war in Iraq. When a person is willing to put their life on the line for their country we as citizens should do all that we can to ensure that we never put them in harm's way needlessly. If that means that we have to conserve energy to cut our dependance on foreign oil then so be it. A little self sacrifice on our parts, as citizens, can help to ensure that others won't have to make the greatest self sacrifice as a soldier.

Imagery is everything

There is something about this image that I find very interesting and honest.

I find the notion that guilt, selfishness, depression, adultery and indifference are pre-packaged items that come to us from the assembly line of our culture quite insightful.

I applaud the accidental or intentional vision that this person has provided us. Now it's up to us to think and act upon this wisdom.

The Colbert Report

A friend of mine sent this to me, you got to check it out.

Pretty funny stuff.

Enjoy.