Blue Like Jazz

     I really like what Don Miller has to say about love with the hippies. I think it's wonderful that he found people with this capacity for love. I also agree that a lot of times the most religious people can be the most hateful, and the so-called "God-less" people are the people who have the most love to give. As sad as this is, I have found a lot people who justify their hatred with God. They say that God wants them to hate people, especially people who are different. I see this most when religious people say that they hate homosexuals because God wants them to. To me, this has never made sense: God wanted us to love everyone as equal, for he created us all as equals, as brothers and sisters in His eyes. 

     The thing that I do not agree with, however, is his use of "us and them." He constantly uses terms such as "us," referring to the Christians at the camp, and "them," referring to the hippies he left in Oregon. To me, there is no "us" and "them." There is only us. We are all people, and we should all be treated as such. If you separate people, then they will be treated as separates. We are all the same, yet we are all individuals. 

Easter

     Yesterday was Easter. And as I was finishing packaging my bags for my way home, I began to wonder: What is Easter? I will admit, I know very little about it. It was the day that Jesus was resurrected. 

     Yet, some part of me must believe that there is something larger than that. I mean, Jesus is pretty big in and of himself. But, what else?

     Where did all the eggs and bunnies come in? From my recollection, Jesus' resurrection had nothing to do with eggs or bunnies, and not chocolate either, though chocolate eggs and bunnies are delicious. 

     And what of lent? When it first started, it was a time of giving up something so pertinent to your life that you may not go on, so that you may suffer as Jesus did. However, now people are giving up Facebook or chocolate for lent. These, though they may seem to be, are not needed to survive. 

     So, sadly, I think that we have lost a view of what this holiday was. Along with others, we celebrate, but don't know why. 

Project Update

Since my last update, I have begun surveying people in Nashville. Mostly, I have asked people around Belmont, but I am trying to get a larger sample (it's hard without a car to go places). I plan on making my blog to post my findings next week, and open it up so that people can comment and post their own thoughts on the subject.
To present my project, I would like to show my blog to the class. With the screen projector, I can show them the blog, with the different postings, and then talk from there. I will explain to them (perhaps) the differences in opinions on justice, as well as my own, and how this project/class has changed them. I will encourage questions, and maybe address some of my own questions: Why this? What were my/those surveyed reaction(s)? How do I think this will impact me/those around me?

Kosher

Something really struck me about the beginning of chapter nine in Breathing Space. Someone tells Neumark that: "Order in the kitchen keeps chaos at bay." 

Now, first of all, the sounds a little sexist. 

Secondly, I don't agree that order in the kitchen keeps chaos at bay. People could have the most beautifully well kept house, but be tearing down on the inside. And is it not the inside that matters most? What does the outside matter is the inside is peeling away?

Third, I think that some chaos can be beautiful. Everything can be falling apart on the outside. Walls come down, windows shatter, horns blare, the wind blows up all the remains. But on the inside, you are healing, you are smiling, and you are happy. 

That's the mystery that is chaos! That is the order in disorder. 

If you look at all the chaos, all the disorder in your life, it is likely to drive you insane. But, if you can look at a dirty kitchen and remember the process of making it dirty, and focus on the beautiful parts, then the outside doesn't matter because the inside is beautiful.

Heidi Neumark talks a lot about September 11, 2001. I still remember exactly what happened that morning. I am not underestimating the effect that it had on everyone, especially not on those so close to the happenings. 

However, she talks of the phone calls that she received from people after the attack. People called asking what they could do to help her congregation, and she says that she gave them other phone numbers of people to call. 

Then, she continues to talk about the horrors of the attacks, and compares that suffering of her congregation daily to that of the suffering of 9/11. 

But, when people called to ask her what they could do, she sent them away. What I don't understand is why she would send them away?

She says that not enough people offer to help as often as they should, but when people do ask what they can do, she sends them away. As well, she says the only person she can think of is the man who was caught under one of the collapsing buildings in the attack. 

Is not her whole congregation suffering, as she consistently says? Do they not need the help that people are offering? Why turn away help when help is so desperately needed?

Justice

I find it hard to define "justice". Everyone's definition is different. But, that is the beauty of mankind, of freewill. I love that you cannot define everything by a textbook definition. You cannot say that one thing is most certainly right or wrong. For example: A man, good and right, loses his job. He cannot provide food to his family, to his wife and kids. What is right--for this man to let his family starve to death, or steal a loaf of bread so that his family might eat?

There are numerous accounts like this, trying to decide which is the worse of two evils. But everyone will answer differently. That is why we have freewill: so that we might decide for ourselves. 

Most of us would agree upon many forms of injustice, but we would differ upon our actions towards them. If you see someone arguing, do you go in from the start and become involved in something to which is none of your concern, or do you wait for them to begin beating each other and then try and break it up?

I don't have the answers to these, most certainly not, and I don't think anyone should. Because everyone's answers will be different, and you could not fully define what is right. 

Project Update

For my project, I kind of changed my idea. When I went home over spring break, I asked people what their view of "justice" was. I also asked them where they grew up and how long they've lived in Orange County, and what has influenced their view of justice. 

I've found that it's hard to get a random sample, since I asked around in my neighborhood, friends, friends' friends and people around where I was. But I think that the responses are interesting. 

As well, I am going to ask around here, in Nashville as well. I will ask the same questions in the same manner, and see if the answers differ at all, and by how much. 

I plan on posting everyone's response in a new blog on blogspot. Each new post will be from a different person. You will be able to read everyone's thoughts, and can even respond to them, and then add a post of your own stating your views. 

As of now, I need to survey people in Nashville, and start the new blog and put my responses from California in it. I may survey more people, as well, when I return home for Easter.