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.