I Love You . . . at least I will try.

It is no wonder we all hate each other in the United States. A not so very uncommon occurrence happened recently and both sides latched on to it and blew it out of proportion . . . and we lapped it up like cats and dogs; spreading the hate like a virus with little jabs at the other side on our social media updates. I would use several links in this blog if I thought for one moment that what happened yesterday wasn’t so pervasive that there was a single person out there that did not know what I was talking about. Frankly, I am so sick of hearing about it from both sides that I would rather not even look at another link specifically related to this topic.

I wouldn’t even post this blog, but my heart aches at all the hatred out there right now and I can’t do anything else until I get this off my chest. Right now I am supposed to be getting ready to go out and buy some presents for my friends and family. The reason I do this is to celebrate God’s love and the gift that He gave us (and the gifts that He continues to give us) to show his love – to show his love for everyone. Every. Single. Person. Whether you agree with that person, love, or even hate that person. God loves that person. Period. At least that is what I hold to be paramount in my belief system.

I don’t want to get religious here but there really is no other way around this subject matter. Please don’t be offended by my beliefs and I will do everything I can not to be offended by your beliefs. But I believe that God loves you – whether or not you believe that too.

So a person gets fired by his employer for saying something that they believe and either that person is the devil incarnate or the company that no longer required their services is the fruit of the devil and everyone that works there should be shot. That was the basic consensus I got from reading my social media newsfeeds yesterday.

No seriously, here are some quotes from my newsfeed yesterday:

’I wish y'all cared as much about your senators, mayors and local governments as you do about Duck Dynasty.’

This gives the air that you believe all the people that watch this show are ignorant, or at the very least, uneducated about the government process. How does a comment like this make people that watch the show feel?

God loves the uneducated.

‘I'm not mad at Phil Robertson, I believe ignorant people should have ample opportunity to identify themselves.’

That would suggest that anyone that agrees with him is an ignorant person. How does this statement make people that agree with him feel? Does this mean that you have never had a belief that is based on ignorance? Couldn’t you have gotten your point across without using the term ‘ignorant’?

God loves the ignorant.

‘An extremely intelligent, well-written response to the Duck Dynasty situation from someone who is Christian.

Contrasted with an incredibly dumb response by someone who regularly writes with self-indignant idiocy.’

This statement suggests that it is rare for a Christian to be intelligent and have composed thoughts. How do you think this statement comes across to Christians?

God loves unintelligent Christians.

‘Finally all of these homophobes’ dumb opinions aren’t being tolerated. About time. Beards but no brains.’

This statement suggests that people that believe homosexuality is a sin are homophobes and that if you are a homophobic you must not have a brain.

God loves homosexuals and homophobes.

‘A&E is apparently a bunch of bigots, since they say they support equality and tolerance for all’

Everyone that works for this company is a bigot. Do we really know all the conversations that took place prior to this decision? Do we really have enough information to make such a statement?

God loves bigots.

‘But are we really going to give him a martyr card for being fired from his second job while already a millionaire because he's an uneducated hick and his employer doesn't think a man liking another man is a prerequisite to f*cking a dog?’

Because he listed two sins in the same sentence he must believe that they are inherently related. If he had listed disobeying your parents instead, would that have been a prerequisite to spending too much time with a dog? What makes him an uneducated hick?

God loves uneducated hicks.

Liberal elites laughed & promoted Miley Cyrus’ twerking but suspend Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson… More proof the left doesn’t get it.

An apparent bias can be clearly attributed to a single group of people. No one from any other group has ever promoted a bias in thinking. This political party is clearly evil because I don’t understand their logic.

God loves liberals. God loves Miley Cyrus. Heck God even loves twerkers.

For God so loved the WORLD . . . everyone. I am far from perfect and I do not want anyone to ever think that I am ever promoting the notion that I am better than anyone of the people I quoted today. All I am saying is hate begets hate and love begets love. How do we expect a person to react when we say hurtful things about them?

So I will go out and buy my presents and try to love everyone I meet today, not because I am capable of doing so, or even because they deserve to be loved, but because God chose to love me before I deserved to be loved. I hope you do the same.

Until next we meet.

One Way Trip to Mars?

No seriously, what would you think if I left for Mars in 10 years and never made it back to my home planet? Mars would be my home from that point forward. Really, after a few years on Mars, my body would have adjusted to the gravity difference anyway, making a return trip unrealistic at best. But what an adventure it would be! What a potential to propel human kind forward! What a legacy!

I think I could consider this home.

 I saw an article online yesterday that detailed Mars One’s plan to send 4 people to Mars by 2023 (and an additional 4 people every two years—up to 40 people total). I posted a link to that article on my facebook page, hinting at an interest but questioning whether I would be too old of a candidate by the time 2023 rolled around.

So I took a brief look at the website to look at requirements and maybe a little more background information on the project; not as a serious consideration, but more to satisfy my curiosity.  It turned out that the only age requirement was that you had to currently be at least 18 years old so that you could enter into a legal contract so I delved a little deeper and looked through the videos that had been submitted for consideration thus far. It turned out that there were several people that had already applied that were in my age-range and even a couple that were several years older than I am.

Still, I ultimately dismissed the idea believing that those my age probably would not hold much of a chance of being selected over those in their 20s. And although they said they were not looking for specific qualifications (only general attitudes) because they were planning on training those selected in everything they would need to know to survive an inhospitable planet, I figured an old shovelbum would not have much business up there compared to doctors and pilots and computer engineers.

So I closed the link and moved on to one of the many items on my to-do list and did not give it much more thought . . .

But then I got a message from a friend that expressed the thought that I might be a perfect candidate to apply, if I was at all interested. It read as follows:

I want to encourage you to apply for the mars trip if you are sincerely interested. I feel like you would be a genuine and strong candidate, with your even-tempered and dependable qualities. 

The age seems perfect to me - enough for both maturity and vigor. 

Your experience with anthropology gives you insight into the essentials of culture and civilization.

You're accustomed to a desert environment. 

Your experience in the field makes you a diligent and arduous laborer when it is required. 

And you've shown a commitment to health, kindness and consideration for the well-being of others. 

I seriously think you would be an excellent choice for such an endeavor. Just sayin': go for it if you actually want it!

I was blown away. First, for all of the incredible compliments I had just received in one message, but then at the prospect that I might actually be a ‘strong candidate’.

Then I started thinking about the prospects of that potential reality and my stomach fell to the floor. I am certainly not so naïve to think that there are any certainties in moving forward with such a decision and I also became suddenly well aware of all that I would have to leave behind to go forward with that decision. I have built a pretty stable life so far (as stable as a shovelbum can be), am I really willing to do a 180 for the opportunity to go on an adventure of a lifetime?

I don’t know . . . maybe?

I mean, maybe my friend is right. Maybe my experiences and well-rounded approach to life have all led me to this moment. Maybe all the things I have done and my characteristics do make me a ‘strong candidate’ for such an adventure. I mean, it is not like I am tied down with a family or anything. As more and more of my friends and family have settled down and started a family, I am no closer to that than I have ever been. Maybe that is because I am not meant to be tied down. Maybe I was meant to do this.

But what a leap of faith that is . . . I have never been good at those kind of leaps. Mars One opened applications two days ago and already there are about 100 videos of would-be Martians. When you consider that you have to pay $38 to apply, I find that hard to believe. I envy that they are so sure of their decision that they did not have to give it more than a days thought.  I don’t think I could weigh the pros and cons for a year and still be completely comfortable with such a decision.

All I know is I have been thinking about the idea, the implications, the adventures, and the catastrophes all day when I should be catching up on that to-do list.

Although I am pretty sure my room would never look this neat!

Until next we meet.  

Today Is A New Day - Just Like Tomorrow

Today is the first day of the new year. Three hundred and sixty-six days (leap year guys) from the day we collectively looked at 2012 as a new beginning and celebrated the possibilities of that new beginning. Taken on its own, it is no different than tomorrow or the next day. Today’s significance is arbitrary; based solely on our current system of measuring the earth’s trip around the sun.

There is nothing magical about this day. Nothing about today will make me a better person. That better person has to be created inside of me; I cannot rely on the day itself.

Besides, that is a lot of pressure for one day. Just like that, I am supposed to change into this idealistic version of myself. A few hours ago I was a disappointing version that was inexcusably flawed, but now I am going to be perfect from today on!

Not that I don’t see the benefit of having a day like today in our culture. It is good to have a tangible starting line. But it might be beneficial to look at each day as a new beginning; a chance to inch toward that person you eventually wish to become so that it becomes more like a process and less like an ultimatum.

I do like to use today as a starting line though. It is convenient, even if it is arbitrary.

Last year, like the past seven years, I made a series of goals to be achieved in 2012 in an effort to inch toward the person I wish to become. Today is the day for me to reflect on the progress toward those goals and set new goals for the possibility that is 2013.

Last year’s goals were to:

• Not have any energy drinks – Done. I did not have a single energy drink last year and I feel really good about that.
• Only have one soda a week – Well I made it to June on this one, but slipped when I needed a little extra caffeine to work through a four day leadership seminar with only five hours sleep in four nights. An understandable slip. I tried a few times to start over with it, but I gave up after several slips in the following months and decided to wait for the new starting line and asses the goal at this time.  It may come down to an all or nothing attitude with these kinds of items.
• Lose the 20 pounds I’ve gained since I broke my knee – I actually lost 30 pounds by June!  Grant it I have since gained 10 pounds, but that puts me at 20 pounds and a success in my book.
• Write a blog once a week – I managed to pen 36 entries here last year. Given that there are 52 weeks in a year, I ended up being 8 shy of my goal. But the idea behind the goal was to write more and get my thoughts, memories and experiences on paper (so to speak) so that I would always have them. I took a stroll through some of them over the last couple days and came across several items that I had already forgotten had happened. However mundane some of them might have been, they would have been lost forever but now I will always be able to remember this time in my life . . . so I consider 36 entries a success.
• Write a Novel in November – As November crept up on me, I found myself stressing about this item a lot. I didn’t like that pressure so as other items that I wanted to do built up around me, I decided to back off that goal.  Maybe one day I will write a novel and maybe I won’t.  Right now it is just not a priority and if it does become a priority, I don’t believe setting such a stringent deadline will be appropriate for me.  But I did get a few ideas for a story out of it and I did get to share a couple shorter stories with you all.

It certainly was not my most successful year in terms of reaching the goals that I have set out for myself, but it was forward momentum. That forward momentum is always a success in my book.

Now I must evaluate my progress and decide what my goals for this year should be. After careful thought throughout the year, I have decided on the following.

• One soda a week – I have a new approach that I wish to try to see if I can make this happen or determine if moderation just is not an option for me when it comes to soda
•  No beer – I am not nixing all alcohol from my life this year. But I recently found out I had an allergy to baker’s yeast. Apparently there is a difference between baker’s yeast and brewer’s yeast and I did not test positive for a brewer’s yeast allergy. But I am still having issues that I believe are allergy related that I have yet to get under control. So this is an experiment to see if I feel better with no brewer’s yeast in my system too.
• Visit my grandparents in Colorado at least once – It is really bad that it has come down to making this an actual goal. But I have created quite a busy life for me and that has led to me taking for granted that they are there.  I need to make more of an effort to spend time with my family and this is part of that determination.
• Visit my grandma at least 6 times – I envision an every other month sort of deal here for the same reasons stated previously
• Visit my sister in Australia – My sister is taking a year to study in Australia!  I had a friend working over there for awhile and was to slow to take advantage of that opportunity to see a new place. I will not make that mistake twice.
• Catalog my music - I am to the point where having a list of all the music I have and the mediums I have them in would be convenient - and it sounds like a lot of fun!  

And that is that. I made no goals to continue in any manner with this blog.  It is my hope that I will continue to use this medium, but maybe it won’t be as often. Certainly I would like to do the same semi-daily updates for my trip to Australia that I did with my European adventure. I guess time will tell.

Either way, I don’t think I will be posting the links to each post on my social media feed.  I got a little uncomfortable with the ‘hey look at me’ perception that I felt from doing that. Those that are interested know it is here. It has been a worthy adventure and I thank you all for sharing it with me.

Until next we meet