So I'm at camp, I may have mentioned that already once or twice. I'm here and it's great. One of the things I've been working on while I've been here is compiling a list of organizations that stand for something. Some of them speak out against Human Trafficking, others fight for Workers Rights. Some of them have unique suggestions, others network amongst themselves to accomplish the same goal. There are a lot out there however.
I'll confess I'm a sucker for stellar web design and a gimmick... Maybe part of that is that these organizations need to do that in order to stand out. I don't know. Regardless, there are a lot of organizations and it's hard to take the time to research all of them. I've just been operating based on what I've been told, and what I see. I've read a couple articles, and had a couple conversations, and there are some really fascinating organizations doing really cool work in really different ways.
Unfortunately I can't support them all. I can probably be aware of all of them, and spread the word about them all, but I can't really get behind every organization in the list. I can't even remember most of them.
This is where I start to feel guilty.
Why do I seem to care about some causes more than others? It's not that I think the issues are less important, or tragic. It's not as if there are lesser wrongs being perpetrated in some cases. Some organizations have more compelling stories, but it's often the organizations that are fighting for a cause I'm already concerned about. I look for organizations to draw me out and engage me, which is hard to do with my ADD. I guess I'm just not finding the right ones. Or maybe I'm trying too hard to care. Maybe it's alright to feel more passionately about child soldiers than clean water. It's not that I don't think clean water is important...
I don't know. There's a lot of tragedy going on in the world right now. There's also a lot of hope. If you can think of any great organizations that are out there doing something please post them here. Maybe you know the organizations that will pull my heart in such a way that it will expand and I can be equally passionate about everything...
Monday, June 15, 2009
Friday, June 05, 2009
I'm not thrilled with the post below... there are a few reasons for that and I'll post those here later.
-edit-
Okay now that it's been almost a week I'm finally sitting down to explain why I don't like what I wrote... I don't like the way I wrote it. A lot of the time when I'm writing it's part of processing something. A lot of it is about working through an idea, a conflict, or a point of confusion. With what I wrote below I had already processed it. I had worked through that idea in a few conversations and so I was just writing for the sake of writing.
Even in how I wrote I felt like I was coming across the wrong way. If I want to convince you of something, or argue with you about something, or whatever the case may be... a blog is a terrible place to do that. I would rather have the conversation as close as we can come to being face to face. For some people that's facebook chat, for others that could be a phone call... it doesn't really matter, just a better format than a blog.
This was never intended to be a platform for me to preach from. This is a place for my thoughts. This is a place for me to process. I don't mind people reading it, and I don't mind people responding to it, because that creates a discussion and stimulates new thoughts. My previous post doesn't really allow for that... I'll leave it there... I don't know why... it just feels wrong to remove it. And without it this post would be unnecessary.
So yeah... that's that. For now... I guess...
-edit-
Okay now that it's been almost a week I'm finally sitting down to explain why I don't like what I wrote... I don't like the way I wrote it. A lot of the time when I'm writing it's part of processing something. A lot of it is about working through an idea, a conflict, or a point of confusion. With what I wrote below I had already processed it. I had worked through that idea in a few conversations and so I was just writing for the sake of writing.
Even in how I wrote I felt like I was coming across the wrong way. If I want to convince you of something, or argue with you about something, or whatever the case may be... a blog is a terrible place to do that. I would rather have the conversation as close as we can come to being face to face. For some people that's facebook chat, for others that could be a phone call... it doesn't really matter, just a better format than a blog.
This was never intended to be a platform for me to preach from. This is a place for my thoughts. This is a place for me to process. I don't mind people reading it, and I don't mind people responding to it, because that creates a discussion and stimulates new thoughts. My previous post doesn't really allow for that... I'll leave it there... I don't know why... it just feels wrong to remove it. And without it this post would be unnecessary.
So yeah... that's that. For now... I guess...
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Messed Up
I know, it's been a while, again. I haven't forgotten about my blog, I just haven't been super motivated to write anything while I've been here. I'm up at camp again and I've just been getting settled in and spending time with friends. But I have something to write about now. I guess technically I have a few things to write about, but I'm choosing to write about this one thing in particular.
So yesterday I was on youtube, and myspace, and all sorts of other websites trying to find good music videos. I was trying to find music videos that actually say something, that weren't made by your friend back home with iMovie and a makeshift green screen... although I'm sure your friend is very talented. Anyways, I stumbled upon this one video with Matisyahu and Trevor Hall. I love Matisyahu, but I had no idea who Trevor Hall was, and I was pretty sure it wasn't the same Trevor Hall I went to middle school with. So I'm listening to the song and watching the video that goes with it, and it's not your standard video, it's more of an explanation of where the song came from and the writing process while they showed it being recorded. You could tell pretty early on that Trevor had some less... conventional views.
Listening to the song it's actually quite confusing because the first verse, sung by Trevor, seems incongruous with what the rest of the song is trying to say. It's apparent that he believes that there is no one way to heaven or to the afterlife or whatever is next, and that you'll get there no matter which path you take. I disagree with that. I've heard people take similar stances before, and have withheld comment just because I may not have been sure myself, or I may not have known what to say. As I was thinking about this yesterday, and trying to figure out why he thinks this way I realized something. He has this overwhelming love. It's even in the lyrics of the song. Love all, serve all. That's amazing. His love for everyone extends to a point where he wants everyone to have the same perfect after life. That perfection is where the problem is.
We're not good enough for heaven. We're just not. Heaven is perfect, and it only continues to be perfect as long as everything in it is perfect. Which we're not. It happens very early on, shortly after we're born, or maybe after we turn two... I'm not quite sure as I've only been directly involved in that process as a participant who doesn't remember much of it. Either way, we're not perfect. So we don't get to go to heaven. Nobody does. I don't think that the world realizes this. And when I say the world I'm definitely including Christians. So many of us act like we deserve to go to heaven. We are good people, we go to church, we've never done anything "that bad". It doesn't matter. We're not good enough. None of these paths are going to make us good enough.
Christianity is supposed to be the one that takes the focus off of us completely. It's not about who we are or what we've done. It's about who God is and what He's done. There's a whole new rant in here that I won't take the time to get in to, but I'll outline it. There's something wrong with the way I used to think. The way I sometimes still think. I don't know where it came from, but I feel like going to church didn't help it go away. I do things on my own a lot. When I do I get tired, and burnt out, and realize that I haven't been doing it right. When I give up my own involvement in things I find that God takes over in some strange way that I never expect, and things don't necessarily go the way I planned for them to, but they always seem to work out somehow. I just get so wrapped up in myself.
That's where I was trying to get to earlier. This song has some good stuff in it. We are all the same. But we're not all the same in finding the afterlife. We're all the same in not deserving it. We're all part of the same flawed, imperfect group. That's where we have unity.
So yesterday I was on youtube, and myspace, and all sorts of other websites trying to find good music videos. I was trying to find music videos that actually say something, that weren't made by your friend back home with iMovie and a makeshift green screen... although I'm sure your friend is very talented. Anyways, I stumbled upon this one video with Matisyahu and Trevor Hall. I love Matisyahu, but I had no idea who Trevor Hall was, and I was pretty sure it wasn't the same Trevor Hall I went to middle school with. So I'm listening to the song and watching the video that goes with it, and it's not your standard video, it's more of an explanation of where the song came from and the writing process while they showed it being recorded. You could tell pretty early on that Trevor had some less... conventional views.
Then Matisyahu comes in, and I can't figure out what all of his lyrics are so I'm not going to try. I'm fascinated by this song on so many levels. It's coming out of a deeply personal space for both artists, but they are coming from two perspectives that just seem so different. Matisyahu is a Hasidic Jew and knows his Torah and his Talmud. Trevor seems to be spiritual, but unaffiliated. Perhaps Buddhist, but I can't say for certain. I think it's incredible that two people who come from such different backgrounds can join together and write a piece of music about the very subject that makes them different.
take me to the table where we all dine together
pluck me from the crowd and return me to my sender
whatever path you follow for sure until tomorrow
love all serve all and create no sorrow
so many rivers but they all reach the sea
you're telling me it's different but i just don't believe
love is the goal yes and everyone shall reach it
whoever seeks it seen and unseen
i don't want to reason anymore about the one i love, the one i love
i don't want to reason anymore about God above, God above
I just want to melt away in all this grace, drift away to this sacred place
where there's no more you and me, no more they and we
just unity
Listening to the song it's actually quite confusing because the first verse, sung by Trevor, seems incongruous with what the rest of the song is trying to say. It's apparent that he believes that there is no one way to heaven or to the afterlife or whatever is next, and that you'll get there no matter which path you take. I disagree with that. I've heard people take similar stances before, and have withheld comment just because I may not have been sure myself, or I may not have known what to say. As I was thinking about this yesterday, and trying to figure out why he thinks this way I realized something. He has this overwhelming love. It's even in the lyrics of the song. Love all, serve all. That's amazing. His love for everyone extends to a point where he wants everyone to have the same perfect after life. That perfection is where the problem is.
We're not good enough for heaven. We're just not. Heaven is perfect, and it only continues to be perfect as long as everything in it is perfect. Which we're not. It happens very early on, shortly after we're born, or maybe after we turn two... I'm not quite sure as I've only been directly involved in that process as a participant who doesn't remember much of it. Either way, we're not perfect. So we don't get to go to heaven. Nobody does. I don't think that the world realizes this. And when I say the world I'm definitely including Christians. So many of us act like we deserve to go to heaven. We are good people, we go to church, we've never done anything "that bad". It doesn't matter. We're not good enough. None of these paths are going to make us good enough.
Christianity is supposed to be the one that takes the focus off of us completely. It's not about who we are or what we've done. It's about who God is and what He's done. There's a whole new rant in here that I won't take the time to get in to, but I'll outline it. There's something wrong with the way I used to think. The way I sometimes still think. I don't know where it came from, but I feel like going to church didn't help it go away. I do things on my own a lot. When I do I get tired, and burnt out, and realize that I haven't been doing it right. When I give up my own involvement in things I find that God takes over in some strange way that I never expect, and things don't necessarily go the way I planned for them to, but they always seem to work out somehow. I just get so wrapped up in myself.
That's where I was trying to get to earlier. This song has some good stuff in it. We are all the same. But we're not all the same in finding the afterlife. We're all the same in not deserving it. We're all part of the same flawed, imperfect group. That's where we have unity.
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