Hello all,
So a lot happens in Chapter 2. God has day of rest, God makes the rivers come up, God creates man, man names animals, really scary tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil talk, and then God creates woman and Adam is like woah. I love the part where it says that God breathed the breath of life into Adams nostrils. I think its a very intimate part of the Chapter because when I imagine it in my head God is actually CPR style cupping his lips of adam and actually breathing into him. P.S If you've ever been woken up by someone doing that, its very uncomfortable.
I actually had verse 9 where its talking about the tree of life underlined. I remember I had underlined it earlier and each time it is mentioned in the bible because it is also mentioned in Revelations 22. "And across the river was the tree of life bearing fruit to all the nations." (I just remembered that I didn't even have to look it up, crazy!) I don't know why I find that so fascinating that it should be mentioned all over the place but it seems very important to me.
Now, Man meets Woman. I also actually really like this part. Some crazy feminists might disagree with me, but I love the idea of how connected man and woman are besides just being from the same species. We're not just alike, we are part of each other. There is nothing more intimate and I love the poetry of "bones of my bones, flesh of my flesh."
I don't really have much else to say, Genesis is pretty straight forward and all poetry. I hope you enjoyed it, sorry if it was stupid. You're next Jack.
love,
Bboo
P.S. how cool is it that the word gene is in genesis? And who says religion and science don't go hand in hand?
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
PS
PS - I didn't think of it at first but it recently occurred to me (I just keep forgetting to mention it) that we have another sibling who wasn't originally invited to participate in the blo...ahem, Correspondence. Pockets can of course participate in this if she wants to. I don't want her to think we've excluded her. It's the name that matters not the blood. And once you're a Wilkins, you're a full Wilkins. Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, I'd love to have another perspective on things. But then if she's not interested that's fine too. I just didn't want her to think it was just for us.
-Warnie
-Warnie
Monday, April 23, 2007
Bible Study or In the Beginning God Created...what out of what?
Kids,
First, sorry that I'm late on this. I know I told the Boo that I'd get this done by yesterday, but I was gone from church to 11:30 and so I just crashed when I got in.
Apologies aside, here's the first installment of the Wilkins version of a Biblical Literacy class. The rules are simple, we'll go (roughly) Sunday to Sunday, one chapter a week. I'll start today, The Boo will follow, and Jack'll go last. Unless you guys want to switch, but it really shouldn't matter. You can work it out. The idea is that the person leading will carefully read the chapter, and then post about...well anything that (s)he wants to related to the scripture. The purpose is to read it much as if we never had, so try hard to ditch the preconceptions we have. Ok, obviously that's an impossible goal. I guess what I mean is, pay special attention to those throw away verses that we tend to skip when we read alone, because well, they don't make that much sense or they don't fit in with the way we've been taught our whole lives. Obviously, to a great extent, any opinions or judgments we are going to be making will stem from they way we've been raised and what we honestly believe. But we shouldn't let that stop us from really engaging with whatever the text actually says.
It is the responsibility of those not blogging that week to comment. You must read the passage yourself, and comment either on the blogger's (let's call ourselves writers, or corresponders, or something...I hate blogger) observations, or to add your own. And of course feel free to respond back and forth as much as you like. To those who may be reading this and are not Jack, Warnie, or a Boo, feel free to comment as well. Only you won't get front and center attention. Because we're cooler and more important than you.
Oh one more thing. I don't know about you guys, but I'll be reading the NIV. It might be useful for us all to use the same version, but if you use something else, just note it in your opening entry so we can find the version you read. I'm pretty sure most versions can be found for free online.
So, without further ado, here goes.
________________________________________________
I think it's interesting that the early modern bible compilers, who added Chapter and Verse, thought it necessary to cut the first chapter after 6 days, leaving the 7th to the second chapter, and, for us, next week. I wonder if they wanted to emphasize that 7th day, or the first 6?
But going through it, the first thing I am really struck by is, of course, the poetry of it. It is even laid out, at least in my bible, in poetical form. There seems little doubt to me that this was simply intended, from the very beginning, to be a story, a mythology if you will - though that work carries baggage that maybe should be avoided - explaining truth rather than being full of facts. There are a number of truths that it expounds in a very beautiful way. The largest of course being that God created the heavens and the earth. I'm probably putting my liberal public school biases into this, but it seems to me that it doesn't really matter how he made it so much as it matters that he did. For which, I am eternally grateful.
The chapter also suggests that the creation of the world was something difficult, and something that God didn't just do all at once. That's comforting as well in several ways. It's comforting to think that God took his time. Even if he were capable of doing it perfectly all at once, he chose not to, but to divide his time and get it just right. After all, isn't it a greater miracle to see his plan come to fruition over hundreds of thousands of years? Or frankly, even 6 days. It's nice to think that he loved his creation so much that even though he had the capability to do a perfect rush job, he chose not to. And it also shows his human side from the start. From the very first chapter we see that God worked and not only that, he took time to stand back and examine his handiwork, happy that it turned out. Which begs the question, could it have been bad? Would he have had to start over? Could he have sat back and said, "I can't get the FUCKING trees! I will kill everyone in the world! (that I haven't created yet). Maybe, maybe not. But it still gives a very human quality to God, which is nice to see in the beginning of the Bible, making the God of the Old not quite so different from the God of the New as it is easy to think at times.
A few specific observations: The NIV doesn't say the earth was void like I thought it would (I suppose its the James I'm getting that from) but rather "formless and empty, darkness was on the surface of the deep...". That's a little easier to picture. Void was a concept hard to grasp, since I would always picture it as kind of hazy clouds (like if you press on your eyes for a while you start to see these rolling shapes, kind of like clouds defined in lightning...do it you'll see what I'm talking about. Of course it's really just your eyes saying, hey stop pressing on me dumbass. One of these days I'll go blind! I'll do it! Anyway...) But I knew that wasn't VOID because void was nothing. This is more like an empty ocean in the dark. Which is easier to picture. Though it does make you wonder why we're jumping in after water's already been made. Then again, from a poetic perspective, what can you imagine that could be more empty than a dark sea, with nothing in sight? Not only empty, but lonely.
From a historical perspective the first chapter tells us a good deal about the writers, who of course weren't the originators, but it's harder to nail down what persisted from and what was added to the oral tradition. Still, the fact that the writer has the livestock created separately from the wild animals says that this is at least the birth of an agricultural civilization.
Finally, one important point that I noticed - the creation of man account is different from how I remembered it. Or actually not so different, but this time I noticed a slight problem that I didn't before. In a touching scene, set off from the rest of the text, God creates Man in his image - male and female. No ribs. And then the next verse: "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."
If I were a literalist I might think that God were giving an equal share of earth to both Man and Woman - both created in his image. Thank God I can interpret scripture to keep women making me sandwiches.
Last thing...after the 6th day, God saw all that he had made and it was very good. One thing to take from this - without a doubt, God delights in his creation, and especially in human beings - our lives, our stories, our hopes, and our dreams. From the start he is a loving creator - the deist clockmaker is hard to see from this passage.
____________________________________________
Next week: The Boo rocks Chapter 2. Something tells me we're going to get a break. (Haha. Day of rest, get it?)
PEACE OUT CRACKAHS!
Love,
Warnie
First, sorry that I'm late on this. I know I told the Boo that I'd get this done by yesterday, but I was gone from church to 11:30 and so I just crashed when I got in.
Apologies aside, here's the first installment of the Wilkins version of a Biblical Literacy class. The rules are simple, we'll go (roughly) Sunday to Sunday, one chapter a week. I'll start today, The Boo will follow, and Jack'll go last. Unless you guys want to switch, but it really shouldn't matter. You can work it out. The idea is that the person leading will carefully read the chapter, and then post about...well anything that (s)he wants to related to the scripture. The purpose is to read it much as if we never had, so try hard to ditch the preconceptions we have. Ok, obviously that's an impossible goal. I guess what I mean is, pay special attention to those throw away verses that we tend to skip when we read alone, because well, they don't make that much sense or they don't fit in with the way we've been taught our whole lives. Obviously, to a great extent, any opinions or judgments we are going to be making will stem from they way we've been raised and what we honestly believe. But we shouldn't let that stop us from really engaging with whatever the text actually says.
It is the responsibility of those not blogging that week to comment. You must read the passage yourself, and comment either on the blogger's (let's call ourselves writers, or corresponders, or something...I hate blogger) observations, or to add your own. And of course feel free to respond back and forth as much as you like. To those who may be reading this and are not Jack, Warnie, or a Boo, feel free to comment as well. Only you won't get front and center attention. Because we're cooler and more important than you.
Oh one more thing. I don't know about you guys, but I'll be reading the NIV. It might be useful for us all to use the same version, but if you use something else, just note it in your opening entry so we can find the version you read. I'm pretty sure most versions can be found for free online.
So, without further ado, here goes.
________________________________________________
I think it's interesting that the early modern bible compilers, who added Chapter and Verse, thought it necessary to cut the first chapter after 6 days, leaving the 7th to the second chapter, and, for us, next week. I wonder if they wanted to emphasize that 7th day, or the first 6?
But going through it, the first thing I am really struck by is, of course, the poetry of it. It is even laid out, at least in my bible, in poetical form. There seems little doubt to me that this was simply intended, from the very beginning, to be a story, a mythology if you will - though that work carries baggage that maybe should be avoided - explaining truth rather than being full of facts. There are a number of truths that it expounds in a very beautiful way. The largest of course being that God created the heavens and the earth. I'm probably putting my liberal public school biases into this, but it seems to me that it doesn't really matter how he made it so much as it matters that he did. For which, I am eternally grateful.
The chapter also suggests that the creation of the world was something difficult, and something that God didn't just do all at once. That's comforting as well in several ways. It's comforting to think that God took his time. Even if he were capable of doing it perfectly all at once, he chose not to, but to divide his time and get it just right. After all, isn't it a greater miracle to see his plan come to fruition over hundreds of thousands of years? Or frankly, even 6 days. It's nice to think that he loved his creation so much that even though he had the capability to do a perfect rush job, he chose not to. And it also shows his human side from the start. From the very first chapter we see that God worked and not only that, he took time to stand back and examine his handiwork, happy that it turned out. Which begs the question, could it have been bad? Would he have had to start over? Could he have sat back and said, "I can't get the FUCKING trees! I will kill everyone in the world! (that I haven't created yet). Maybe, maybe not. But it still gives a very human quality to God, which is nice to see in the beginning of the Bible, making the God of the Old not quite so different from the God of the New as it is easy to think at times.
A few specific observations: The NIV doesn't say the earth was void like I thought it would (I suppose its the James I'm getting that from) but rather "formless and empty, darkness was on the surface of the deep...". That's a little easier to picture. Void was a concept hard to grasp, since I would always picture it as kind of hazy clouds (like if you press on your eyes for a while you start to see these rolling shapes, kind of like clouds defined in lightning...do it you'll see what I'm talking about. Of course it's really just your eyes saying, hey stop pressing on me dumbass. One of these days I'll go blind! I'll do it! Anyway...) But I knew that wasn't VOID because void was nothing. This is more like an empty ocean in the dark. Which is easier to picture. Though it does make you wonder why we're jumping in after water's already been made. Then again, from a poetic perspective, what can you imagine that could be more empty than a dark sea, with nothing in sight? Not only empty, but lonely.
From a historical perspective the first chapter tells us a good deal about the writers, who of course weren't the originators, but it's harder to nail down what persisted from and what was added to the oral tradition. Still, the fact that the writer has the livestock created separately from the wild animals says that this is at least the birth of an agricultural civilization.
Finally, one important point that I noticed - the creation of man account is different from how I remembered it. Or actually not so different, but this time I noticed a slight problem that I didn't before. In a touching scene, set off from the rest of the text, God creates Man in his image - male and female. No ribs. And then the next verse: "God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it."
If I were a literalist I might think that God were giving an equal share of earth to both Man and Woman - both created in his image. Thank God I can interpret scripture to keep women making me sandwiches.
Last thing...after the 6th day, God saw all that he had made and it was very good. One thing to take from this - without a doubt, God delights in his creation, and especially in human beings - our lives, our stories, our hopes, and our dreams. From the start he is a loving creator - the deist clockmaker is hard to see from this passage.
____________________________________________
Next week: The Boo rocks Chapter 2. Something tells me we're going to get a break. (Haha. Day of rest, get it?)
PEACE OUT CRACKAHS!
Love,
Warnie
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Foreign Hypocrisy, Protestant Theology, and more Hate Crimes
Siblings,
I've got a lot on my mind this morning that I'm going to hit you with. Maybe I should have broken it up into several posts, but, as I'm already the only one posting (cough cough) I thought I'd just stick with the one.
First off, the Washington Post reports that foreign newspapers are using the tragedy at Tech as an opportunity to criticize what they deem to be a violent American society. Some simply point at our lax gun laws, others cite a culture that tends towards violence to solve our problems rather than dialogue and others go so far as to say that the shooting was a direct result of our foreign policy. I have a couple of things to say about that. A) Fuck the media, including our own. I understand that with a 24 hour news cycle you end up saying the same things over and over again, but I am not sympathetic when you turn tragedy into your own soap opera for the sake of ratings. Yes, Fox 9 I am talking to you. CAMPUS MASSACRE, join us as we interview students and break up a prayer vigil to give you LIVE coverage of TRAGEDY. B) An extra fuck you to the foreign media. This is not a story of Marines being killed in action, this is obviously just a horrific event. You don't politicize this. I don't care if it happened in Nazi Germany, you would say, this is horrible, I'm so sorry. That's it. It's called ethics. And C) a great big giant Fuck Off to France, you hypocritical toad sucking bastards. Quoting the article:
"I'm not saying that it could only happen in the U.S.A.; no one could prevent someone from shooting people in the Sorbonne," said Pierre Chiquet, a 77-year-old retired aerospace engineer, referring to a Paris university. "But violence is more imbued in American society than in ours. The most dramatic aspect is that they even transport their violence to the rest of the world."
I seem to remember it wasn't that long ago that French cities were paralyzed by violence. Did I dream it? Nope.
Sigh. It seems like every time I start to feel like I can't identify with my own country, that I am a citizen of the world, a liberal, a progressive, an intellectual, I am reminded just how much foreigners piss me off.
Moving on. So, as any self-respecting protestant, I believe that I am a sinful being. I recognize the dual nature of humanity - we are both of this kingdom and of the next. Therefore, in any endeavor I wish to succeed, I should build in a certain amount of safeguards - checks and balances, if you will. The last week I've been down. I don't know why I've been down exactly, and though usually I consciously think about the reasons why I'm sad, I didn't even notice objectively this time around. Thinking back, I think I was more bored than anything - but as you guys know, bored when you're relatively lonely ends up equalling down. I'm not sure of the cause, it just happens to me and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. However, it did occur to me that it might have a simple cause. I can't remember if I posted about this but recently I made a resolution to walk everyday, read everyday, write 1 page of something everyday, and read a passage from the bible, writing out a prayer so I could hold it better. Ambitious? Maybe. But I was keeping my resolution tolerably well. I was walking at least 4 times a week, and reading, and even keeping the prayer journal idea. And I felt better, if only because that gave me a focused task for an hour and a half everyday.
The weather turned bad. I didn't walk. I'd really like to think my sanity was not so fragile, but I think it may be. I stopped reading and seriously praying. I got sad. It's dumb but I think good protestant theology tells me I should expect this. We are weak and fragile creatures, but God is good and strong. So what's the point? you ask, bored with such a long post already. I am proposing a method of safeguards - each other. I'm proposing a sort of group bible study - but not in the traditional sense. I stumbled across a great idea over at Slate. David Plotz, a Jew who believed he more or less knew the bible, has decided to read the bible all the way through, paying attention to all those passages that we normally just let slip by. Click on the link, he does a better job of describing it than I do. It made me think - how well do I know the bible? I mean, I'm more than willing to admit it's got it's fair share of mistakes but I still believe it not only contains truth but Truth and it is the basis for the way I structure my life (along with The Goonies - which, incidentally, might be made into a musical). Anyway, we could read it through together, maybe a chapter a day, maybe a book a week, however we want to do it. We could rotate who takes the lead post voicing concerns, and the others could comment. I think it could really help me, at least, and I know I'd be more likely to do it if we set a schedule ahead of time and held each other accountable. I may try it by myself if you guys aren't interested, but I think it would be a better group activity.
And finally, considering my ire over the media, I should make a disclaimer about the Hate Crimes post I made the other day. The legislation isn't as insidious as I believed. What it does is make crimes that specifically target those with variant sexual orientations federal cases, just like racial minority cases are. I'm still not so keen on the idea of making bigotry a federal offense, but this could be a necessary step to curb abuses by state authorities. We'll see.
Hit me back on this one - I think I might email you to say I've posted.
By the way, because even though we say it, you can't say it enough. I love you guys, and I'm glad it was Tech and not UNH and not UMW.
Warnie
I've got a lot on my mind this morning that I'm going to hit you with. Maybe I should have broken it up into several posts, but, as I'm already the only one posting (cough cough) I thought I'd just stick with the one.
First off, the Washington Post reports that foreign newspapers are using the tragedy at Tech as an opportunity to criticize what they deem to be a violent American society. Some simply point at our lax gun laws, others cite a culture that tends towards violence to solve our problems rather than dialogue and others go so far as to say that the shooting was a direct result of our foreign policy. I have a couple of things to say about that. A) Fuck the media, including our own. I understand that with a 24 hour news cycle you end up saying the same things over and over again, but I am not sympathetic when you turn tragedy into your own soap opera for the sake of ratings. Yes, Fox 9 I am talking to you. CAMPUS MASSACRE, join us as we interview students and break up a prayer vigil to give you LIVE coverage of TRAGEDY. B) An extra fuck you to the foreign media. This is not a story of Marines being killed in action, this is obviously just a horrific event. You don't politicize this. I don't care if it happened in Nazi Germany, you would say, this is horrible, I'm so sorry. That's it. It's called ethics. And C) a great big giant Fuck Off to France, you hypocritical toad sucking bastards. Quoting the article:
"I'm not saying that it could only happen in the U.S.A.; no one could prevent someone from shooting people in the Sorbonne," said Pierre Chiquet, a 77-year-old retired aerospace engineer, referring to a Paris university. "But violence is more imbued in American society than in ours. The most dramatic aspect is that they even transport their violence to the rest of the world."
I seem to remember it wasn't that long ago that French cities were paralyzed by violence. Did I dream it? Nope.
Sigh. It seems like every time I start to feel like I can't identify with my own country, that I am a citizen of the world, a liberal, a progressive, an intellectual, I am reminded just how much foreigners piss me off.
Moving on. So, as any self-respecting protestant, I believe that I am a sinful being. I recognize the dual nature of humanity - we are both of this kingdom and of the next. Therefore, in any endeavor I wish to succeed, I should build in a certain amount of safeguards - checks and balances, if you will. The last week I've been down. I don't know why I've been down exactly, and though usually I consciously think about the reasons why I'm sad, I didn't even notice objectively this time around. Thinking back, I think I was more bored than anything - but as you guys know, bored when you're relatively lonely ends up equalling down. I'm not sure of the cause, it just happens to me and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. However, it did occur to me that it might have a simple cause. I can't remember if I posted about this but recently I made a resolution to walk everyday, read everyday, write 1 page of something everyday, and read a passage from the bible, writing out a prayer so I could hold it better. Ambitious? Maybe. But I was keeping my resolution tolerably well. I was walking at least 4 times a week, and reading, and even keeping the prayer journal idea. And I felt better, if only because that gave me a focused task for an hour and a half everyday.
The weather turned bad. I didn't walk. I'd really like to think my sanity was not so fragile, but I think it may be. I stopped reading and seriously praying. I got sad. It's dumb but I think good protestant theology tells me I should expect this. We are weak and fragile creatures, but God is good and strong. So what's the point? you ask, bored with such a long post already. I am proposing a method of safeguards - each other. I'm proposing a sort of group bible study - but not in the traditional sense. I stumbled across a great idea over at Slate. David Plotz, a Jew who believed he more or less knew the bible, has decided to read the bible all the way through, paying attention to all those passages that we normally just let slip by. Click on the link, he does a better job of describing it than I do. It made me think - how well do I know the bible? I mean, I'm more than willing to admit it's got it's fair share of mistakes but I still believe it not only contains truth but Truth and it is the basis for the way I structure my life (along with The Goonies - which, incidentally, might be made into a musical). Anyway, we could read it through together, maybe a chapter a day, maybe a book a week, however we want to do it. We could rotate who takes the lead post voicing concerns, and the others could comment. I think it could really help me, at least, and I know I'd be more likely to do it if we set a schedule ahead of time and held each other accountable. I may try it by myself if you guys aren't interested, but I think it would be a better group activity.
And finally, considering my ire over the media, I should make a disclaimer about the Hate Crimes post I made the other day. The legislation isn't as insidious as I believed. What it does is make crimes that specifically target those with variant sexual orientations federal cases, just like racial minority cases are. I'm still not so keen on the idea of making bigotry a federal offense, but this could be a necessary step to curb abuses by state authorities. We'll see.
Hit me back on this one - I think I might email you to say I've posted.
By the way, because even though we say it, you can't say it enough. I love you guys, and I'm glad it was Tech and not UNH and not UMW.
Warnie
Monday, April 16, 2007
VA Tech Shooting
They are saying now that not only was it the worst school shooting in American history, but based on the new death toll (in the 30s last I heard) it was the worst shooting ever in American history. Not that a statistic like that matters a lick to the families of the dead or injured.
I first heard when Julie called me. You know everything’s not ok when the first words out of someone’s mouth are: “First of all, everyone you know is ok.” Then I saw an email from Dad at about the same time.
At first, I have to admit, I didn’t really even think about it. When I heard school shooting, I guess I was just thinking along the lines of the UVA shooting where a football player was injured – you know, something bad but not that bad. But that’s not even it – even when I saw the numbers it still didn’t affect me. I was thinking, “Wow, that’s horrible.” But I was still scanning my other emails while listening, but not really listening to Julie.
I called Nathan, because even though I knew he was ok, I figured I should. I think when I heard his voice shaking, that’s when it hit me that this was serious. He couldn’t talk because he was locked down in the building next to where it happened. At the time, they were still pretty unsure of what was going on.
This was all during my lunch break – as I walked back to work I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach: heavy boots, like Oskar from the Jonathan Safran Foer book would say. I started to see it over and over again in my head, thinking how easy it must have been. I don’t mean to turn this into a post about gun control, but in Virginia there is no state law against the sale or possession of semiautomatic assault weapons (like an AK47). I’m not sure what weapon the shooter had, but Nathan says that a friend of his who heard the gunfire said it was some kind of automatic fire. He could have bought it as legally as he could a hunting rifle. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference what kind of gun he had. But it’s a lot easier to kill 31 people when you have a weapon that can fire 100 bullets without reloading.
I was relieved of course. No one that I knew well had been hurt as far as I could tell. Of course then Beth calls and reminds me about Geoff Wilson, saying she couldn’t get in touch with him. I hope that he’s alright.
I don’t know why it hit me as hard as it did. I got really shaken by it, and I kept seeing a classroom - in my head a replica of classrooms at Cabell Hall (no windows, shitty desks) - literally slick with blood. An assault rifle at close range does horrible things to the human body.
Did they hide under their desks? Did they try and rush him to be gunned down? Would I? Could I overcome the fear? Would I even have time to be afraid? Maybe the simpler and better question is would I be able to overcome the nausea? I felt a little sick just thinking about it – how could I handle being there?
What makes a person go to such extremes? Beth told me, and then I saw on the news that there is speculation that this was a jilted boyfriend. Which of course begs the question – was he only after revenge against one person? If so, why on earth would he kill so many? Did he figure that it wouldn’t matter anymore? Does it? Once you are willing to kill one, do numbers really make a difference to you anymore?
I wasn’t there, but when I heard that the killer was dead, I thought, “Thank God.” Not just, thank God the shooting has stopped. Thank God he’s been killed. I don’t think this stems from hate or revenge, although there certainly may have been some of that too. But when someone goes so far to remove themselves from human society are they human anymore? When a dog goes mad and kills a baby you put down the dog. You don’t hate the dog, because it’s just a dog. You put it down because it’s what needs to be done.
Actually I’m not sure if that applies. Maybe anger or hate is a perfectly good reason. As a Christian I want to think forgiveness for everything – maybe everyone should be given the chance for salvation and rehabilitation. But my first thought was still, Thank God.
I hope this isn’t in bad taste. I can’t seem to stop thinking about it, and I can’t get any work done so I thought I’d write it out. I don’t really know what to think – I just have questions that I don’t think can be answered.
-Ben
I first heard when Julie called me. You know everything’s not ok when the first words out of someone’s mouth are: “First of all, everyone you know is ok.” Then I saw an email from Dad at about the same time.
At first, I have to admit, I didn’t really even think about it. When I heard school shooting, I guess I was just thinking along the lines of the UVA shooting where a football player was injured – you know, something bad but not that bad. But that’s not even it – even when I saw the numbers it still didn’t affect me. I was thinking, “Wow, that’s horrible.” But I was still scanning my other emails while listening, but not really listening to Julie.
I called Nathan, because even though I knew he was ok, I figured I should. I think when I heard his voice shaking, that’s when it hit me that this was serious. He couldn’t talk because he was locked down in the building next to where it happened. At the time, they were still pretty unsure of what was going on.
This was all during my lunch break – as I walked back to work I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach: heavy boots, like Oskar from the Jonathan Safran Foer book would say. I started to see it over and over again in my head, thinking how easy it must have been. I don’t mean to turn this into a post about gun control, but in Virginia there is no state law against the sale or possession of semiautomatic assault weapons (like an AK47). I’m not sure what weapon the shooter had, but Nathan says that a friend of his who heard the gunfire said it was some kind of automatic fire. He could have bought it as legally as he could a hunting rifle. Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference what kind of gun he had. But it’s a lot easier to kill 31 people when you have a weapon that can fire 100 bullets without reloading.
I was relieved of course. No one that I knew well had been hurt as far as I could tell. Of course then Beth calls and reminds me about Geoff Wilson, saying she couldn’t get in touch with him. I hope that he’s alright.
I don’t know why it hit me as hard as it did. I got really shaken by it, and I kept seeing a classroom - in my head a replica of classrooms at Cabell Hall (no windows, shitty desks) - literally slick with blood. An assault rifle at close range does horrible things to the human body.
Did they hide under their desks? Did they try and rush him to be gunned down? Would I? Could I overcome the fear? Would I even have time to be afraid? Maybe the simpler and better question is would I be able to overcome the nausea? I felt a little sick just thinking about it – how could I handle being there?
What makes a person go to such extremes? Beth told me, and then I saw on the news that there is speculation that this was a jilted boyfriend. Which of course begs the question – was he only after revenge against one person? If so, why on earth would he kill so many? Did he figure that it wouldn’t matter anymore? Does it? Once you are willing to kill one, do numbers really make a difference to you anymore?
I wasn’t there, but when I heard that the killer was dead, I thought, “Thank God.” Not just, thank God the shooting has stopped. Thank God he’s been killed. I don’t think this stems from hate or revenge, although there certainly may have been some of that too. But when someone goes so far to remove themselves from human society are they human anymore? When a dog goes mad and kills a baby you put down the dog. You don’t hate the dog, because it’s just a dog. You put it down because it’s what needs to be done.
Actually I’m not sure if that applies. Maybe anger or hate is a perfectly good reason. As a Christian I want to think forgiveness for everything – maybe everyone should be given the chance for salvation and rehabilitation. But my first thought was still, Thank God.
I hope this isn’t in bad taste. I can’t seem to stop thinking about it, and I can’t get any work done so I thought I’d write it out. I don’t really know what to think – I just have questions that I don’t think can be answered.
-Ben
Friday, April 13, 2007
Hate Crimes
Rev. Dr. Welton Gaddy, if you don’t know, is the head of the Interfaith Alliance of which the BJC is a part. Normally, I’m all for the work they do there, and I think they present a reasonable stand on religious liberty issues, showing that not all religious people think that government support of religion is a good thing. However, religious liberty is not all that the group is involved in. Rather, they are comprised of the religious left and so involve themselves in a number of social justice issues. Again, I consider myself to be fairly left leaning myself, or at least on the left side of moderate, and I think it’s great that there are religious people that acknowledge that the Bible has more to say about poverty than about abortion or homosexuality.
That being said, I have received an email from Rev. Gaddy (in my lofty capacity as Intern1@bjconline.org) which I could not be more against. It is an action alert kind of email, encouraging the BJC to get involved in mobilizing our grassroots organization to fight for hate crimes legislation. Here’s the gist of it:
Every 73 minutes, someone commits a hate crime in America.Believe it or not, victims targeted because of religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability are not yet fully protected under existing laws. 7,163 hate crimes were reported to local law enforcement in 2006, and the FBI estimates that there are 15 times more hate crimes that go unreported every year*.
Crimes fueled by hatred and bigotry assault a core principle of our various spiritual beliefs -- that every human being has inherent dignity and worth. Religion and government must work together appropriately to make America a place in which diverse people are safe and free.
You and I know that hatred and exclusion are not moral or democratic values. With your support , The Interfaith Alliance will keep working for an America where hate violence is no longer a threat to our communities.
I have two major issues with this nonsense. First, every crime is a hate crime. If you beat the shit out of someone, it’s not going to be because you like him very much. Who cares if you did it because he was black or Muslim or Buddhist or atheist or if you did it because he had a big chunk of change rattling in his pocket? You were able to remove his humanity and treat him as if he were not a fellow human being. That’s hatred.
Second, and more importantly, anyone who fights for freedom of conscience should be horrified at any attempt for government to legislate against what you think. In a free society, your opinions, as horrible as they might be, are your own and none of the government’s damn business. Passing such legislation would set a horrendous precedent. It gives government powers, not only over what actions you take but over what you believe. Thankfully, such laws would be deemed unconstitutional by any court worth its salt.
I'm not a libertarian, because I think stand offish government is ridiculous in a modern world. The state has a responsibility to be involved in the lives of its people, especially in a democracy. But I dont' understand why anyone would trust their government so wholeheartedly as it seems both liberals (with legislation like this) and conservatives (with Patriot Act bullshit) do. Government is made of people and as people is full of stupidity as well as willful sin. Anyone given the power of the sword should be watched very carefully.
That being said, I have received an email from Rev. Gaddy (in my lofty capacity as Intern1@bjconline.org) which I could not be more against. It is an action alert kind of email, encouraging the BJC to get involved in mobilizing our grassroots organization to fight for hate crimes legislation. Here’s the gist of it:
Every 73 minutes, someone commits a hate crime in America.Believe it or not, victims targeted because of religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability are not yet fully protected under existing laws. 7,163 hate crimes were reported to local law enforcement in 2006, and the FBI estimates that there are 15 times more hate crimes that go unreported every year*.
Crimes fueled by hatred and bigotry assault a core principle of our various spiritual beliefs -- that every human being has inherent dignity and worth. Religion and government must work together appropriately to make America a place in which diverse people are safe and free.
You and I know that hatred and exclusion are not moral or democratic values. With your support , The Interfaith Alliance will keep working for an America where hate violence is no longer a threat to our communities.
I have two major issues with this nonsense. First, every crime is a hate crime. If you beat the shit out of someone, it’s not going to be because you like him very much. Who cares if you did it because he was black or Muslim or Buddhist or atheist or if you did it because he had a big chunk of change rattling in his pocket? You were able to remove his humanity and treat him as if he were not a fellow human being. That’s hatred.
Second, and more importantly, anyone who fights for freedom of conscience should be horrified at any attempt for government to legislate against what you think. In a free society, your opinions, as horrible as they might be, are your own and none of the government’s damn business. Passing such legislation would set a horrendous precedent. It gives government powers, not only over what actions you take but over what you believe. Thankfully, such laws would be deemed unconstitutional by any court worth its salt.
I'm not a libertarian, because I think stand offish government is ridiculous in a modern world. The state has a responsibility to be involved in the lives of its people, especially in a democracy. But I dont' understand why anyone would trust their government so wholeheartedly as it seems both liberals (with legislation like this) and conservatives (with Patriot Act bullshit) do. Government is made of people and as people is full of stupidity as well as willful sin. Anyone given the power of the sword should be watched very carefully.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
A Great Idea
I just had a damn fine idea for the Democratic Party - one which I'm not sure has really occurred to anyone.
What if there was a Gore/Obama Ticket? Sounds like a stretch right? But that's only because it'd be too good to be true. You'd have the experience that Al brings to the table combined with the excitement the Obama has shown that he can generate. Plus, with Al's new status as Green Prophet I doubt there's really any chance they could lose. Think about the future possibilities of that - 16 years of able leadership. Any doubts of Obama's executive qualities would disappear after 4 years as a Vice. And whatever his personality faults, Gore is a faithful Baptist, and one of the most, if not the most, intelligent persons in politics today.
That's a ticket I would really get excited about. I think you could overcome any hesitations on either candidate by putting them together and the benefits for the country would be enormous.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
President Frawley
Ah, mary wash...
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2007/042007/frawley
hope you boys enjoy that. As I told Ben, the student body is considering mailing him solo cups as a symbol of our appreciation.
love you both,
Bboo
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/Web/2007/042007/frawley
hope you boys enjoy that. As I told Ben, the student body is considering mailing him solo cups as a symbol of our appreciation.
love you both,
Bboo
Monday, April 9, 2007
A Day in the Life of the Late Great....Potentate - and by that I mean me.
Dear Siblings,
I'm writing tonight, even though I don't really have anything to write about, because I feel like writing. I've felt the bug all day today, though I haven't been able to nail down what exactly I wanted to say. Which, as you both know, is somewhat frustrating. So I'll just describe my day.
Work was relatively uneventful - not because I didn't have work to do, but because I'm tired of doing it. That's not exactly true. I actually have projects to do that on paper are great. The biggest one is a baptist history project. I have full creativity over it. The problem is that I have no deadline, I guess and so now it has become something that I know I should be working on - which makes something that should be enjoyable into something repugnant. If I had a deadline, I'd get it done, but I don't want to be such a servile worker. I want to be someone with initiative - someone who is self-motivated to get the job done.
Anyway, I told myself several times to work on it, but, of course, did not. I did all the other tasks that were immediate and then goofed off for the rest of the time.
After work I walked out to the Mall to smoke my pipe and read the book the Steph gave me - Johnathan Safron Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. If either of you ever get the chance you should read it. It's very well written and one of those few books that moves quickly and yet also scratches at greatness. I read a line today that I had to write down: "I sometimes hear my bone creak with the weight of all the lives I haven't lived." It sounds a little cheezy out of context, but it's great trust me. That same section that I read today contains one of the saddest stories I've ever read. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I'll tell you it involves blank pages (literally).
I guess it was the book that made me want to write. Anytime I read something well done, I want to imitate it, after my own fashion. But then whatever I write ends up being basically like this, which seems to be the only style I have. In a perfect world, I would stay up all night working on a project, a short story, a character, anything, going over it again and again until I got it right. I feel like I used to do that in high school. Remember how I used to play with photoshop or make techno music? I'd work on it happily for hours and hours. Anything I did creatively back then I seemed to actually enjoy doing, or maybe that's just golden tinge of memory. Still, I wrote all that poetry back then - of course it was bad, but every night I'd write something. Where did that impulse go?
So when I got back, even though I said I wouldn't, I changed my mind and put off writing to grab something to eat. Eating meant watching reruns "just while I ate" which of course lasted for an hour. I came upstairs to write, but then decided to watch some of the HBO series Rome. The show has kind of grown on me. I wasn't too fond of it at first, but the more I watch it the more I really get into it, though it is annoyingly overly focused on the sexual aspects of a pagan society. They conveniently ignore the fact that Rome was one of the most conservative societies to ever exist, decadence being done behind closed doors. Which isn't exactly true either, but Roman society wasn't a constant orgy which this comes close to portraying it as. Still, the other parts of the story are interesting - and they do a very good job with capturing Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavian, and Attia especially I think.
So, this part was annoying - while watching Rome, one of my roommates comes up to my room (John my actual roommate {I wish we didn't use roommate for everything in American English...I think I won't.} and my housemate, Mary were in the room as well). Allison, the intruding housemate, with rubber gloves already on her hands, "asks" us to come downstairs and help her clean the refrigerator. I say, "I don't have anything but bread in the fridge." Which is true. I don't make mess here because I hate everyone and want to be left alone as much as possible. Or rather, I keep my mess out of the common areas. How bitchy is it to start cleaning before asking anyone if A) it was advisable considering we're only here for a short time and that there is a cleaning staff who do, admittedly bare minimum cleaning and B) if we had the time or inclination to help her and then demanding that we help because we "live here too?" Pretty bitchy.
I did end up helping some, only because I knew that this other girl would be helping who never asks anyone to help and ends up doing a considerable amount of the cleaning. She's nice so I felt compelled, but I reserved the right to make as many sarcastic comments about the other girl as I pleased. Which, as I had been drinking, were many. The sad part is that she is probably the most attractive girl in the house, and has the yokels downstairs in her thrall. Those poor suckers were slaving away just to see her bending over with a mop in the hopes she'll throw something their way, which she knows, and which she never will. I think there is little worse than a woman using sex to get her way, especially on petty things. I thought seriously about mentioning it, but I figured I do have to live here for another two months and besides they'd just side with her anyway.
So I did a bare minimum of cleaning myself and then plopped on the couch for another hour of tv whilst the sad sappy suckers cleaned around me. I didn't feel bad about that hour - each rotten look I got from the harpy made it worth the wasted time.
And that was my day. I hope yours was more interesting. I'm glad I started writing - I think that was all I needed to do. I know that this wasn't a great essay expounding on human truths, or even one of my better posts, but it actually did feel good to start writing. It's nice to remind myself every now and then that I really do enjoy it. Maybe this'll start a flood. Probably not. Write back.
Peace crackas. I'm out.
-Warnie
I'm writing tonight, even though I don't really have anything to write about, because I feel like writing. I've felt the bug all day today, though I haven't been able to nail down what exactly I wanted to say. Which, as you both know, is somewhat frustrating. So I'll just describe my day.
Work was relatively uneventful - not because I didn't have work to do, but because I'm tired of doing it. That's not exactly true. I actually have projects to do that on paper are great. The biggest one is a baptist history project. I have full creativity over it. The problem is that I have no deadline, I guess and so now it has become something that I know I should be working on - which makes something that should be enjoyable into something repugnant. If I had a deadline, I'd get it done, but I don't want to be such a servile worker. I want to be someone with initiative - someone who is self-motivated to get the job done.
Anyway, I told myself several times to work on it, but, of course, did not. I did all the other tasks that were immediate and then goofed off for the rest of the time.
After work I walked out to the Mall to smoke my pipe and read the book the Steph gave me - Johnathan Safron Foer's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. If either of you ever get the chance you should read it. It's very well written and one of those few books that moves quickly and yet also scratches at greatness. I read a line today that I had to write down: "I sometimes hear my bone creak with the weight of all the lives I haven't lived." It sounds a little cheezy out of context, but it's great trust me. That same section that I read today contains one of the saddest stories I've ever read. I don't want to spoil it for you, but I'll tell you it involves blank pages (literally).
I guess it was the book that made me want to write. Anytime I read something well done, I want to imitate it, after my own fashion. But then whatever I write ends up being basically like this, which seems to be the only style I have. In a perfect world, I would stay up all night working on a project, a short story, a character, anything, going over it again and again until I got it right. I feel like I used to do that in high school. Remember how I used to play with photoshop or make techno music? I'd work on it happily for hours and hours. Anything I did creatively back then I seemed to actually enjoy doing, or maybe that's just golden tinge of memory. Still, I wrote all that poetry back then - of course it was bad, but every night I'd write something. Where did that impulse go?
So when I got back, even though I said I wouldn't, I changed my mind and put off writing to grab something to eat. Eating meant watching reruns "just while I ate" which of course lasted for an hour. I came upstairs to write, but then decided to watch some of the HBO series Rome. The show has kind of grown on me. I wasn't too fond of it at first, but the more I watch it the more I really get into it, though it is annoyingly overly focused on the sexual aspects of a pagan society. They conveniently ignore the fact that Rome was one of the most conservative societies to ever exist, decadence being done behind closed doors. Which isn't exactly true either, but Roman society wasn't a constant orgy which this comes close to portraying it as. Still, the other parts of the story are interesting - and they do a very good job with capturing Caesar, Marc Antony, Octavian, and Attia especially I think.
So, this part was annoying - while watching Rome, one of my roommates comes up to my room (John my actual roommate {I wish we didn't use roommate for everything in American English...I think I won't.} and my housemate, Mary were in the room as well). Allison, the intruding housemate, with rubber gloves already on her hands, "asks" us to come downstairs and help her clean the refrigerator. I say, "I don't have anything but bread in the fridge." Which is true. I don't make mess here because I hate everyone and want to be left alone as much as possible. Or rather, I keep my mess out of the common areas. How bitchy is it to start cleaning before asking anyone if A) it was advisable considering we're only here for a short time and that there is a cleaning staff who do, admittedly bare minimum cleaning and B) if we had the time or inclination to help her and then demanding that we help because we "live here too?" Pretty bitchy.
I did end up helping some, only because I knew that this other girl would be helping who never asks anyone to help and ends up doing a considerable amount of the cleaning. She's nice so I felt compelled, but I reserved the right to make as many sarcastic comments about the other girl as I pleased. Which, as I had been drinking, were many. The sad part is that she is probably the most attractive girl in the house, and has the yokels downstairs in her thrall. Those poor suckers were slaving away just to see her bending over with a mop in the hopes she'll throw something their way, which she knows, and which she never will. I think there is little worse than a woman using sex to get her way, especially on petty things. I thought seriously about mentioning it, but I figured I do have to live here for another two months and besides they'd just side with her anyway.
So I did a bare minimum of cleaning myself and then plopped on the couch for another hour of tv whilst the sad sappy suckers cleaned around me. I didn't feel bad about that hour - each rotten look I got from the harpy made it worth the wasted time.
And that was my day. I hope yours was more interesting. I'm glad I started writing - I think that was all I needed to do. I know that this wasn't a great essay expounding on human truths, or even one of my better posts, but it actually did feel good to start writing. It's nice to remind myself every now and then that I really do enjoy it. Maybe this'll start a flood. Probably not. Write back.
Peace crackas. I'm out.
-Warnie
Monday, April 2, 2007
there's an ocean between where i am and where i want to be
So the above popular Flogging Molly lyric kept coming to me today. I'm missing Zimbabwe really badly again. There are times when I can almost smell the dirt, and the way the heat beats down, and the laughter from the school kids. I guess what scares me the most is that I don't know if I'll ever go back. Its like my life has been split into two, and I like both paths. I'm definitely going through a "stuck in the middle" time and I always get the same answers when I pray "patience...trust me." Which is funny because those are the things I'm worst at...which is why I need to do them. Anyways I think I'm rambling. But I love the blog, and I love feeling that I'm talking to both of you. Its like we're back at home, me in a chair and you guys sprawled on the floor, just talking about all the things we constantly have bouncing around in our heads. You guys are my best friends, I love you.
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