WILT #2: Delinquency

When I was working today, I was talking to the other guard I was working with while the YMCA Day Care kids' group was swimming. We started on the topic of the group the YMCA sponsors for kids who've gotten into trouble with the law. Now, open swim didn't start till 4 and it was 3:30 when three guys walked in. One of them was like the biggest man I've ever seen (I think he might've been pon steroids, not sure). They jumped into the pool in the deep end. I had to swallow a little bit of fear as I walked over to tell them open swim didn't start till 4, but I knew they had to respect my authority else they'd get kicked out of the pool, and possibly the YMCA.

When I told them open swim didn't start till four, the big one looked at me and told me they were with the YMCA. I raised my eyebrow and asked if they really were, and he said "Yeah, I'm a counselor!" in the rudest manner he could muster. I walked back over to the other guard and told her what had happened (she was once head lifeguard, then stepped down because of a busy schedule). She figured they were probably with the group we'd been talking about earlier, so it was okay if they stayed in the pool till the others got out.

It got me thinking. We usually judge people by their past actions. I mean, crime goes on your permanent record. It's basically asking people to judge you. I personally have almost too much faith in people's ability to change. But that'll be for another day.. Anyway, we always judge books by their covers. We always judge people by how they look, carry themselves, and have done in the past.

I heard a story at Encounter of a guy who worked at the YMCA (ironically). One night, he was the only one there late at night finishing up some work, maybe cleaning. A couple of young guys walked in looking for trouble. Started defacing the property in the building, stuff like that. They eventually noticed the guy working, and thought he was trying to call the police. Upon noticing that, they grabbed him, beat him until he was nearly dead, and left him by the side of the pool. The next morning, he was found by one of the other workers. He survived, but lost the use of his eyesight if I remember correctly.

The two young men were brought to court a few weeks later for the crime, and the man was asked to testify against them. But as the judge was about to deliver the verdict, he asked if he could take the men into his care. If they were to mess up again, they could be taken to jail. Otherwise, he would take care of them and raise them to be better young men. The judge agreed. One of the young men immediately following got into trouble with the law again and was arrested. The other one was able to grow up into a better future as a better person.

So I guess what I learned today is that we all judge people by what they've done, but we don't place enough faith in their ability to change. I used to think of it as a flaw of mine, but everyone deserves a second chance. It's up to them whether they blow it, or use it wisely.

WILT #1: Villainy

I'm going to start a new series that I hope to make at least a tri-weekly thing. Maybe I can progress into it being a daily thing someday (if I have that much time everyday) but for now, this'll do. I'm calling it W.I.L.T. (What I Learned Today). It's based on the saying that you learn something new every day. I'm going to try and stimulate myself into making sure I learn something new every day in order that I may keep myself sharp and not get lazy intellectually. So, anyway, here goes.

WILT: Day One
Villainy / Insanity

I was thinking about this blog on my way home tonight, and somehow started thinking about movie and book villains. Even our villains in our daily lives (I.E. The Oh-So-Hated Hitler). Sometimes, villains will go off trying to justify their actions. They say they're just visionaries trying to change the world. One villain in particular strikes me the most in this case.
The Joker is a clear case of a maniacal individual intent on "watching the world burn". He uses unusual methods, to say the least, of accomplishing his goals.
However, there's some realistic applications to the behavior of villains and mentally unstable people. You see, we live in a world where conformity is the key to being considered sane. You're not considered sane if you step too far outside the world's boundaries. There's several boundaries in place, of course. I mean, it takes a great deal of being "different" to be considered mentally insane. But it also takes being outside of those boundaries to see how the world needs changing and how it really ought to be. I'm not calling for us to all become insane or villainous in our actions. It's just, you can't really see what needs fixing when you're part of the mess. We're all part of the mess.

I did a horrid job of explaining my thoughts, but villains really are just visionaries trying to change the world. Their methods are a bit questionable, granted, but sometimes it takes someone out of the ordinary to give us a wake up call to the world we live in.

Johnathan's Story

This story begins in an average, snug little town. A town where everyone knows each other, where normalcy is something to be achieved.

Johnny is a toddler. He lives in his house with his parents. Johnny has no brothers or sisters. Every day, Johnny wakes up, descends the stairs to where his breakfast awaits him and consumes it like every other day before school. Johnny's mother takes his finished bowl of cereal to the sink and rinses it out. Johnny whines about how it wasn't the cereal he likes, and that if his mother loved him, she'd give him the best cereal possible.

His mother does love him, but knows that Johnny needs to learn that people can't always have what they want. Such lessons start with smaller things, to accustom ourselves to larger things.

Johnny goes to get dressed, whining that if his mother loved him, he'd have nicer clothes. Whining that he knows that the family can afford it, and why can't he have it?

Johnny slams the door on his way out of the house to the school bus. When his mom walks out to hand him his lunch, Johnny quickly takes it and runs to the bus. The kids on the bus ask him "Was that your mom?" He replies, "No, that's not my mom."

Johnny arrives at school, looking around for his friends. He talks to them about his parents not loving him, about how if they loved him, bad things wouldn't happen to him. How, if they really did love him, he'd have a perfect life. A happy life with no sadness or sorrow. Everything he ever wanted would be his, if only his parents loved him enough to provide it for him.

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Twenty years later, Johnathan wakes up in the morning in his apartment. He whines about 9/11. He whines about swine flu, he whines about how if God loved us He wouldn't let this stuff happen to us.

Johnathan whines about his work, how if God loved him, He'd give him a better job.

Johnathan complains about war, about corrupt politics, about sickness, death, poverty, sex scandals. If God loved us, he says, none of this would happen.

And God watches with the sadness of a parent watching a child that hasn't yet learned their lesson as Johnathan continues to complain. As Johnathan continues to complain as he cheats on his wife, scams people out of their money, passes people in need without a second glance, and looks at third world countries in contempt. Why does God let this happen, he wonders as he passes by every chance to help change the world that is put before him.

If God loved us, none of this would happen. Right, Johnathan?


Matthew 6:25-34 25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

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Disclaimer: Johnathan was a name just randomly chosen. Johnny's just a common name to throw out in stories. I didn't base this off any one person.

Letter to the Lost Cause

To Whom It May Concern:

It is with regret that I look upon mankind. Regret that I can do nothing, in part, but to a larger extent regret that my helplessness is accepted and nurtured by society. It is with this growing, though partially unwilling, cynicism that I write to you.

We are brought up either as conformists, wishful conformists, or non-conformists. The sad reality, however, is that a major role in developing any of the above mindsets is a direct causation of the parenting skills of those who brought us into existence. Regardless, this does leave room for redemption (or perhaps, corruption). Our upbringings do not always brand us for life. I've been told that I sometimes have too much faith in any given human nature's ability to change. And though you may find this to be true, do not dismiss my words as the ramblings of a lunatic. Though by all qualifications I may meet those standards.

If we are to be brought up to be conformists, it is because we asked to be such. Never having grown out of a desire to have what others have, conformists continue to act fully on their selfish desires, allowing them access into a crowd that cannot succeed beyond that which they conform to.

For reasons inevitable, there are those who wish to conform but cannot. Wishful conformists exist to bridge an otherwise nearly uncrossable gap. However, as they are unable to live a content life without conforming to societal norms, these wishfuls coexist only with a natural desire for acceptance that will only continue to bring them lower.

It takes a conscious and bold effort to defy that which is set before us by society. Non-conformism is not the act of rejection of all conformist ideals. No, non-conformism is merely ridding oneself of conformist shackles that restrain one from truly being able to excel in life. It is being able to conform enough to hold the qualities necessary to succeed, but being different enough to push beyond the norm and into genius.

And though my outlook may not be entirely correct, it may not be entirely inaccurate either. For in some lies we can find a glimmer of truth, and in some truths we can find a trace of a lie.

Is your cup half empty or half full?

With kind regards,
Sophocleus

It's broken, shouldn't I fix it?

Let me take you on a little journey of reminiscence to a time long past (for some of us longer than others, and for others, longer than for some of us): A time when we were children in this world.

I remember my action figures very clearly. In fact, I've kept most of them simply because I've a nasty habit of not being able to give away or throw away things that I've had for a while. But I digress. I always remember those painful days when a duel to determine the fate of the universe was interrupted when a clash of two opposing action figures ended up in the loss of a limb. I would stare down at the dismembered part of the hero's body in solemn mourning. I mean, how can you expect to restore balance to the universe without a leg?

The first few times you'd cry out to your parents to fix it. The answer? Superglue. They'd walk in with the little bottle, squirt a little onto the hole, re-attach the missing limb, and tell you not to touch it for a while. Frustrating at first because you couldn't save the universe for a whole twenty more minutes.

BUT THEN, sword in hand, your hero flew back into action! Only to find you couldn't move the re-attached arm. Huh?

"Oh, you won't be able to move it once it's Superglued. It just has to stay that way," was the answer received from the parental unit.

Crushing disappointment. Your hero was forever handicapped and would remain that way. That's why my old toy chest looks the way it does: arms and legs everywhere with the guys having holes on either sides of their shoulders. Ha. It looks like a graveyard, really.

I suppose you're wondering where I'm going with this. You see, we live in a broken world. The question I had posed was "Why isn't it getting fixed?" I believe the answer lies partly in the fact that people think God works much the same way as Superglue. You're fixed on the outside, but you never fully regain the capabilities you had before you became broken. In order to fix our broken world, we have to be examples of our God's mercy. I haven't really developed my true point very well, but I suppose it makes enough sense as it is. I mean, people want to be fixed, not glued. No one wants a decaying part of them to stay the same for the rest of their lives, they want it fixed. God can do that. No Superglue, no duct tape, He's the remedy.

"Remember that thou hast made me of clay; and wilt thou turn me to dust again?"

(Job 10:9)

Snow

“Snow and adolescence are the only problems that disappear if you ignore them long enough.” - Earl Wilson

So it snowed last night. In Texas. Yeah, I'm a little confused on that whole bit as well. Especially since it was a whole whopping 4 inches. In Texas. Yeah. . .

As such, I didn't want to waste an occurrence that happens once in a year or two in Texas, so I went outside this afternoon to have some childish fun. But as I stepped out my front door, I stopped. It was a pure white blanket, untouched, unmarred by human contact. There's not much on this earth that can be claimed that way. We've taken over a lot of things. But that's a whole other topic. Anyway, I hesitated to step into the snow. Not because it was cold or wet (heck no, I sat in the stuff later on. Couldn't feel my butt for a few hours, but it was cool [pun]). No. I hesitated because I didn't want to disturb a perfect image.

I mentioned that thought to my mom playfully, and she turned to me and said something that came across to me deeper than I guess she assumed it would. It was something along the lines of:

"Well, fresh snow is like a new day that God gives us. He gives it to us fresh, with no blemishes. Then we go and leave our footprints all over it and mess it up because we're just human."

That really got me thinking. God gives us a fresh start every day. He doesn't hold grudges, he doesn't keep a record of every little thing you did until that moment. And that act of mercy goes beyond me, and goes beyond all of us. We don't understand it. And being human, since we don't understand how one being could be so merciful and gracious, we take it for granted.

As children we've been taught manners (I very well hope). "Please" and "Thank you". Please to request something we desire, thank you to acknowledge that they did something you're grateful for, and that you want to show them your appreciation for the act or gift. Why then do we not give thanks to He who gives us life, who forgives our every mistake, and who promises us a brighter future? I mean, we do. It's just becoming a routine thing. . . Sunday morning, Wednesday night, maybe Sunday night.

At camp this summer, I was told at the rate we're going, 90% of teenagers will leave the church after high school. That's scary, folks. We lose hope because the world we live in increasingly demands more material and physical proof to try to explain the paranormal that can't register in our brains. We can't lose hope. Our God LIVES, and if the world around you isn't proof enough, then I pray that God may open your eyes, that you may see the beauty that surrounds you that was created by Him.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1

Righteous Anger / Conformism

It's funny how most of my thoughts seem to occur while riding in a car. Because when everything around you is muffled in an enveloping cloak of silent tranquility, you hear the raging wars in your head. I find myself with plenty of wars, and scarce reinforcements to support me sometimes. Is this just?
So I came to think of a concept of a righteous anger. First introduced to me at a spiritual camp called Encounter, I've been developing the concept in my mind. I strive to understand if there can be such a thing because out of a natural human desire there are things I feel I have a right to be angry about. But that's not what righteous anger is. . . We shouldn't seek to justify our own bursts of anger, but we are called to identify injustices in the world, and if we can do something to change the situation for the better, we must do so with a righteous anger.
We're called to tend to the poor and homeless, but we instead choose to appease the rich and powerful. Justice isn't even served in a society that places more value on how many people you can tackle, touchdowns you can score, or how much taste one has in clothing over being intellectually proficient to a degree of being potentially able to make a valuable contribution to a slowly degrading society. (Whew, long sentence. Take a breather, you deserve it). Degrading in that we sacrifice morals and values for the sake of entertainment or earning a sense of acceptance from everyone else.

Now that I put that all down on the table, what am I supposed to do? I already strive to not fall into conformism. What else am I called to do?

Some things are put into our lives merely to change us, and we can only hope it's for the better. Some things are different because they're meant only for us. I believe that those things are what we need to look for. Those are the things that make us who we are, they make us into the people we grow into. However, they are different. And if we spend our time immersed in conformism, we shut our eyes to the things that can truly make us who we are.

To tie it all up: Things aren't right in society, and we aren't right to conform to them. We must face the world firmly in what we know is right and be watching for the blessings and paths God provides us. We're called to take our stand against the world's temptations with a righteous anger, but with a loving attitude. There's a middle ground for all of us, we just need to find it.