January 31, 2008
I had a giant hamburger last night…
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/30/undercover.slaughter.video/index.html#cnnSTCVideo
i need to stop ignoring this.
October 3, 2007
A good song
Thought I would put this up after a patron told me today, “God, getting divorced is harder than getting married.” She was referring to all the forms we have to fill out for dissolutionment.
“Supposed to be Beautiful” by Michael Logen
Doesn’t anybody notice, does anybody know this
Quiet sadness we all feel, the spinning of the wheel
There’s an aching for the innocence lost before the oceans
Found their way into the valleys and the canyons
We were hoping to be whole by now, Hoping to bring healing down around us in our violence, Laughter for our silence,
Yes, but underneath the comfort of our dinner conversations, There’s a fumbling of the moments, Cause we know that we are fading
But we were supposed to be beautiful, you and I
We were supposed to be beautiful, and though we try
We are not so beautiful, you and I…
Just another grey-sky morning, Cast aside the scorning
Of the second-hand clock ticking, Quickening the moments
And every day bleeds into yesterday and into tomorrow
Until we find our way back down under this earth we only borrow
But we were supposed to be beautiful, you and I
We were supposed to be beautiful, and though we try
We are not so beautiful, you and I…
But when I hold a newborn child, and walk across the mountains wild
I believe in God in Heaven and I believe in His redemption
And when I walk down by the ocean and I’m lost in my emotion
I believe, I believe
That we were supposed to be beautiful…
June 7, 2007
so sorry, another one
I’ll stop posting these when they stop happening. Stop buying Chiquita. Not only were they a high factor in the economic colonialization of latin america by the U.S. (i.e. they put a lot of pressure on the U.S. government in the 70s and 80s to make sure they could do whatever they felt like in central and south america), but now it seems they’ll do whatever it takes to make those farms safe:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6732739.stm
Oh, and if you think their concern is 100% for the welfare of their workers, perhaps you should read this report from Human Rights Watch:
In the same vein
Similar to the stories I posted the other day, I wanted to mention a couple things.
There is a trial starting this Friday in the case of an Islamic cleric who was abducted in Italy and taken to Egypt, where he was tortured. This is the first trial that will test the legality of the practice of extraordinary rendition, where suspected terrorists (or journalists or whomever we choose) are abducted and sent overseas solely for the purpose of using interrogation methods illegal both in the U.S. and according to the Geneva conventions. If you listen to the story, pay close attention to how much the CIA ran up the hotel bill. Almost funny if it weren’t in this context.
Some of you may be arguing that this man probably was involved in terrorist activity in some way. You might be right. But at what point did the liberty, democracy and freedom we’re supposedly spreading become set against the detainment, communistic (listen to the story about how we borrowed our interrogation methods from Russian cold war manuals) oppression with which we’re carrying out our “war?” I suppose modeling democratic methods isn’t as important at forcing them to happen at the barrel of a gun.
In related news, Congress is now considering legislation that would reverse the decision by the former Republican controlled Congress to eliminate the right of Habeus Corpus to Guantanamo detainees. Not only was this one of the more dastardly (dastardly because it’s incredible cowardice to take away their right to trial since we know we can’t charge them with any crime that will stick) things I’ve seen happen to those detainees in the last 6 years (aside from being arrested without charges, taken to a foreign country, made to wear hoods whenever anyone might see them, having their holy book flushed in the toilet, no contact with their families, enduring the same interrogation techniques mentioned above – which is why it’s in Cuba, a place we’re not allowed to travel to, but we sure can keep an army base there – and on and on…
Let’s hope these political prisoners earn the right to defend themselves, or at least get a day in court.
Strangely, none of this looks much like the Kingdom.
May 17, 2007
Again…how long…
During my time at Xavier, I’ve learned a lot about judging…a lot in particular about NOT judging. I prefer these days to leave a lot of that up to God. I began to even have a hard time vilifying in any way those that I had typically attacked in the past. Thich Nhat Hanh, Merton, Nouwen and Jesus had a lot to do with my growth on that front.
But as my former professor Paul Knitter would remind me…there really are dangerous forms of religion. He said as much when I was surprised to see him on 20/20 last week.
I was going to post a link to the news story about the honor killing video we’ve seen the last few days. But then I remembered my post from a couple days ago about violence, and being a spectator of it…so I decided not to link it.
I can say with certainly that not only is honor killing morally and ethically wrong, it certainly can’t be justified by either religious or cultural reasons.
It gives great weight to the “let he who has no sin…” passage, and great weight indeed to my soul and spirit to hear of this kind of thing.
I don’t know…I just wanted to mention it. In light of all the study of violence I’ve been doing, and recent conversations about the nature of personal and “micro” violence instead of “meta” violence…it’s weighing real heavy.
April 21, 2007
So…
…I haven’t posted much lately, obviously. I’m not certain whether that’s from lack of interest, lack of motivation, lack of content, or lack of articulation.
Plans for my trip are coming along pretty heavily now. I’m setting up specific dates and times to meet with the organizations I have contacted and am moving along in finding free housing. Budget is still a huge concern for me, but I think things might work out. When I say budget is a concern for me, I really should say “The money the school gave me for this trip is pretty limited and I’d rather not have to use any of my own.”
I’ve been talking quite a bit, and thinking even more, about the idea of suffering around the world and what role we as Kingdom people are supposed to play in the alleviation of it. I’m not 100% sure that simply “suffering with” is enough, particularly because if you ask those who are suffering, they certainly would want to be relieved of it. But I do believe suffering with is a valid and noble task. I believe there are many who are called, and who are gifted in this way, to simply suffer with the poor, the vulnerable and the oppressed: Mother Theresa, Henri Nouwen, and others. I believe there are people who are gifted at being the prophetic voice, calling attention to these issues and holding Kingdom members and others accountable to what could be considered minimal standards of human relationships and conditions: Walter Brueggemann, Wendell Berry, and others. I believe there are people of action who address issues on the small scale and others who address them as global issues: Martin Luther King, Jr., Oscar Romero, and others.
Certainly almost any of those individuals named can fall into any of the categories depending on the period in their life or their mood for the day. So are we to criticize others for being only a prophetic voice? Are we to criticize those who never seem to “get anything done” in the world’s eyes (or even our own)? Are we to criticize those who live in relative affluence while they rail against the systems of the world for its sustainment of oppressive systems?
I don’t really know anymore. Do I have the nuts to criticize N.T. Wright because all he does is write nice books and give nice lectures and inspire generations of people to rethink what being a Kingdom member really is? After all, he lives in a pretty fancy place. Can I criticize Mother Theresa because she didn’t get all those poor and all those lepers out of their condition? After all, she was there a long time, surely she could have done something.
I’ve been wrestling with the role my passion will play in my life. Issues of violence, in particular religious violence, have consumed my thoughts over the last couple years. I’ve become very interested in working in the conflict resolution field. There are of course a couple problems. Many conflict resolution organizations are looking for people who have International Relations degrees, etc. There is a bit of a bright spot in that many are beginning to realize they cannot marginalize religion as a healing factor. The other problem is that I cannot simply drag my family from war torn area to war torn area. Neither would I enjoy being alone, away from home for months at a time. I might be able to make those decisions for myself, but I cannot make them for Missy and certainly not for any children we may have. Can I subject them to the violence and trauma I’m hoping to help heal for others?
I know my life with violence will not simply be academic, and that it will take some sacrifices on both my part and the part of my family. This summer’s trip is a beginning. I will hear and see those who have suffered through some of the worst violence (and the worst in the case of Yugoslavia) that Europe has seen since WWII. I think this summer, producing the thesis, and seeing what comes next will be very formative for the rest of my life. That’s a lot of expectation to put into a few short months…but I think that’s how it’s going to pan out.
Perhaps more later.
March 30, 2007
Define “offensive”
I’m inclined to disagree. I think the worst assaults on Christian sensibilites are reserved for the massive poverty worldwide, the inexplicable violence committed against each other, the seeming disregard for others unless it benefits us, and the ability of Christians to focus on art gallery “apostasy” and ignore real life tragedy.
February 21, 2007
A hard weekend
I’ll try to make this brief by just telling you what happened and some brief reactions.
Our foster child spent time with another foster parent this weekend, one who had two of his brothers. It didn’t go well and he had to be brought back early. When he came home, he was very combative, similar to last Sunday’s explosion.
We finally got him calmed down and we went to church. He did pretty well and the rest of the evening wasn’t a problem at all.
Monday morning I was getting some work done on the Jeep and missy called to say he was losing it again. He was told he couldn’t play pool because he disobeyed missy and he started into the yelling. Missy brought him home and we tried to talk to him. It took a good amount of time, but he finally calmed down.
I went to work later in the day and got a call not long after that he had started again. He had been upset because he knew he wasn’t going to be able to see his brothers this week. That turned into kicking chairs over and running away from missy. She didn’t know where he had went, whether he was even in the building. Because it was President’s day, there were no social workers available and our only option was to call the police.
By the time they arrived, he had returned to her office, but he was kicking and biting and spitting. He punched both missy and her co-worker. And he was certainly only acting out of anger, but there were some death threats in there as well. By the time I got there, the cop had handcuffed him to a chair. That was real wierd.
He stayed with us that night and yesterday we had a hearing and he was placed with a therapeutic foster care family. And three of his brothers will be with him.
Missy and I just felt like things were escalating and we weren’t prepared to deal with it. As much as I felt like we had to offer, I just didn’t know what to do for him that would help with these explosive anger situations. My hope is that this therapy home will be better equipped to help him. Of course, none of that helps me not feel like we couldn’t have done more, or that we did enough. It sucks.
The only part that made me really angry about the whole thing was what happened at the court house yesterday. They marched his mother (in her prison garb, ankle chains and handcuffs) right past him into the courtroom. He broke down when he saw her. And after the hearing, she walked out of the courtroom, leaned down to him and said “I’m getting out on Friday and you’re coming home then.”
She knows that isn’t true. She’s been in jail 2 weeks and hasn’t contacted her lawyer. She didn’t even know his name. She gets out Friday and her court date is Monday, where they will most likely not award her custody of any of the kids.
I’m a little too drained to make a huge deal of this on here, and frankly, I don’t really care to make one at all. But I did want to let you all know that he’s not with us anymore.
The Kingdom Is Actual 
