wonder why i never posted this...
i just stumbled upon my old blog.
never really posted much...
at any rate, i read it and mit made me think...
it is a beautiful evening. wonderful sunset. lovely air. crystal-clear view of the stars. feels right. wish i were outside...
been a while since i've written, it has been quite the whirlwind of a summer. i volunteered all summer long at a camp, i had a job watching my three minions for the summer however that went out the window when their mother hired someone else becase she thought i would be at camp all summer long. so... i ended up being at camp all summer long.
it was wonderful. spending time outside, time away from normal life, and you are able to be yourself because people do not expect you to be anything.
moving on... it has bene a while since i let myself ramble. wonder where it will go...
today i went to a youth outing, the youth interns of our small church took us to their aprtments that are on their campus an hour away, neighbors from across the hall brought their youth group and we played things such as ultimate frisbee (as i'm sure you know, is the best team sport since hockey) and then had dinner. i found some of the girls' opinions of people interesting. they began talking about people that come into their pizza parlor or walk past on a regular basis. after giving an interesting description that leaves me wondering about the person, the beign making fun of said person.
what?
if an old homeless man walks past me and is searching the ground for half-smoked cigarettes, i would be curious about his life, not scared to look at him or laughing at him. if a tattered woman always comes in with a cat in her bicycle basket, would i treat her as if she were about to murder me? no. my mind would be off thinking about all the possibilities of where she came from as i made sure she was well served.
those people sound genuinly interesting to me...
perhaps small minds truely are easily occupied.
another random tidbit (that's an odd word, tidbit... i never use it, however it fits.) i apparently am the secretary of the service club that began at our school last year. good thing the sponser selected officers, had we voted i would have never made it. i'm excited, last year i had plenty of ideas however they never really got off the ground because of our club being in it's charter year and all of the things that needed to get done for that. this year, my sponser and i talked about raising money and awareness for an organizatin called free the slaves. an excellent cause, hopefully we can take action on our plans and get something moving and the students motivated! that and we can always donate old shoes and cothing to the local charities... anyhow, i was discussing this with the new president of said club, venting a bit of frustration that we did not do anything last year. his reply? basically he said "oh well. the club looks good on a college application."
it's comforting when someone higher up than you on the officer totem pole isn't in the service club to SERVE.
my reply?
"it's a service club. who cares about college applications? if it's a service club we should do service, that's why we formed the club. not to look good. i hope... anyhow, we need to get moving. service is more than saying you're for it and putting it on an application."
i can only pray that the rest of the club is in this for reasons other than to look good!
i wonder how many people sport livestrong bracelets, to write love on her arms shirts, product red items, etc just because it's a fad. how many really know what they're supporting? i know a few people that don't know anything about livestrong. some people with multiple TWLOHA shirts that still make cutting jokes. and some people with product red things that may know about the cause yet don't care.
it's hard to tell when people are sincere.
then again... that last paragraph was all about what the outside looks like. who knows what is going on inside. and suppoting a cause is more than sporting the gear, it's about taking action and spreading awareness. mainly taking action, i read an article today by someone who is tired of groups specifically to raise awareness. i agree, so many people raise awareness and stop there. i may not often have any opportunity to do anything save spread awareness, however i am always searching for ways to do more. there always is a way to do more waiting to be found.
-now that i've read this post after several months, i can't help but wonder: when did apathy become the american way of life? we are trying to change it, and we proudly spread awareness of causes like breast cancer and go 'yeah, i'm doing something!' only to not be changed by the cause, not to truely care, not to try and help with anything else...
we support causes because it looks good.
we do it to impress.
we do it because we think it's right.
we do not do it because we care.
why?
someone in my family likes to 'support the opressed' and claims to like causes supporting oppressed people. i got my Voice of the Martyrs newsletter in, and remembering her liking of 'oppressed people' i asked if she would like to read it. "oh, well, i hate stuff like that. i mean, i like it, but i hate reading about it. it's good to suport them, but i hate reading about it. i hate when..."
i was confused. and slightly stunned.
so... she supports oppressed people...
and hates learning about them?
indeed.
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