Saturday, February 27, 2010

Pray for the people in Chile.

Pray for the people in Hawaii.

Pray for the people in the coastal cities of California.


Brianna

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

"One Day" by Matisyahu
Sometimes I lay
Under the moon
And thank God I'm breathing
Then I pray
Don't take me soon
Cause I am here for a reason
Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
Because
All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day
One day
One day
One day
One day
One day
It's not about
Win or losewe all lose
When they feed on the souls of the innocent
Blood drenched pavement
Keep on moving though the waters stay raging
In this maze you can lose your way (your way)
It might drive you crazy but don't let it faze you no way (no way)
Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me downs
O when negativity surrounds
I know some day it'll all turn around
Because
All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day
One day
One day
One day
One day
One day
One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence
Down with the hate
One day we'll all be free
And proud to be
Under the same sun
Singing songs of freedom like
One day
One day
All my life I've been waiting for
I've been praying for
For the people to say
That we don't wanna fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play
One day
One day
One day
This song has been on my mind as I read what Lydia posted. It's been heavy in my mind and heart from when I first heard it, and saw the lyrics. What a message to be told.
Brianna

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Duya (please, Krio)


Emmanuel Jal is Sudanese man who was forced to fight in his country's brutal civil war as a child. Now he is a rapper. In his book he makes a comment about how it confused him at first that Western artists would rap about guns, sing about violence. He knew these things. He had been exposed to violence all his life and it has scarred him. Now ignorant Americans rap about it as if they know anything of real violence, real conflict. Sure, many of them grew up in terribly unhealthy environments, trapped in the midst of gang violence and rivalries. But none, none of these rappers whose lyrics so confused Jal was conscripted into an army that burned, pillaged, and tortured, as well as stole childhoods away from boys and girls.
After his redemption from a violent lifestyle, Emmanuel Jal only wanted to rap about love and care. He wants his music to speak to people and bring peace. But we seek after music that makes us angry, that stirs us up. There's nothing wrong with a tune that one can feel to one's soul, nothing wrong with listening to a song that you like, but why do we want our music to be about pain and brutality? Why do rappers insist on insulting everyone and everything? Why do they sing about women like prostitutes as if that's the way we should be when women throughout the world turn to that occupation as the last possible means to feed themselves and their families? War, prostitution, torture, risk, disrespect, it all holds our society back. If people like Martin Luther King Jr. have tried so hard and so long to rid our world of such evils why do we glorify them now?
Most Americans live easy lives. Our biggest problems matter to us, but do not compare with those of people in third world countries. It's wonderful that we have the ability to live such prosperous lives but glorifying the problems that others in the rest of the world(and even in our own country)struggle with is a cruel and arrogant practice. We flaunt problems that aren't real to us, but are to others as though the problems are what is cool, what is desirable. By doing this we broadcast arrogance and degrade our fellow humans. Instead of creating conflict, Emmanuel Jal raps about peace, love, and his desire for unity in Sudan.

"I can't, I can't wait for the day
When I will see no more tears, no more fear, no cry
No tribalism, nepotism, and racism in my motherland
I can't wait for that day when the wonderful people go back home
And plant their nation in this generation."
-Gua (Emmanuel Jal)

Funny the way it is.

-Lydia

Friday, February 19, 2010

Empty.

You lay there, covered by a blanket of fresh air, relishing the perfect grass against your skin. There is blue and there is green and there is gold. You have all you need because the rays of the sun quench your thirst and you feed off of happiness. You find contentment in the sun on closed eyelids. The rest of your body is alternately illuminated by and shaded from the sun which passes through clouds. You do not fear, you do not hate, you do not regret. That feeling of remorse over hurtful or embarassing moments is gone. You aren't uncomfortable, you aren't threatened. You do not feel like a stumbling soul lost in a world of other, more perfect beings. Perfection has been achieved by the wind tossing your hair with it's crystal fingers. Never have you lied, never have you fallen. Never have you changed, never have you been taught a lesson. Never have you been hurt. All is perfection until your mind starts to peel free and you see that neither have you laughed, neither have you cried, neither have you felt love for another. You have yet to fall and get back up, you have never tried and you have never failed. Never have you put aside all weighty doubts and exchanged them for life. Never have you lived. Lived like you only get one life and being overtaken by ignorant bliss in a field of joy is one way to waste such a gift. So you get up. And you go. And you laugh and you cry and you see pain and you wait for healing. And you bless and you regret and you fall and you get back up. And you believe and you love and you live.

Lydia

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Everything is different.

What if it wasn't the sea, it was the sky? Imagine the sun being beneath us. Picture a mountain turned upside down. Feel the wind rush by in a valley, the river rush by in the sky. Imagine that it isn't books, it's memory. What if laying down brought one closer to the moon? Picture standing on your hands in the sky. Visualize falling through time. Pretend it's not Mac, it's PC. Believe that there are pots of gold in the sky. Don't doubt that tears are diamonds. What if words were pictures and pictures were words? What if nature was an oil painting? Think of unicorns being at the zoo and horses as mythical beings. Imagine that the beach is the sea and the sea is made of sand. Picture yourself surrounded by glass in a canyon, hearing your favorite song. What if water was purple and the sun glowed green in the sky? Imagine everything turned all around and yourself somewhere completely different.

Lydia

Thursday, February 11, 2010

To Save a Life

What does that mean? Or how about-What does it mean to you?

Last night I went and saw the movie (To Save a Life) and while I don't think it's appropriate for a young young kid, I loved it. I learned from it, and I felt the pain that a couple of the characters go through.

The movie addresses one overarching problem (with other issues thrown in): "Am I so unwanted, so insignificant, that if I were to rid the world of myself, would anyone care...or really, would anyone even notice? Does anyone love me enough to care if I'm gone?"

This movie hurt. It hurt to watch. It hurt so much because I know that it is so real, so signifiant in the lives across this Earth. People feel unloved...they feel worthless and while suicide solves nothing it is so common today because that is all some people feel they can do. I have hurt...and I have hurt tremendously. I have seen hurt. But never have I experienced or seen the kind of hurt that would ever drive someone to taking their own life.

What hurts me the most is knowing that quite often we could do something to help that person, to show them they are loved, to show them they have worth, and to help them realize their life matters. I can tell you that from my own experience in the past that simply loving on someone is the best thing a person can get. When I am so upset, so down, having someone who even just barely knows me asks me how I am, even smiles at me-that means the world to me. If it means that much to me, imagine how it must make someone dealing with thoughts of suicide feel. It may seem insignificant but it really could be what someone needs.

Why is it that even as a Christian, someone who is commanded to love - can't even love what society considers the losers or the unloveables? I know I can never love someone exactly like Christ loves me or the fellow sinner...but I can try. I can love that person as best as I can. Even when that person is someone who I don't really care for, I should still love them even though it is difficult for me.

I just pray that the people who are hard for me to love, the people who are often overlooked, would become loved by me. I pray that I can overcome this pride in my heart to love those considered "beneath" me.

Brianna

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

"Have you ever noticed that idiots have a lot of friends? Just an observation."

-I Am the Messenger
by Markus Zusak

Although I don't recommend this book in the least (I stopped reading it because I got bored), I find this character's observation amusing. Why do idiots have all the friends? You know the less-than-intellectual-people that other people love being around? Why do people love being around them? Even when these "idiots" are not good looking, and do not have all the money, they manage to attract others to them. Funny. We use the term idiot in a derogatory way but often flock to those that fit the description. It just doesn't make sense. Are the people who get a laugh out of their ignorance idiots? Or is it the people who are ignorant but pretend that they know a whole lot the real idiots? Or are we all idiots? This seems like the most reasonable answer. None of us knows everything, therefore we are all ignorant of something, therefore we are all idiots to some degree. So maybe what makes an idiot an idiot is how much they don't know. Maybe that is what puts us on different levels. Maybe what attracts those of us who aren't the kind of idiot that has all the friends to one another is our common lack of knowledge (our above-average idiot level) or our common knowledge (our mediocre idiot level). Or maybe, just maybe, it's our actual knowledge that attracts us to each other and the only reason we often seek the company of idiots is because we don't really want to know anything. Perhaps we seek to lower ourselves to a level below our personal, mental scope. Then again it could just be that we want to have fun and, in the end, idiots have all the fun.

Lydia

Friday, February 5, 2010


All that can be said after a hard day; the conclusion reached during a lull in conflict.


Thursday, February 4, 2010


Of LOST.



ABC' s LOST is a great show, but contrary to popular belief, I think that it has headed progressively downhill since mid third season.
The first and second seasons were about crazy developments and past happenings that kept us guessing and confused but always came down to one familiar truth. The truth that no matter what a person goes through, no matter who they are, no matter what they have, the most important things in life are the relationships. It all comes down to who you love and who you hate.
Just a few episodes into the first season relationships were already developing: Jack bonded with Kate, Rose pined for Bernard, Charlie took responsibility for Claire, Sayid and Sawyer clashed. These are the characters whose relationships we have cried over, followed, regretted. All the LOST characters have been subjected to intense physical trials but those struggles are not the ones we remember. We remember the birth of Aaron, Locke's care for Boone, the death of Charlie, and the change that comes about in Sun and Jin's marriage. These people and the way they related to one another was what kept the show simple and grounded. They reacted and behaved the way we can assume real individuals would. What has become of the show?
LOST is now about events spinning out of control and out of time. The character development has been bypassed by three or four complex storylines progressing through each episode. The writers seem to have changed the focus from the importance of others, to all things supernatural and mind-boggling. It's still a good show, I don't think anyone is able to guess what is going to happen, but it has gotten so wrapped up in feuds between virtually unknown characters and other-worldly activity that the familiar truth it used to portray so stoically has been misplaced.
It's just a show, but has something great been turned into something average? With Hurley as our constant and evil as our nemesis, I believe we can safely assume that LOST will be finished on a good note, though maybe not on the show's highest.

Lydia