Hey babe, I carved your name on a branch....'cause I love you...?

I was walking downtown this morning along Princess Street, enjoying the crisp autumn breeze and humming along to whatever band was playing through the headphones of my iPod, and I noticed carved into the sides of stone buildings and into the sidewalk that I was treading on, the names of two lovers encompassed by a deformed shaped heart. It didnt physically or emotionally affect me or traumatize me, but it get me thinking, which is dangerous in and of itself. I admit I am guilty of carving the names of loved ones surrounded by a heart into wooden railings or old trees, and if I had the tools I would probably be guilty of carving it also into stone or concrete also. But after thinking about it this morning as I made my way back to class was why is this act of random vandalism thought to be so romantic? I'm not saying that I am innocent of this activity, but I am admiting that I never actually thought about why I was doing it when I did carve the names. I just figured that it was shakespearical-romanticism(and yes thats a newly invented word) and that I should join the cliche of other couples doing the same act. But what does carving your name and your special someones' name into anything actually accomplish? Years down the road are you going to go back to that same spot and be able to share a emotional moment together over how that was the spot that yall professed your love on an inanimate object years ago? Cant we just do that over a nice dinner? Plus how many of the people that have carved their names in something actually return to that spot with that same someone? I can only doubt that the statistics would be that high. It has always been seen as a great idea and a very romantic touch to a romantic date, but is there any real romance in carving names into a piece of wood or rock? I mean seriously folks? Again, this is not a rant to everyone else, I have already admitted that I have been guilty of participating in this act, but it just hit me today that it really isnt that cute.
How about next time you get the urge to break out your pencil and crack the eraser to use it as a carving utencil, you decide to treat your lady to a candlelit dinner, or just tell her you love her.(only if you really do) That is one other thing, when you see these names carved in wood or stone, you always see a heart around it and perhaps the word "forever" included. I'm sure that the number of couples' names that have been carved into any object are most likely not still together. In the modern day lingo they we have grown so accustomed to, "whats up with that?"
So I want to hear from you readers if you really think that carving your name into an inanimate object is really romantic or not. Something to think about....

I'll love you forever...

This picture says a lot. At first glance it seems just to be two homo sapiens engaged in a kiss that seems to fire their love. But there is something deeper in this picture. Notice the two infinity symbols formed around both partners' minds and hearts.
This picture is to be interpreted that love isnt just a flesh and body emotion.

It is forever formed in the mind and forever cherished in the heart.

Examined, Tried, Experienced

The future always seems so far off, so distant. Being of a young age I already have plenty of things that I have done or not done that I will remember in fifty years. I have already carved a part of my reputation into a brick wall and part of it into the sand. One part will wash away and one part will live on for everyone to see.

When my legs refuse to transport me to the places I desire I hope I will have the opportunity to say that they’ve already been everywhere. I hope that I can say the sand of all seven seas have been crushed between my toes. I hope to say that my hair has been caked in desert sand and my hands have made priceless inventions. And my eyes! If ever my mouth reaches the point of the inability to verbally communicate I hope my eyes will have seen riches and beauty to satisfy my quiet self till the end. I want to be able to relive, in my mind, the view from thousands of feet up as I will have skydived and I want to be able to to sit on my porch swing and with all my senses be able to appreciate a lived life.

Smell)

When my nose begins to deceive me I want to be able to remember all the scents that I have enjoyed and be able to provide caution to certain scents of disgust. I want to be able to close my eyes and remember walking thru New York City at night and all the different scents in the air. I want to be able to smell the interior of the first car that I worked hard to afford. I want to be able to smell my wife and the sweet aroma that always surrounded her. I want to be able to smell that scent of comfort-I want it to take me back to the first time I met her, the first time I kissed her and the first time she cried on my shoulder. I want to be able to remember the stench of our first babies diaper and the smell of my first office with my name upon the door. I want to be able to kick my feet up sipping on sweet tea, like the grandfathers of the pictures, and be able to smell the scent of my tuxedo and the glorious smell of my daughters favorite flowers as I escort her down the isle at the appointed time. I want to smell the salty tears as they roll down my face. I want to re-visit the smell that I observed every Thanksgiving with such a blessing of great food and company. I want to smell all the foreign foods that I will have encountered and I want to be able to stick my nose into the Apple Pie without my mother running me off. I want to be able to smell the dirt from the walls of the Eiffel tower and the numerous piazzas in Rome. I want to smell the mangoes in Haiti and the smell of blueberries. I want to remember the smell of winter when the air crispens the leaves and the sky is on the verge of crying white powder. I want to smell the scent of spring rains and the salty ocean in the summer. I want to smell full moons and shooting stars if ever that was possible. I want to remember enough smells to where if my nose were my only sense left I would be fine for the rest of life.

Taste)

When my tongue begins to deceive me I want to remember all the different tastes that I experienced throughout life. I want to be able to taste the flavor of my mother’s chicken stroganoff. I want to be able to taste in my mind the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that my mom packed for me in pre-school. I want to taste the first steak that I spent over $50 for. I want to taste the ice cream that my siblings and I would run down the street for to get from the Ice Cream man. I want to be able to sense the flavor of all the exotic and strange concoctions that I have invented. I want to taste the gelatin in Rome and the es cargo from Paris. I want to be able to taste the fish that I will have caught in the Caribbean. I want to be able to taste salt-water taffy and the taste of the sweat that had resides on my lips after a full days work in the yard. I want to taste my rehearsal dinners’ meal-every dish. I want to remember enough flavors to where if taste was my only sense left I would be fine for the rest of life.

Touch)

When my hands grow too feeble and my fingertips no longer recognize the object I hold, I want to be able to remember all the different things that those hands have touched. I want to be able to feel my dad’s hand in mine as we walked to the local high school football game. I want to be able to feel the football in my hands as I led my team to the winning touchdown in little league. I want to remember how the baseball felt when I pitched my last pitch. I want to be able to feel the vibration of the various lawn mowers that I controlled as I worked in the sun. I want to feel my first child in my hands and I want to remember how my wife’s fingers matched mine so perfectly. I want to be able to remember how lifting various things felt and I want to feel the soreness of a hard days work. I want to be able to remember how I touched the streets that various famous men had once before tread upon. I want to be able to remember the feeling of my guitar nestled comfortably under my right arm. I want to feel the strings vibrate as I pluck them. I want to be able to feel and grasp onto things that I no longer will be able to. I want to be able to feel the first dolphin that I petted in an aquarium. I want to feel the single bar in front of me aboard the insane roller coasters and remember how I lived life to the end. I want to be able to feel the pages of the Bible between my fingertips and feel the hands of all the godly mans hands that I will have shook. I want to feel enough things to where if touch were the only sense I have left I would be fine for the rest of life.

Sight)

When my eyes become too weak to open and too fragile to focus I want to be able to remember all the different sights that those eyes have seen. I want to be able to close my eyes as I sit on my front porch and vividly revisit the first time that I saw the beautiful girl that I would call my wife. I want to be able to remember the first shooting star I saw, and the first solar eclipse. I want to be able to remember watching dramatic films and Broadway performances. I want to remember Times Square at night, Wrightsville Beach in the summer and every house I lived in. I want to be able to see my first child’s face and the tears of my wife looking down on her. I want to be able to see all Seven Wonders of the World, I want to be able to remember sights from each state as I traveled the country. I want to be able to see my parent’s faces as they watched me graduate from school and be a success in life. I want to be able to see a white Christmas and I want to remember the way my bride looked on our wedding day. I want to remember the biggest skylines and the smallest valleys. I want to be able to remember the intense tornados I witnessed and the faces of family members who have lost loved ones in war. I want to remember the sight of my mom tucking me in every night when I was little. I want to remember the tree houses my siblings and I built and I want to remember seeing unthinkable things. I want to see enough things to where if sight was the only sense I had left I would be fine for the rest of my life.

Sound)

When my ears cloud out every sound around me I want to be able to remember all the sounds those ears have heard. I want to hear my mother scream on roller coasters, I want to hear the sound of the crowds and the sound of my mothers heartbeat as I use to cuddle up to her. I want to hear the sound of wind as I soar hundreds of feet above the ground. I want to hear the sound of the waves of the ocean and the sound of a fishing line entering the still water as I take my son fishing for the first time. I want to remember hearing my child cry and I want to remember telling my wife “I do” and hearing the same words back. I want to hear vibrating deeply in my ears all the advice my father gave to me. I want it to ring the loudest. I want to remember the sound of laughter in my house and I want to remember the loud dinners our family always shared. I want to vividly hear jokes and I want to hear people tell me I made a difference in their life. I want to remember all the people who said I wasn’t the same and I want to remember hearing all the wisdom and truth that was taught to me by elders, pastors and teachers. I want to remember the sound of my first car starting and the sound of my guitar. I want to remember the sounds of life so all I would have to do is close my eyes and my life could be played over in audio. I want to hear enough sounds to where if sound was the only sense I had left I would be fine for life.

I want to be able to look back on my life in years to come and recognize all the things I failed to do but smile when I remember all the great things that I accomplished. I want to remember the people involved, their faces, their faith, and their memories. I want to remember my life and be able to admit to my mistakes but know that I made up for them and made things right. I want to remember my life like this.

Does someone want to explain?

Coney Island, NY Hot-dog Eating Contest. Their shirts say, "Eat all that you can eat."

Kids living in a Third World country struggling to find food.


Seriously? We can hold national eating contests for contestants to stuff their faces until they cant eat anymore while other human beings in other countries are dying of starvation at a rapid rate? We can fund big rallies and even televise eating contests, but we can't send that money to help countries struggling with intense poverty?
Yesterday, in Tennessee, a US man set a new record of eating 103 Krystal Hamburgers at the Krystal Hamburger Square Off IV World Hamburger Eating Championship.

Hey now theres something to be proud of. Wouldn't it be nice to have that medal hanging over your head at night while the bells of victory drown out the cries of starvation in the Third World?
Congratulations Joey....

Streetlights Hide Stars

I would take pictures of stars, but they seem to have disappeared. Our future children may never see the richness and beauty of our stars and intergalactic activity. A full moon will only be a day marked on the calender and a shooting star will exist only in fairy tales. Sadly in todays world, people have devoted business and extracurricular activities over the simple admiration of one of God's most complex and beautiful creations. American growth and environmental admiration should not be mutually exclusive, but in this fiscal techno-advancement culture nobody is concerned with creations beauty.

When we moved into the subdivision that I live in, there was only one streetlight down the neighborhood and out by the road of my house there was no light. Often I remember going outside and laying in my neighbors driveway looking up at the sky and being just in awe of how great the sky is and how wonderful are His creations in the heavens. It all seemed so real. A few months ago a streetlight was constructed right across from my house. Now all I see is that fluorescent cloud of bright glow that invades the dark sky. I thought about it and noted that this is exactly what is happening in todays society. More streetlights are going up and less is being thought about how marvelous creation is. Within the heart of any big city try to tilt your head and look up at the night sky. All you will see is the glow of the cities financial revenue. You wont see a shooting star. You wont catch the fullness of the moon. The metropolitan desire has eroded the natural beauty. The stars are the streetlights of eternity.

If you haven't escaped from the hectic world in awhile and admired the night sky, I encourage you all to try it soon. It will be worth it.

Seriously? Do you really think this man would be standing there if his sign was true?
I wish people would just think.

The Line between Compassion and Truth

There is a fine line between two critical aspects of a commendable life-compassion and truth.

Where do you draw the line between truth and compassion? I asked a few of my friends what their opinion on this was and Arie Van Eyk said that you draw the line at truth. Whenever truth is watered down by the emotion of compassion the line has been crossed. Compassion is an emotion that is held in high regard even among unbelievers and it should be yearned for until it compromises truth. Once it crosses the line, morality and the foundation of life becomes vulnerable to universalism.
Graham Langdon added that the two can never cross, because compassion doesnt require sacrificing your beliefs. He says, "to draw the line insinuates that compassion should be limited by truth and truth be limited by compassion. We should be infinintly compassionate and unshakeable in truth."
So what exactly was President Bush doing in his speech at the Iftaar dinner? You can find an article about it here.
President Bush seemed to be pushing the lines of universalism with his compassionate speech toward the gathered Muslims.

Was he compromising truth by compassion? Or if he watered down the truth, was he showing true compassion?

Something to think about...

The Social Model

The Social Model

The best and purest form of government is a government that understands, and appropriately relates and reacts to the multi-faceted nature of society and the people that it incorporates. It must allow but at the same time control diversity; it must yearn for, but not overrate unity; it must protect but not confine its citizens; it must tax but not steal from its people; it must be quick to act but quicker to think. It must birth nationalists who wear the pride of their nation on their coat; it must look to a higher Authority to enact just laws. It must punish and it must reward; it must be the settlement of love and the battleground of quarrel. It must be the threshold of reason but the backhand of stupidity. It must grant and allow for the enjoyment of individuals rights, but it must not back down when the nations security is at stake. It must have a written document that the citizens and decision-makers can look to for clarity during uncertain times. It must have strength, it must have trade, it must have growth and it must have justice. It must prevail through internal affairs and it must prevail in outward of violence. It must ensue peace but not be so naïve as to think that peace will triumph without occasional coercion. The model government will applaud with the glad and weep with the sorrowful. The model government will introduce, allow, and wisely fund the research and development of new technology to increase federal efficiency and stabilize the economy. It will discourage laziness with the natural consequences that result from it, and it will provide shelter for religious diversity until that diversity clashes with the nations unity. It will pave the streets of success and it will be the marketplace of ideas- where the citizens feel safe in voicing their own opinion. It will have an internal policing unit that provides proactive control to violence and illegal activity. The model form of government will only end when justice has been corroded and an immoral decline of responsibility occurs. The model form of government is not a Utopia, because a Utopia by definition does not exist. The fact that such a model form of government has not yet been in existence does not imply that it cannot exist. How can something so pure and unimaginable exist? A pure form of government must truly assure the citizens of justice, liberties, protection, economic stability, environmental compatibility and national unity.

Forsake

Stephen Spillers introduced a new theory that he shared with me tonight. The new f-word is going to be "forsake."

Merriam Websters Online Dictionary defines forsake as - to renounce or turn away from entirely

This is a perfect substitution for an innapropriate word used so frequently today in America. So lets join the Spillers bandwagon and consider using a more "politcally correct" word. (since that is what Americans want so badly)

-Just a quick thought-

I took these photographs a while back, but just recently discovered them in some unused folder on my computer. Creation is so beautiful and we so commonly take it for granted....

Wilmington, NC

A morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books. ~Walt Whitman

Downtown Wilmington, NC

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius

Wrightsville Beach, NC

The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone. ~Johann von Goethe

Downtown Wilmington, NC

Had the price of looking been blindness, I would have looked. ~Ralph Ellison

Downtown Wilmington, NC

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

I hope I'm not the only one that is completely disgusted by pictures of these protests. For the uneducated, Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka led by founder/pastor Fred Phelps has been involved in picketing funerals of fallen soldiers. The mindset behind this grotesque activity is the congregation believes that the death of the American troops and other national disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, are consequences from God of our national level of tolerance of homosexuality. Phelps' congregation consists mostly of his family. He has 13 children, 54 grand-children and 7 great-grandchildren. He has been quoted to say that, "You can't preach the Bible without preaching the hatred of God." Fred, who are you fooling?
The group interrupts funerals of men and women who have heroically fought for America overseas. These people are heroes and these Westboro Baptists are gravely disrespecting the American Dream. Regardless of the fact that the Phelps' family has vowed to continue these protests, I truly believe that this attempt at depriving the nation of unity will be an utter failure and soon diminish. There is already a group called the "Patriot Guard Riders" which is a group of bikers who show up to drown out the protesters among the funeral line.
It just makes me sick to my stomach when I see such poor demonstrations of the American Dream, American Pride, and American Love.
May America Bless God.

A dose of love...

I'll call this my haven. It can reiterate all my thoughts into an intellectual and comprehensible manner. Cheers.