Life Lessons

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." You may recognize the opening words to John Steinbeck's famous novel Cannery Row. You may not. Cannery row is raw human nature exposed perhaps. I am reading the book for a college English class and am trying to form some original opinions about it.-- This was two months ago. I have finished the book and the paper and the presentation. The presentation along with the presentations of my fellow students will be published in a book my professor is composing. My final position paper's theme was the inherent evil of mankind--a dark paper but a fun one. After reading my VERY ruff draft my teacher commented, with a laugh, he needed to go home and watch a happy movie. He loved my comparison of Cannery Row to the classics. Now school is over. I am working this summer at a local vet office--walking dogs, etc. My goals this summer are to resume dog training, get back into shape, pratice piano, write and decide upon a major :P. I work nearly forty hours a week some weeks so it is difficult the balance the things I need to do and want to do. I have not sat down and written only to write in a long while. College papers had satisfied my thirst for writing. I have come to realize I have many thirsts, many desires to excel in unrelated areas of life. Which one should I choose to fulfill as a career? As a young teenager I trained Border Collie for frisbee freestyle and distance competitions. I gave up though when she became aggressive towards other dogs and lost focus. I have been around many border collies and Fly is one of the most intense and one the the fastest I have seen. I am planning on taking her to a trainer for a one on one season to see what advice she gives. For right now I am slightly bed-ridden. I had my gallbladder removed two days ago. I am working on a short story with some help from my best friend. We share a blog titled "The Chronicles of Insanity" and must say some of our stories are nearly embarrassing. XD It is so much fun being at this stage in life- done with my first year of college, off for the summer, home with the best family ever. Yet it is unsettling to not have a goal in life. I was always told it is all right to go into college with an undecided major. I realize it would have been better to pick something, anything, and have changed my major later I think.

Steppin' on Toes: Friendly Debate

      I've been thinking... which would seem odd to those that know me well. I returned from a speech and debate tournament last night and tournaments always get me thinking. I watched the the final Lincoln-Douglas debate. LD debate pits one idea against another using logic, quotes, and examples to support a case. The LD resolution for this year is "I stand resolved that popular sovereignty more determines the legitimacy of a government than individual rights." Sometimes LD debates contain arguments about morals. How can morals be debated without a "mearsuring stick" by which things are decided moral, immoral, or niether?
        
            I talked to a girl once who said, "We do not need to force our Christian morals on others. They need to decide their morals for themselves." I asked, "What about 'Thou shalt not kill'? Isn't that enforcing morality?"
"No, life is a right; not a moral." "What about 'Thou shalt not steal'?" "That is a violation of right to property." Moral: "the distinction between right and wrong" according to dictionary.com. Our discussion turned into a debate of rights and morals. Rights, people say, are inherent. I know man should always choose the right thing and follow his concientious but we live in a fallen world and we cannot always make the right decisions. That is why we need laws. If we decided our own morals, there would not be a right and wrong and therefore no need for a Savior. Then I thought, "Doesn't one need to have morals to respect rights? Could the people who wrote the Bill of Rights and the Constitution have decided what rights exsisted without some absolute moral standard?"
      Laws are in place to keep up safe: even many which are not in the Bible. I do believe though, there are many laws which violate rights and hence, morals. Abortion, for example, is a violation to the right to life. If we Christians believe something is harmful to society, we need to say so and explain why. The girl and I went onto to argue about gay rights. "They have a right to decide who they love and whom to marry." Sex is not love. Caring for others and puting them above yourself is real love. Besides if "love" between a man and women is merely tradition, then why my gays follow the "tradition" of marriage? There are just some things our society blasts us with which don't make sense to me. Chuck Colson's article did make sense though in my funny little brain.

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.christianitytoday.com%2Fct%2F2004%2Fjune%2F8.72.html&h=a8c07 

I may have opened a can of worms but I found this interesting and thought someone else might also.

    I suppose my point is if you disagree with someone, do not be afriad to say so; and understand you may have to agree to disagree.

Thoughts

       How many of our thoughts belong to God? How many of our thoughts revolve around "whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable... excellent or praiseworthy"? If we think, what we call, "good thoughts", do we give God credit? Does not everything good come from God? How many of our thoughts revolve around ourselves and what we want, what we plan to do? How many of our thoughts center on God's plan, or, at least, the needs of others? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Sometimes I think we as Christians forget that our thoughts, not only our actions, belong to God. Perhaps we should "Think. Think. Think", as Winnie the Pooh would say, on the good God has put in this world; not dwell on the evil and sadness we have allowed in it, unless it be how to defeat it. Food for thought, I think.

Struggle for Perfection

          "Nobody's perfect," people often say, but is that an excuse to let our bad habits worsen?

          Benjamin Franklin kept a list of virtues on a chart. Everytime he sinned, he would put a mark next to the virtue he had not upheld. He paid special attention to a specific virtue every few weeks. Once a week had passed and there were no marks next to that virtue, he would then turn his attention to another one. Benjamin Franklin was not a perfectionist. He was merely trying to better himself. We should all constantly be trying to better ourselves. I know that we will not reach perfection until we reach heaven, but we should still try to live righteous lives. When I was eleven, a girl my age told me, "I'd be a Christian except for those stupid ten commandments." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Those commandments - they take all the fun out of life," she replied. "Following the commandments keeps you out of a lot of trouble... and safe," I said. "You just don't know how fun it is to break those commandments," she retorted. It may be "fun" to her for a short while, but it may also ruin the rest of her life. I never saw her again and hope she has changed her ideas. The commandments set standards for us for follow to help us live righteous life. Now if she thought the Ten Commandments were tough, she should take a look at Benjamin Franklin's list of virtues: Temperance, Silence, Resolution, Order, Frugality, Industry, Justice, Moderation, Sincerety, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility.
        There is a reason God does not allow us to reach perfection no matter how hard we try. Pride. If we were perfect, we would all be as prideful as peacocks and see no need for God. We are even prideful at the thought of ourselves being humble! If have learned anything in my short life, it is that I do the best when I think nothing of myself - absolutely nothing. God does not want us to think too much of ourselves or too little. Many people confuse thinking little of themselves, or self-hatred, with humility. Self-hatred is still an obsession with one's self, as is pride.
          Some people see the struggle for perfection as a battle already lost. It is true, at least in this life, but as a pastor I hear once said, "This is no reason for us not to try to be the little Christs we are called to be."

Letter to C. S. Lewis: Humility

      

"Sometimes the profoundest truths come wrapped in the humblest garb."

         C.S. Lewis said of him, "I have never concealed the fact that I regarded him as my master." He is George MacDonald, yes, the man in the portrait with the beard. "George MacDonald writes of homely things and simple people who saw, in the stuff of a shepherd's cottage or a fisherman's arduous work on the cold sea, the love of God," writes Elisabeth Elliot. You may ask, "C.S. Lewis spoke of him?" Yes, and he wrote sermons, poems, thirty novels, works of fantasy, children's books... say what? Are you asking why you have never heard of man so accomplished? Well, wipe off that puzzled look on your face as I explain why you've never heard of the man who was an essayist, theologian, preacher, scientist, actor, teacher...  no, mother! That's not a machine gun! That's me typing! And yes, as an amateur writer, I am trying to create the illusion of suspense. Well, now is the time to open your sagging eyelids. Simply this, many of his books lost popularity in the Victorian Age and were not reprinted until the 1980s.
        Thanks to a man by the name of Micheal R. Phillips, his books were condensed and revised so that most of us, who are so far removed from our Scottish ancestors, can read it. Although, the accent is still very thick. I once saw a sample of what his works looked like before revision and I wish I could place it on here but I can't seem to find it. I've already searched through nines books and haven't the patience to search through ten more. I can confidently state, though, that I could not read a single word of it. It looked German, which is not surprising since the Scottish dialect has many German roots! Oi! Let me give you an excerpt from "The Fisherman's Lady" to ease your nerves before you run away from the computer screaming:

    "Duncan [a blind 'asthmatic old piper' who never left his house without the highland dress and a dirk at his side] said, 'Give me my pipes, my poy,' and reached out his hands as eager to clutch the instrument as the miser is to finger his gold. 'Listen to me as I play, and you'll soon pe able to play too, dance and coronach with ta pest piper petwen Cape Wrath and the Mull o' Cantyre."

        His children's books have amazing depth and scope. "The Princess and the Goblins" (yes, that is one of his works but I assure you the book surpasses the movie the way a Ford surpasses a Chevy) has a sequel called "The Princess and Curdie". I opened the book and read the first few pages. I was amazed that MacDonald would expect a child to understand such ideas! For instance, Curdie, the hero of "The Princess and the Goblins" had ceased being good because he had ceased trying to become better. That hit home with me! And I'm not exactly a "small" child.
      Drum roll, please. Hurry, raise the curtains! No! The other ones! Ladies and germs, may I proudly introduce to tonight's show... Steenie the idiot! Now some of you I'm sure are saying, "Now that's not polite." Let me enlighten you. Steenie, the idiot, was an idiot to mankind but one of God's most thoughtful creatures. I'm sorry to inform you that he is just a character in "The Peasant Girl's Dream"(originally called Heather and Snow). Just for clarification, "The Fisherman's Lady" and "The Peasant Girl's Dream" are not girly books. At least, that is the opinion of person whose love of adventure comes before her love of romance.
      Now, where were we? Oh, yes... Steenie. Steenie say hello to everyone. No, Steenie come back! Ah, never mind. He and his collie dog have gone out to look for the bonny man. The bonny man, although it should be capitalized. Come again? Oh, you've never met the Bonny Man, the Bonny Man who lives in Drury Lane? Well, I hope to kiss a pig you have. The Bonny Man is Jesus. Allow me to let you meet the Steenie, who waited for the Bonny Man to visit him, through his own words, and perhaps a few words of others:
[Steenie was called an idiot by the town folk.]

       "Eh, na! You needna do that, Father. It's nearhand yer bedtime. I'll jist be aboot in the night--maybe a stane's throw frae the door, maybe the other side o' the Horn. Here or there I'm never far frae ye. I sometimes think I'm jist like one o' them that ye call dead: I'm no away, I'm only dead...

[Steenie stays outside at night to talk to God. With the help of his family, he built his own house on a hill.]

      "Bonny man, I ken[know] ye weel: there's naebody in heaven or earth that's like ye. Ye ken yersel' I would jist die for ye if ye wanted it o' me, but I'm hopin' that ye winna want it 'o me, I'm that awful coowardly. Oh, take the fear oot o' my heart an' make me ready to do what ye want o' me, weighty feet and all[Steenie believed that if it weren't for his "weighty feet" he might be able to soar up to heaven and to the Bonny man]. And, eh, bonny man, willna ye come doon sometime an' walk the hill here so that I may see ye? Eh, if ye was but once to look in at the door o' this hoose o' mine that ye hae given me! If ye were to look in the door an' cry Steenie! soon would ye see whether or no I was in the hoose. I thank ye for this hoose. I'm goin' to hae a rich an' happy time on this hill! Eh, bonnie man, gie a look in the face o' my father an' mither in their bed ower at the Knowe, an' I pray ye see that Kirsty's gettin' a fine sleep, for she has a heap o' trouble wi' me. She's so clever--as ye ken, for ye made her! An' look ower this bit hoose that I call mine an' that they helped me build, even though it's jist a wee lean-to--jist as all the hooses are jist bairn's[child's] hooses built by themsel's aboo the big floor o' yer kitchen an' in the nooks 'o the same--wi' yer own truffs an' stanes an' divots."
       [Steenie stops praying and a knock is heard at the door. It is his sister, Kirsty, who had overheard him. He rushes to the door, thinking it's the Bonny man.]
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       Oh! Imagine poor Steenie's disappointment! Where's a tissue... go away, dog! That's not your bugle call!
       Perhaps you'd like to meet one of MacDonald's sane characters. His name is Malcolm McPhail. Aye, a poor fisher lad 'e was! With a life full of adventure, especially when he found out about his ancestry. He was "rather tall and large-limbed... His face was more that handsome--with large features, not finely cut, and a look of mingled nobility and ingenuousness, amounting to simplicity or even innocence." As a boy of fourteen, he went night fishing. When asked why he did not fear drowning he replied that he need not fear death. The Lord would take him when the time was right.
       I wish I could write more about one of my favorite authors, but alas, I have things to do. No, I'm not wrapping up because I heard you yawning. I hope that if you suffered through this "essay" that you slightly enjoyed it or at least can speak Scotch with the best of 'em. Thank the holy porcupine that if you ever decide read a MacDonald novel you will find a glossary at the front defining those harder to understand words. All you need is an imagination, a comfy chair, a cup o' tea, and a sheep dog by the fire. As Phillips said, "An' noo I wiss ye a' a guid readin'!"

Fun Fact: Lewis Carroll was friends with MacDonald. He read "Alice in Wonderland" to MacDonald's children who urged him to publish the book.