Slavery is not Modern But...

Slavery is not a modern concept, but it still exists.  A friend of mine is in jail right now because he is subjected to the whims of a person who can take advantage of his undocumented status.  In fact, he is trying to adjust status, but does not have the same rights as I do.  I only have the rights I do because I was lucky to have been born at an address in this country.  It's not just that one person can be controlled/blackmailed by another because of something like this.

Nothing is cut and dry when it comes to immigration, but blackmail is cut and dry...it is not right.  It's not right to manipulate another person because of the weaknesses they endure due to their color, religion, or status.  In this case two out of three are bad...bad wrong.  We may have all been created equally...but from that first breath, the inequality begins...  "I am so sorry..."

I don't like being blind.

I don't think I can accept "blind faith" I don't think it is really faith at all to be act like I am blind. The world is hard to accept along side of the professions of faith that I try to live out... My faith is also hard to accept along side of what I see in my world every day too. Just because it's hard, doesn't mean I should just give myself a lobotomy when it comes to faith. I think it means that I need to think harder, pray more, and accept that becoming more uncomfortable with my world and with my faith is not a bad thing. Rather it is something that makes my life and my faith deeper and richer. A good scotch was not made over night...

911

no more words about this day...

Loss is a fact of life

September is a month of loss.  We lost a lot of things on 9-11.  This month is the month I lost my Mom and found out about the loss of a close friend.  It's the month that so many things went away from me and away from our physical world that it makes me question the eternal...the other.

Pain is like that.  It makes me think only of what is in front of me and focuses me on the pain and away from the reality of the "other."  But the "other" is so much bigger than the pain, and even much more real.  It's part of being a reluctant believer that makes believing in the "other" so hard sometimes.  We are all reluctant to believe when the pain and the sadness start to take over.  But holding on to the "other" is the only thing that really allows the pain to heal us and make us something more than we were before.

If we don't grow, then only bitterness and hatefulness and soreness remain.  But if we grow beyond the pain, then we point the way to the "other" that all of us so desperately need.  That other, of course, is love.