I know everyone is anxiously awaiting my next post sooo...

Hello everybody (I'll just be optimistic and say "everybody" instead of "those few of you who actually read this"). I left last Thursday to drive to Montana where I was unfortunately disconnected to this marvelous thing we call the internet. Right now I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah, visiting family. You'll here more about family in my next post I promise. Anyway, I don't have time for a real posting but I just wanted to let everyone know that I did NOT in fact forget I had made a blog. So, for now, just sit tight and wait patiently for my next brilliantly analytical and insightful post (again with the optimism).

A bit about perspective, science, religion, and death.

What really matters? What do you care about most? You can learn a lot about people, or yourself, from the answers to these questions. For me, my beliefs define my life and the way I live it. Sometimes I forget what's important, like everybody, and I get caught up in the world. I'm a person who needs a vision, a purpose, a clear, attainable goal. Sometime it's hard to maintain focus on the fact that this life is a preparatory state, a time to prepare to meet God (and yes, I'm getting into religion, it's Sunday, so sue me). I think a lot of peoples' problems could be solved by simply taking a step back and putting things into their proper perspective. Try it next time you find yourself in conflict with someone else, or facing a personal problem or crisis, with the proper perspective you may realize that perhaps the entire issue is unimportant.



It bothers me when people are like Steven, Nacho Libre's sidekick, when he says: "I don't believe in God, I only believe in science." God and science are not opposites, nor by their nature are they in conflict. And I would make a logical argument here, but I'm braindead at the moment and no one cares anyway.

Now, on to more interesting things, I saw the Dark Knight yesterday. Good movie. I must say I had no respect for Heath Ledger going into that movie. But dang, now I know he's at least a good actor. Maybe he sold his soul to the Devil to play that part, and that's why he died afterwards. It was a lot different from the first, and thinking back it made the first look like more of a prologue than anything else. It also made me think about how Batman never kills anyone. Only in comic books and movies does that work out. Sometimes it's just better for everybody if the bad guy dies. In the words of Joseph Stalin: “Death solves all problems - no man, no problem.” While this is a terrible philosophy to base a life or a government on, it has a morsel of truth. My favorite part of Orson Scott Card's novel Shadow Puppets, is when the protagonist has the villain on the ground with a gun to his head,
"Achilles laughed nervously. 'Come on now, Bean. We've known each other a long time.'. . .'I know you, Bean,' he said. 'You can't just kill a man in cold blood, no matter how much you hate him. It's not in you to do that.' 'Yes it is,' said Bean. He aimed the pistol down at Achilles's right eye and pulled the trigger. . . It didn't bring back Poke, or Sister Carlotta, or any of the other people he had killed. . . It didn't end the wars Achilles had started. It didn't make Bean feel any better. There was no joy in vengeance, and precious little in justice, either. But there was this: Achilles would never kill again."

And there's a lot of truth in that. Sorry my posts are so ADD but whatever. No one is making you read this.

Opinions, Hypocrisy, and Much Much More!!!

Due to peer pressure unknowingly applied, I have created a blog. I'm not a great writer, and my life isn't really that interesting, but whatever. I kind of avoided making a blog because it always seemed to me like the only people who had blogs were the people who were in desperate need of someone to listen to the garbage spewing out of their brains as well as their useless opinions. But after thinking about it, everybody seems to be desperate for that anyway, so here I am, spewing garbage as well as my opinion.

Opinions are funny things. For most people, they are difficult to change by force and argument, but suprisingly easy to mold through influence and example. Just look around, nearly everyone's opinions and beliefs are based upon their parents', either formed from their parents' ideas or in opposition to them. An educated opinion is based upon the largest amount of information from the most varied sources possible. It really bothers me when people spout their opinions about things in which they have absolutely no knowledge on which to base their opinion. Actually, it's a lot of fun to challenge people who make hasty claims such as, "George Bush is an idiot". I don't necessarily agree or disagree, but when followed up with a simple, "Why?", usually the ensuing reasoning is not only unfounded, but you make the other person look like a bigger idiot, which of course is exactly what you want.

Everyone is a hypocrite to some extent. I am a hypocrite. That being said, hypocrisy bothers me, especially coming from religious people. However, thinking about it, perhaps the reason so many so called "Bible believing Christians" are hypocritical is because they simply set their moral and ethical standards higher and therefore find themselves struggling to practice what the preach. So perhaps hypocrisy isn't the worst thing, maybe it's simply a byproduct of perfecting oneself. I think I despise hypocrites so much because I see so much hypocrisy in the way I live. I could make a list, but I won't. I think I need to live in poverty. In that regard, I hope I go somewhere poor and underdeveloped on my mission. Anyway, I live a highly priviledged life, and so do most of you. Don't forget it.