"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know, none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion, love actually is all around."
-- Hugh Grant in Love Actually
People sometimes peg me as a pessimist. Though I can see what they mean, I almost always disagree. When I get angry or sad or discouraged about the world my views are not just about seeing all the bad things, but about seeing how much potential there is for love. If love were in this place, things would be different. And it gives me hope. Because though I talk about all the things that are wrong, I act in ways that (hopefully) seek to explore the endless possibilities of the power of love. Acknowledging the things that are wrong means acknowledging that there is room for improvement. Granted, anger often has a destructive power. But I'd like to think that there is a type of anger that is good and constructive.
Sometimes you need to see the things that are wrong so that love can abound. For me, love is something that is most beautiful when the odds are against it. I am a hopeless romantic and when love seems to have no chance of surviving but does, I get the warm fuzzies like crazy. If you look at the world and all you see is the darkness then all the world will be is darkness. If all you see is the powerful taking advantage of the weak and provoking violence, greed, and oppression then you'll probably gather provisions, find a cave and cut yourself from all of those things.
But if you look at the world and see all the violence, greed, and oppression as opportunities. If you see that this violence could really be that peace; that oppression could really be this freedom; this greed could really be that gift, think of all the possibilities in which anger could become love!
This is a lesson I am still learning. Sometimes I do look at the world and think, "God, what are we doing to ourselves?" But slowly I am beginning to look around me and be inspired by the hurting and the broken. What would the world look like if we saw every sorry, broken down, despairing situation as an opportunity to inject love?
It would be truly awakening. Because love actually is all around. We just miss the places in which it already exists, or forget to inject it in places that are lacking.
Love is more powerful than hate. So take a look around you, go the the arrival gates of an airport, to the drive-in, to a sporting event, to the park. Turn off the TV and venture out into the world. Look around and you will see a world full of love. Places where different people somehow all manage to travel, watch, play, and live in harmony. Then, when you encounter injustice, remember that love is the most powerful force in the universe. Hate, anger, agression, violence, injustice, these are all times and places in which love is absent. So use the anger and fustration you feel and be encouraged to inject love into the heart of all the darkness. Because where love is, hate cannot be.
The world is full of love, sometimes it has merely been misplaced.
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5.18.2009
3.07.2009
The water is deep, the water is dark. Let's see if we can swim...
Today I began reading an old issue of Geez magazine when I came across an article on Blackwater, a private mercenary army. Learning about Blackwater's existence didn't really surprise me; when it comes to the military and war issues in America the ruthlessness of the Bush government seemed to have become the norm. What did surprise me was that Blackwater contractors are immune to court martials, war crimes charges and human rights violations.
Blackwater was secretly funded by the US government. Jan Schakowsky, a memeber of the House of Intelligence Committee in the US, said that, "We think that 40 cents of every dollar goes to private military contractors. We think that about 800 of them have been killed in Iraq, but we don't know that. They're not even counted. And we think there's about 25, 000 to maybe 40, 000 engaged in military activities and combat related activities. But we don't know and we can't find out." The deaths of these mercenary fighters were not included when mortality and injury stats were calcuated for the Iraq war. This means that we were not getting accurate information on the effects of that war. If the death tolls were higher, would less people have supported it?
Though the conflict in Iraq is now diminishing the role of national governments is not. Everyday governments make decisions of which the general public is largely unaware. In the case of Blackwater, even members of Congress could not access any information regarding their association with the United States.
Today, in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan national government is commiting something of a genocide. Local Tamils are being killed and many others are being displaced from their homes. Human rights abuses are rampant in Sri Lanka, though I should also note that it is not only the government that is committing acts of violence.
Regardless, governments are put in place to govern and lead the people. In North America we live in countries that value individual freedom and democracy. Because of this we are able to influence the decisions that our governments make and the action they take.
Hold your government accountable. Learn about what they are doing. What are they using your tax dollars for? What far-reaching effects do their decisions have? If all they are telling you seems like a bundle of jolliness, what aren't they telling you?
Sometimes, as in the case of Blackwater, we can't access the information we need. But investigative journalists write articles, countries write reports, and the internet has many reliable news sources through which you can recieve information. If you hear about something that is unsettling, do something about it. Write your government, or the government involved, a letter. You don't have to be a huge activist to exercise your right to freedom of speech.
Amnesty International is a valuable reseource for learning how to write an effective letter. The Amnesty webiste will also provide you with issues on which you may want to write to your government about. Letter writing tips can be found at: http://www.amnesty.ca/youth/youth_action_toolkit/guide_to_letter_writing.php
Other great links include...
Reliable News Source: www.democracynow.org
Blackwater info: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6849
Sri Lanka Info: http://www.freeourpress.org/
Blackwater was secretly funded by the US government. Jan Schakowsky, a memeber of the House of Intelligence Committee in the US, said that, "We think that 40 cents of every dollar goes to private military contractors. We think that about 800 of them have been killed in Iraq, but we don't know that. They're not even counted. And we think there's about 25, 000 to maybe 40, 000 engaged in military activities and combat related activities. But we don't know and we can't find out." The deaths of these mercenary fighters were not included when mortality and injury stats were calcuated for the Iraq war. This means that we were not getting accurate information on the effects of that war. If the death tolls were higher, would less people have supported it?
Though the conflict in Iraq is now diminishing the role of national governments is not. Everyday governments make decisions of which the general public is largely unaware. In the case of Blackwater, even members of Congress could not access any information regarding their association with the United States.
Today, in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan national government is commiting something of a genocide. Local Tamils are being killed and many others are being displaced from their homes. Human rights abuses are rampant in Sri Lanka, though I should also note that it is not only the government that is committing acts of violence.
Regardless, governments are put in place to govern and lead the people. In North America we live in countries that value individual freedom and democracy. Because of this we are able to influence the decisions that our governments make and the action they take.
Hold your government accountable. Learn about what they are doing. What are they using your tax dollars for? What far-reaching effects do their decisions have? If all they are telling you seems like a bundle of jolliness, what aren't they telling you?
Sometimes, as in the case of Blackwater, we can't access the information we need. But investigative journalists write articles, countries write reports, and the internet has many reliable news sources through which you can recieve information. If you hear about something that is unsettling, do something about it. Write your government, or the government involved, a letter. You don't have to be a huge activist to exercise your right to freedom of speech.
Amnesty International is a valuable reseource for learning how to write an effective letter. The Amnesty webiste will also provide you with issues on which you may want to write to your government about. Letter writing tips can be found at: http://www.amnesty.ca/youth/youth_action_toolkit/guide_to_letter_writing.php
Other great links include...
Reliable News Source: www.democracynow.org
Blackwater info: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=6849
Sri Lanka Info: http://www.freeourpress.org/
12.17.2008
new blog
Hey everyone,
I'm not even sure if anyone reads this anymore, considering a rarely create a new post.
But if you do, I have made a new blog, sort of a new part of my life / step in a different-ish direction.
The link is http://www.kaitj.blogspot.com/ *
I'll be trying to post there more often :)
Enjoy!
Kait
*So I have now imported by old blog into my new one. Therefore, the blog you are looking right now is the entirety of my blogging career. Thanks! :)
I'm not even sure if anyone reads this anymore, considering a rarely create a new post.
But if you do, I have made a new blog, sort of a new part of my life / step in a different-ish direction.
The link is http://www.kaitj.blogspot.com/ *
I'll be trying to post there more often :)
Enjoy!
Kait
*So I have now imported by old blog into my new one. Therefore, the blog you are looking right now is the entirety of my blogging career. Thanks! :)
So this is my new blog.
I haven't been blogging very often lately, I barely even find time to jot my thoughts down in the dozen notebooks I have on my shelf.
Writing has become a lost art for me, and I miss it.
Things have changed. The past year has been a journey. I guess it's just been really challenging. Challenging my character, my thoughts on life and love and where I fit into this vast expanse of space we call the universe.
It hasn't been easy, but I'm still alive, still smiling. I'm still me.
I created a new blog because I wanted to revive a love that I had lost.
Lately I have forgotten what it means to love something so fiercely that you have to take part in it every day or you feel somewhat incomplete.
I want that back.
But I won't ignore myself.
And I won't apologize.
It seems that I have always been apologizing for the kind of person that I am, but not anymore.
I may be loud, I may be obnoxious, I may be sassy, I may be sweet. I'm a million and one things all jumbled together into one fine mess. But you know what, that mess is a work of art, and I won't apologize for that anymore.
I called this blog "Forget the Varnish" because I believe that we have lost the beauty of what an unfinished painting means. Life is a work of art, one that is constantly being changed. Different colours get added everyday, some making the painting ever more beautiful, some ruining it's form. We've become so preoccupied with creating the perfect painting and then slapping it with a pile of varnish so as not to have it change.
So this is what I am doing. I am forgetting the varnish and trying to remember that everyday brings a new change. What life looks like right now isn't what it will always be, faith right now isn't the way that it is necessarily supposed to be, no matter how many time people try to shove the "truth" down your throat. We've lost the art of surprise and invention. We have all these thoughts and ideas of what life should really look like, or how people should really be. We've forgotten that life's canvas is one that is never ever really full or complete.
So leave the finishing touches at the door. Walk in, sit in front of the canvas of your life, pick up the brush and paint your heart out. And until the last bit of breath is exhaled from your lips, don't ever stop painting.
Life doesn't require a finished product. Not real life at least. Forget the varnish.
I haven't been blogging very often lately, I barely even find time to jot my thoughts down in the dozen notebooks I have on my shelf.
Writing has become a lost art for me, and I miss it.
Things have changed. The past year has been a journey. I guess it's just been really challenging. Challenging my character, my thoughts on life and love and where I fit into this vast expanse of space we call the universe.
It hasn't been easy, but I'm still alive, still smiling. I'm still me.
I created a new blog because I wanted to revive a love that I had lost.
Lately I have forgotten what it means to love something so fiercely that you have to take part in it every day or you feel somewhat incomplete.
I want that back.
But I won't ignore myself.
And I won't apologize.
It seems that I have always been apologizing for the kind of person that I am, but not anymore.
I may be loud, I may be obnoxious, I may be sassy, I may be sweet. I'm a million and one things all jumbled together into one fine mess. But you know what, that mess is a work of art, and I won't apologize for that anymore.
I called this blog "Forget the Varnish" because I believe that we have lost the beauty of what an unfinished painting means. Life is a work of art, one that is constantly being changed. Different colours get added everyday, some making the painting ever more beautiful, some ruining it's form. We've become so preoccupied with creating the perfect painting and then slapping it with a pile of varnish so as not to have it change.
So this is what I am doing. I am forgetting the varnish and trying to remember that everyday brings a new change. What life looks like right now isn't what it will always be, faith right now isn't the way that it is necessarily supposed to be, no matter how many time people try to shove the "truth" down your throat. We've lost the art of surprise and invention. We have all these thoughts and ideas of what life should really look like, or how people should really be. We've forgotten that life's canvas is one that is never ever really full or complete.
So leave the finishing touches at the door. Walk in, sit in front of the canvas of your life, pick up the brush and paint your heart out. And until the last bit of breath is exhaled from your lips, don't ever stop painting.
Life doesn't require a finished product. Not real life at least. Forget the varnish.
9.16.2008
This is life; how much more amazing could it be?
It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that life is something I take for granted.
I was lying in bed last night thinking (something I do quite often) and I thought to myself, if this life is the only chance we have, why spend it being sad or angry or unexcited about the possibilities that life presents us?
Of course, I don't believe that this life is all we have, but I think a part of me believes that it is. It is the only chance we have to live as we are living right now. At Kingdom Come everything will change, for the better no doubt, but it will still be different.
After this life, we may never get to live as we do now, we may never be able to talk to the people we talk to now or travel to the places we can now or do any of the things that we can now do.
Heaven will be a thousand times more amazing than this life, but does that mean that we shouldn't live this life the its fullest?
No, because anything less than fullness is just taking life for granted.
That being said, I am not saying that it isn't okay to be sad, angry, or to not enjoy life. It's realtive, and we all have our days. But there comes a point in your life when you have to stop and think, am I just wasting time?
I don't want to waste time anymore. God has put me in this life, at this time, in this place for a specific purpose and I am going to spend my life fulfilling that purpose.
Life, especailly the lives of Westerners, has become about taking things for granted and running through life, always looking or whats next but never really taking the time to look at whats right in front of us.
Appreciate the life you lead.
Life is a gift. I have a friend who can tell you that.
18.16.89 - 04.27.06
It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that life is something I take for granted.
I was lying in bed last night thinking (something I do quite often) and I thought to myself, if this life is the only chance we have, why spend it being sad or angry or unexcited about the possibilities that life presents us?
Of course, I don't believe that this life is all we have, but I think a part of me believes that it is. It is the only chance we have to live as we are living right now. At Kingdom Come everything will change, for the better no doubt, but it will still be different.
After this life, we may never get to live as we do now, we may never be able to talk to the people we talk to now or travel to the places we can now or do any of the things that we can now do.
Heaven will be a thousand times more amazing than this life, but does that mean that we shouldn't live this life the its fullest?
No, because anything less than fullness is just taking life for granted.
That being said, I am not saying that it isn't okay to be sad, angry, or to not enjoy life. It's realtive, and we all have our days. But there comes a point in your life when you have to stop and think, am I just wasting time?
I don't want to waste time anymore. God has put me in this life, at this time, in this place for a specific purpose and I am going to spend my life fulfilling that purpose.
Life, especailly the lives of Westerners, has become about taking things for granted and running through life, always looking or whats next but never really taking the time to look at whats right in front of us.
Appreciate the life you lead.
Life is a gift. I have a friend who can tell you that.
18.16.89 - 04.27.06
8.14.2008
i'm alive
I turned 20 on Tuesday.
20 years and what do I have to show for it?
Maybe I'm being cocky, but I think that I have lived a great life so far.
But why is it that we are always waiting for our lives to begin?
We always put things off saying that we will do the things we want to do when we have the rest of our lives sorted out. Here's a reality check: life will never sort itself out.
Life is meant to be this grand adventure, except for many of us it has become a waiting room. We spend our lives waiting to live, and then we wonder where all our time has gone.
Life has become an endless game of what's next. We are always looking forward to the future, always looking forward to something else, rarely enjoying the time we have today. Why are we hoping for that day when we will come alive? Why can we not wake up out of our comatose state and live?
"It's like you wake up just to find that you're alive..."
I want to go to Africa, and I knew that I would wait until I had things in my life sorted out.
After I'm done school I will have time and money.
Buzzer anyone?
I realized last year that I would never do the things I wanted to do because I was constantly waiting for the 'right moment.' But what if there is no right moment? What if the right moment is now? Why do we always wait for things to fall into place instead of grabbing hold of them ourselves?
I made a pact with a friend last year. I asked him to make sure that I went to Africa in the summer of 2009. I knew that if I didn't have someone holding me accountable, I would always find an excuse not to go. This year I talked about it, to everyone so that when next summer came around, I would have to go.
Waiting has it's benefits, but not if it become the force that controls your life.
Waiting is like fear, sometimes it can keep you safe, but sometimes, it just stops you from living the life that you were meant to live.
"One day you will awake, unafraid..."
Live now; laugh now; love now. Do what you like and do it now; life won't wait for you to slow down...
20 years and what do I have to show for it?
Maybe I'm being cocky, but I think that I have lived a great life so far.
But why is it that we are always waiting for our lives to begin?
We always put things off saying that we will do the things we want to do when we have the rest of our lives sorted out. Here's a reality check: life will never sort itself out.
Life is meant to be this grand adventure, except for many of us it has become a waiting room. We spend our lives waiting to live, and then we wonder where all our time has gone.
Life has become an endless game of what's next. We are always looking forward to the future, always looking forward to something else, rarely enjoying the time we have today. Why are we hoping for that day when we will come alive? Why can we not wake up out of our comatose state and live?
"It's like you wake up just to find that you're alive..."
I want to go to Africa, and I knew that I would wait until I had things in my life sorted out.
After I'm done school I will have time and money.
Buzzer anyone?
I realized last year that I would never do the things I wanted to do because I was constantly waiting for the 'right moment.' But what if there is no right moment? What if the right moment is now? Why do we always wait for things to fall into place instead of grabbing hold of them ourselves?
I made a pact with a friend last year. I asked him to make sure that I went to Africa in the summer of 2009. I knew that if I didn't have someone holding me accountable, I would always find an excuse not to go. This year I talked about it, to everyone so that when next summer came around, I would have to go.
Waiting has it's benefits, but not if it become the force that controls your life.
Waiting is like fear, sometimes it can keep you safe, but sometimes, it just stops you from living the life that you were meant to live.
"One day you will awake, unafraid..."
Live now; laugh now; love now. Do what you like and do it now; life won't wait for you to slow down...
7.25.2008
back to the basics
I think it's so amazing when people go back to the basics.
Simplicity is a lost art in the chaotic universe we submerge ourselves in, so when people choose to just go back to basics it makes things so much more interesting.
A painting with too much detail overwhelms the viewer anyways...
I have decided to go back to the basics (hence the reason for the picture of the Hague in my profile, cuz I'm basically Dutch).
What this means going "back to the basics" for me, I'm not entirely sure.
At the end of the school year I said that this summer would be one of discovery, one of change. Now the summer is 3/4 gone, and things aren't going quite the way I planned. But as I look back on all the reasons I wanted change and all the things I thought I should learn, I saw that I had lost something along the way.
Life isn't always about discovering something new, sometimes it's about discovering something that was there all along, it's about remembering.
Change is good, without change there can be no life. But sometimes, the old ways just work better. Why fix something that's not broken?
Back to the basics.
Back to my roots.
Back to my family.
Back to hope.
Back to faith.
Back to love.
Back to God.
Simplicity is a lost art in the chaotic universe we submerge ourselves in, so when people choose to just go back to basics it makes things so much more interesting.
A painting with too much detail overwhelms the viewer anyways...
I have decided to go back to the basics (hence the reason for the picture of the Hague in my profile, cuz I'm basically Dutch).
What this means going "back to the basics" for me, I'm not entirely sure.
At the end of the school year I said that this summer would be one of discovery, one of change. Now the summer is 3/4 gone, and things aren't going quite the way I planned. But as I look back on all the reasons I wanted change and all the things I thought I should learn, I saw that I had lost something along the way.
Life isn't always about discovering something new, sometimes it's about discovering something that was there all along, it's about remembering.
Change is good, without change there can be no life. But sometimes, the old ways just work better. Why fix something that's not broken?
Back to the basics.
Back to my roots.
Back to my family.
Back to hope.
Back to faith.
Back to love.
Back to God.
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