04.30.08

If I Ever See Uncle Sam, I’ll Punch Him

Posted in Political Commentary at 09:23 am by Josh

Just got my Q1 bonus.  Not to be tacky, but I’m going to throw the numbers out there so you can share in my woes.

The gross was $1,000.  Any idea what I took home?  Five-hundred and sixty dollars.  Almost half of the bonus goes to the government.  That’s the same government that sends people overseas to die for no particular reason I can see at this moment, that stands idly by as gas prices soar over $4/gallon, that withholds financial assistance from Katrina victims until they’ve gutted their broken and condemned homes, and that once told me working hard and getting an education would alleviate such woes.  The only thing I find more difficult to believe is that fact that so many Americans still put any faith at all in our government system.  Maybe one day we’ll have a leader who cares more about providing for his people than he does about polishing his own silver spoon.

04.23.08

Live From New Orleans

Posted in Uncategorized, Life at 22:53 pm by Josh

I’ve had my crawfish.
I’ve had my alligator.
I’ve had my Abita in amber, red, and Topdog.
I’ve had my red beans and rice.
I’ve had a fight with two sinks, a toilet, and a bathtub.
(I won. A video may appear on YouTube.)
Now the washer is broken.

I love Louisiana.

04.07.08

Putting the “God” in Godfather

Posted in Movies, Random Thoughts, Quotes at 00:01 am by Josh

“‘Do not impede his journey fate-ordained;
It is so willed there where is power to do
That which is willed; and ask no further question.’”

~Dante Alghieri, Inferno

I am regularly moved by the story of Don Corleone, a fictional tale depicted in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, notably made into an extraordinary triology in the early 1970s and into 1990.  There is a subtlty to the story, though, which sets it apart from other gangster movies and it is the same subtlty that draws me to close to the rise and fall of Michael Corleone.  You see, it wasn’t for power or for money that the Corleone empire existed; those were incidental bi-products, though they led to much strife and indirectly to the end of the era, so to speak.  But those things never interested Michael Corleone.  He had only one thing in mind, one driving motive to take the things he wanted from life, by force, if necessary: his family.

But what intrigues me most about Michael Corleone is not even his love for his family or his willingness to do anything to protect them.  No, my interest is most piqued, my heart most moved at the end of The Godfather: Part III on the steps of the opera house.  (Spoiler: you should have seen the movie by now anyway.)  As Michael lay there next to his murdered daughter, in such agony that surprises even his ex-wife, I remembered something he said to her earlier in the movie.

“I loved my father.  I swore I would never be a man like him, but I loved my father and he was in danger.  What could I do?  And then later, you were in danger.  Our children were in danger.  What could I do?  You were all that I loved and valued most in the world.  Now I’m losing you.  I lost you.  You’re gone.  And it was all for nothing…You have to understand, I had a whole different destiny planned.”

Michael Corleone made sacrifices — horrible sacrifices that dramatically affected, sometimes even eliminated, the lives of those around him — and he did it for his family.  The fullness of his love for them caused him to take the world into his own hands, to plan out his own destiny.  I think there are few among us who do not, at some level, do the same.

The humanity in Michael Corleone, however, does not stop at his tightening his grip on the world he refuses to let slip through his fingers.  It comes from the fact that it slips through anyway.  It leaves the question for all of us, what, if anything, can we control in the first place?  After a life time of murder in the name of protection, Don Corleone learns the hard way, as many of us do, that there are very few things under our command.

We heard a bit about predestination in church today taking the following into consideration:

1:5 he predestined us [2] for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

~Ephesians 1:5

Notwithstanding the ins and the outs of it, our destinies are predetermined.  Where does that leave us?  With such power as given by God, with the ability to manipulate these letters to form words, with the authority to choose what I eat for dinner or where I take my rest and even whether or not to sin, to rebel against the Highest Power of all, the idea that anything is out of our control is difficult to wrestle with.  How, then, are we to cope when things are going exactly the opposite of the way we would like?

The answer rests in trust.  We must trust God in all things.  We must let Him guide us, bringing us to places we sometimes don’t want to go, places that sometimes don’t seem like places He would send us in the first place.  There is no way to know for sure if we’ve done what we’re supposed to, but then we ought also to recognize that He has been following all along.  This theme repeats itself countless time throughout the Bible, travesty after travesty of things that are terrible, and yet are righted by God.  Of course, such faith can be difficult to have.  Indeed, I often find myself saying, “I believe in God, I believe in Jesus and the salvation He offers, but how am I to believe that my life here on Earth will improve?  What right to it do I have?”  Well, I have no right.  But somehow, the gift is there, anyway, if only I would believe.

For Michael Corleone, he didn’t have to order deaths or run rackets to protect his family.  I think he learns that in the end.  In fact, I think he learns it before the end, but doesn’t know how to get out.  He tries, but it’s too late, at least for his family.  But there is one comfort that even the Don can take: It’s never too late to trust in Jesus.

04.01.08

Never Know Until You Try

Posted in Music, Random Thoughts at 22:30 pm by Josh

23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see men, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus [3] laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

~Mark 8:23-25

I was sitting here listening to Animal Collective’s Sung Tongs (courtesy of Tony L.) for the first time.  Actually, I was in the kitchen, which is right across from where I’m sitting.  But that’s not the point.  The point is, I started hearing noises, some like lowing, some like birds, and still others like voices, distant, close, old, and new.  All of these sounds were coming in over percussion and a strummed instrument of some sort, probably a guitar.  It all mixed and blended together to make this hypnotic, transient sort of…noise.  Five years ago, I would have said it sucked.  But I’ve learned something since then.  I’ve learned that at first, sometimes, things feel really, really weird.  The temptation is to turn away from the activity.  But in those times, I’ve also learned that it can be a good idea to see the activity through to the end.  You may find yourself settling into it more than you’d imagined.

And don’t give me any lip about the pleasure in sin.  That’s obviously not what I’m talking about here.