politics

There is a Better Way

| Chris

There have been quite a few conversations going around lately in my circle of influence. It’s an unpleasant one but of great significance, I believe. And here’s my take on it.

You see, I’d much rather a potential issue be nipped in the bud than wait for it to develop, only to slap a band-aid on it later on.

In my opinion, abortion is not right. It’s not any worse than divorce, really. They’re all sinful acts from my personal point of view. But they’re also not the root of the problem, I don’t think. Abortion, to me, is the cost being paid by the ones who did not necessarily make the wrong choices to begin with.

Unfortunately, the lack of influence on society to steer itself away from trouble early on leads to unnecessary regrets. We all need a foundation to stand on. Yet, where we fixate that foundation for the ones we care about will largely determine the course of their life.

Home! In the home is where kids should be cemented with the fundamentals. You know: Morality. Decency. Respect. Obedience. They need to have experienced these elemental ideologies as they hit school age. Otherwise, the seed of the problem will have been planted by then. And it usually goes downhill from there.

For instance, when kids who grow up witnessing their mom and dad disrespecting, distrusting and hurting each other, it robs them of opportunities to learn what love is and what powers it can unleash in their lives. Sooner or later, forgiveness can become just a foreign concept. Caring and selflessness may be reduced to being more of an abstract notion rather than actual moral convictions. Gentleness, humility, those could be thrown out the door, as well.

And when they eventually enter school and begin to develop relationships, and they grow up together through the years – guess what kind of influence they’ll have on each other? And in the world around them? Well, heck! Just think about the kind of conversation they’ll have one day during lunch break?

… “Hey, I got knocked up! I don’t know what to do.”

There are other examples but I’ll leave it to your imagination.

So, yeah, you have that. But you also have the choice to shove your beliefs down people’s throats and waive compassion. You have the choice to fly your flag of self-righteous indignation on people’s unfortunate circumstances. To take their freedom away and chain them for asking for something quite atrocious.

Such as an abortion.

Got twenty minutes to spare?

| Chris

Have you ever thought green? Or at least, making green a little more prominent in your life? In fact, as far back as I can remember up until recently, my favorite color has always been red. But the past few years has seen me have a gradual change of heart. I started to like the color green more and more. Must’ve been my big move from the urban metropolis to what seems to be middle earth. 🙂 Anyhow, I began noticing this at work for the first time. When I’m designing themes for marketing projects and stuff, I find myself having to defend my choice of color schemes to the committee.

“But we’ve used it several times in the past already… Chrissy boy!”

“I know, I know. But trust me! Green fits perfectly here. It connotates progress, freshness, newness; and it’s easy on the eyes too. Look at the logo, the background, the text. Even the guy’s face looks convincing with a green tint on his cheeks, admit it!”

Suddenly, one day, my RGB became GRB. I was obsessed. For the first time in my life, my favorite color has changed from red to green. Yep. And it’s all for a good cause as well.

Like here in the house, for instance. I have been doing my part (well, as much as I can anyway) slowly but surely. I’m not saying everyone should do this since every situation is different. But here, the light is on only where I am standing at a particular moment. To be honest, 90 percent of the time, the only light glowing in the entire house comes from the laptop screen. Weird, I know. But I have to blog, so there you go. Also, the heat is on but never cranked up (I bundle up and sip green tea instead. Or do push-ups. It’s good for you.). When I leave, I turn it off completely! My 13-gallon trashcan lasts 3 weeks. If it doesn’t, I use grocery bags until the three weeks is up. I recycle and reuse all kinds of plastic containers. When water is running, I’m always in panic mode. I can’t wait to shut it off already regardless of what I’m doing. I don’t buy “stuff” unless I think I will die the next morning without it. Seriously. I don’t crave much of anything. The Jones’s are banned from the neighborhood anyway, so I take it as a blessing that I don’t ever have urges to keep up with anybody. I even stopped eating out much also. Probably, just once every three or four months when hanging out with friends. You still have to be part of the community, y’know. But I realize I like my cooking better! Oh yeah, nothing, and I mean NOTHING perishes in my fridge. I eat every ounce of food left and never throws away anything. That means I meticulously plan my grocery shopping and cooking schedules. I told you I’m weird! And I guess I feel lucky that my job is just three minutes drive from the house. Yup, less than a mile. The grocery is half a mile away. The movie theater, three blocks away (not that I watch movies often; I dont; that’s what TV’s for). The mall and shopping center, just two miles away. Out here, if you see more than 10 cars in the street at a time, it’s rush hour traffic. All this means I fill up my tank once every three months! It’s a very simple, uncomplicated life and I try to take advantage of every situation while I’m able to. You never know if you’ll ever get thrown back into the concrete jungle of a metro city. Though, I really hope not.

This morning, I found a link that was posted by a fellow blogger. It’s a twenty minute, very entertaining informational video on how simple “stuff” and the politics behind it create global impact. Will you let twenty minutes change your heart? I was convicted! I knew I wanted to spread this vital information on here because it’s about time we opened our eyes to the sad state we’re in. The things that we do or don’t do in our everyday lives affect the world in every way imaginable; and this in turn, affects us back on an individual level. Yes, it comes back to you like a bad karma! And so, we sometimes complain aimlessly because we’re clueless. It’s a vicious cycle and it somehow needs to stop. I’m thinking of ways I can help with. Everyone should, I think!

So, you got twenty minutes to spare? I hope so. Please… please… watch the Story of Stuff and get convicted!