The 1st Smile(sort of) caught on camera
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Where are the good guys?
I'm currently reading The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, which is a fantasy saga that I wouldn't necessarily recommend to anyone, but has me thinking about good and evil and the definition of those terms.
Robert Jordan's writing is notable for his creation of an extensive make-believe world and gazillion characters, but I'd also describe his writing as slow, tedious, and lacking plot development. These books describe an epic struggle between good and evil (that evidently never ends...Jordan died before he finished the series), but the characters, aware of this epic struggle, are mired in petty arguments not only with their allies, but with their friends. It's clear Jordan knows where he wants his characters to end up, but he has a hard time making the journey by any other means than having the characters argue amongst themselves.
It's clear which characters are meant to be "the good guys;"they're mostly all on Rand's (the central character) side. But as I think about the "good" characters, I wonder what really distinguishes them from the bad guys. Both good and bad are manipulative to no end, self-centered, and stuck in never-ending petty arguments. Both groups use their "special powers" to achieve their own purposes and gain advantages for themselves. While the good guys all claim to live for "the Light"--whatever that is, it's left unexplained--many seem to think their own way of following the Light and fighting the Dark Lord is the sure way to success. Therefore, they end up in distrusting factions and acting on partial knowledge. (This train of thought has me considering the correlations to the modern church.)
Each good character also has his/her own code of conduct. The worst thing in Rand's perspective is to kill a woman (or let her be killed), and yet as much as he tries to avoid it, women die because of his actions. Nynaeve's battle is one for courage, and yet her flaming anger works well to hide her cowardice. Egwene says the following about evil in A Crown of Swords: "Do what you must, then pay the price for it, was what she had been taught. It was refusal to admit the debt, refusal to pay, that often turned necessity to evil" (Pg. 230). So according to Egwene, evil isn't in the action, it's in the intention and willingness to own up to it. And as the reader encounters a myriad of characters from various cultures and classes, he/she sees just as many different standards for right and wrong. The Aiel equate carrying a sword with evil, but bigamy is tradition. In Ebou Dar, fighting (and killing) in duels is standard practice, but to tell a lie is a great offense.
So what makes people (or characters) good? Tradition, intention, personal success? The question ties closely to my current study of Romans. The first half of Romans 2 states that there is one standard of righteousness that is based on truth (vs. 2). It also demonstrates that knowing the right thing to do isn't enough; doing the right thing is also required. Romans 2:13 says, "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." By this standard, there aren't any good guys in The Wheel of Time series.
Robert Jordan's writing is notable for his creation of an extensive make-believe world and gazillion characters, but I'd also describe his writing as slow, tedious, and lacking plot development. These books describe an epic struggle between good and evil (that evidently never ends...Jordan died before he finished the series), but the characters, aware of this epic struggle, are mired in petty arguments not only with their allies, but with their friends. It's clear Jordan knows where he wants his characters to end up, but he has a hard time making the journey by any other means than having the characters argue amongst themselves.
It's clear which characters are meant to be "the good guys;"they're mostly all on Rand's (the central character) side. But as I think about the "good" characters, I wonder what really distinguishes them from the bad guys. Both good and bad are manipulative to no end, self-centered, and stuck in never-ending petty arguments. Both groups use their "special powers" to achieve their own purposes and gain advantages for themselves. While the good guys all claim to live for "the Light"--whatever that is, it's left unexplained--many seem to think their own way of following the Light and fighting the Dark Lord is the sure way to success. Therefore, they end up in distrusting factions and acting on partial knowledge. (This train of thought has me considering the correlations to the modern church.)
Each good character also has his/her own code of conduct. The worst thing in Rand's perspective is to kill a woman (or let her be killed), and yet as much as he tries to avoid it, women die because of his actions. Nynaeve's battle is one for courage, and yet her flaming anger works well to hide her cowardice. Egwene says the following about evil in A Crown of Swords: "Do what you must, then pay the price for it, was what she had been taught. It was refusal to admit the debt, refusal to pay, that often turned necessity to evil" (Pg. 230). So according to Egwene, evil isn't in the action, it's in the intention and willingness to own up to it. And as the reader encounters a myriad of characters from various cultures and classes, he/she sees just as many different standards for right and wrong. The Aiel equate carrying a sword with evil, but bigamy is tradition. In Ebou Dar, fighting (and killing) in duels is standard practice, but to tell a lie is a great offense.
So what makes people (or characters) good? Tradition, intention, personal success? The question ties closely to my current study of Romans. The first half of Romans 2 states that there is one standard of righteousness that is based on truth (vs. 2). It also demonstrates that knowing the right thing to do isn't enough; doing the right thing is also required. Romans 2:13 says, "For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous." By this standard, there aren't any good guys in The Wheel of Time series.
Love, Death, and Special Effects
First of all, why does an article about a serial killer's wedding plans make international headlines?
Secondly, the article makes me wonder whether people actually live crazy, Jason-Bourne-esque lives (minus the special effects, of course).
Lastly, why am I bothering to write a blog entry about it?
Secondly, the article makes me wonder whether people actually live crazy, Jason-Bourne-esque lives (minus the special effects, of course).
Lastly, why am I bothering to write a blog entry about it?
Monday, June 23, 2008
Time as a Commodity
What's worth my time? What's my time worth?
I began thinking about these questions as I was cleaning out and organizing my teaching files. In an effort to not store boxes of papers that I'll never look at again, I've been consolidating the numerous lesson plans, units, student papers, articles, and other teaching related papers that I've saved over the past few years. Now I have most of my teaching units in nice, neat 3-ring binders so if I ever teach Animal Farm or Romeo and Juliet or my other units again, I don't have to start from scratch, and I won't have to search through boxes of papers to find my ideas. I also came across a unit I developed in college. The thing has to be at least 300 pages. As I look at it now, I will probably never teach that unit, but somehow I just could not throw it away. Those papers represent the only all-nighter I had to pull in college. They represent hours upon hours digging through the stacks in the ISU library. They show how I chose to spend a lot of time during the last month before student teaching. During my senior year, I decided it was worth my time to spend hours in the library, in front of my computer, and with my classmates to create this teaching unit that I will never use. Granted, that unit earned me a passing grade, which contributed to a college degree, which contributed to a teaching license, which contributed to a teaching job...and so forth. How did I decide that developing that unit was worth that much time? What from all my time spent teaching over the past few years will have any lasting worth? Why did I feel it was important to spend my time organizing my lesson plans and recycling old papers this past week? Is it worth my time to write this blog?
Time is a commodity I spend all too easily. How would I spend my time if I budgeted my time as carefully as I budget my money? What would my days (and nights) look like if I truly considered the lasting value of the activities I chose to do?
I began thinking about these questions as I was cleaning out and organizing my teaching files. In an effort to not store boxes of papers that I'll never look at again, I've been consolidating the numerous lesson plans, units, student papers, articles, and other teaching related papers that I've saved over the past few years. Now I have most of my teaching units in nice, neat 3-ring binders so if I ever teach Animal Farm or Romeo and Juliet or my other units again, I don't have to start from scratch, and I won't have to search through boxes of papers to find my ideas. I also came across a unit I developed in college. The thing has to be at least 300 pages. As I look at it now, I will probably never teach that unit, but somehow I just could not throw it away. Those papers represent the only all-nighter I had to pull in college. They represent hours upon hours digging through the stacks in the ISU library. They show how I chose to spend a lot of time during the last month before student teaching. During my senior year, I decided it was worth my time to spend hours in the library, in front of my computer, and with my classmates to create this teaching unit that I will never use. Granted, that unit earned me a passing grade, which contributed to a college degree, which contributed to a teaching license, which contributed to a teaching job...and so forth. How did I decide that developing that unit was worth that much time? What from all my time spent teaching over the past few years will have any lasting worth? Why did I feel it was important to spend my time organizing my lesson plans and recycling old papers this past week? Is it worth my time to write this blog?
Time is a commodity I spend all too easily. How would I spend my time if I budgeted my time as carefully as I budget my money? What would my days (and nights) look like if I truly considered the lasting value of the activities I chose to do?
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Stubborn-Face
So it's not the most flattering of pictures.... Over the past few weeks, our sleepy baby has decided to wake up! We're discovering all sorts of different cries and facial expressions (but we can only interpret a few). We've labeled this face the "stubborn-face." When Caleb makes this face, I think he's thinking, "I think I should be in charge, but I can't even hold up my own head yet. That's the way it is, but I don't have to like it." Other notable events: Caleb is starting to bald. He's got a receding hairline like that of a 50-year-old man with the name Butch. I've heard of premature balding, but isn't this a little early? Other than that it's eat, cry, poop, cry, spit up, cry, sleep, cry, wiggle, cry...and repeat.
Romans
Our church is just beginning a study of the book of Romans. I'm excited about it--partly because I usually like studying books more than I like studying random topics, and partly because there's a lot of truth stated so clearly in Romans that has changed my life. I'm a little behind in my personal study of the book--it seems like someone starts to cry whenever I sit down to start, and it's not always Caleb. In the Sunday messages and the blog, the NET version of the Bible is being used. I'm not familiar with this translation at all, but it lent me a new perspective this past week.
At the end of Romans 1:17, Paul quotes the Old Testament saying, "The righteous will live by faith." (NIV) Only in the NET it reads, "The righteous by faith will live." As a former English teacher, I could have lots of fun dissecting the subtle differences of these two sentences that contain the same words, but I think it'd just reveal my over-analytical, somewhat-crazy brain. It'd also go against the fact that these two translations do have the same meaning. What I've been pondering this week is my personal understanding of this verse. In the past I've misunderstood this verse as saying, "If you are righteous, you will live by faith," which makes the verse into a self-centered, you-must-work-harder command that I must follow instead of a simple statement of fact. It turns it into a personal quest for more faith and more righteousness--as if that's even possible. As I've been thinking about this verse this week, I've seen the promise that it holds. It really is a foreshadowing of the gospel that Paul so carefully explains in detail later in Romans. Through the faith that God gives (Eph. 2:9), I have been declared righteous (Romans 3:22 and others), and therefore I will truly live! It's a summary of the incredibly good news of Christ, and a promise of life--not only eternal life, but also a new life (Romans 6:4, 10-11). Yet another promise to hold closely.
Disclaimer: I'm hesitant about posting this entry, especially now that more than one other person knows I have a blog. This is the personal process document of a sleep-deprived lady who hasn't found a lot to time to study the Bible lately. I'm not out to explain theology or provide commentary on the book of Romans--there are better sources for that.
At the end of Romans 1:17, Paul quotes the Old Testament saying, "The righteous will live by faith." (NIV) Only in the NET it reads, "The righteous by faith will live." As a former English teacher, I could have lots of fun dissecting the subtle differences of these two sentences that contain the same words, but I think it'd just reveal my over-analytical, somewhat-crazy brain. It'd also go against the fact that these two translations do have the same meaning. What I've been pondering this week is my personal understanding of this verse. In the past I've misunderstood this verse as saying, "If you are righteous, you will live by faith," which makes the verse into a self-centered, you-must-work-harder command that I must follow instead of a simple statement of fact. It turns it into a personal quest for more faith and more righteousness--as if that's even possible. As I've been thinking about this verse this week, I've seen the promise that it holds. It really is a foreshadowing of the gospel that Paul so carefully explains in detail later in Romans. Through the faith that God gives (Eph. 2:9), I have been declared righteous (Romans 3:22 and others), and therefore I will truly live! It's a summary of the incredibly good news of Christ, and a promise of life--not only eternal life, but also a new life (Romans 6:4, 10-11). Yet another promise to hold closely.
Disclaimer: I'm hesitant about posting this entry, especially now that more than one other person knows I have a blog. This is the personal process document of a sleep-deprived lady who hasn't found a lot to time to study the Bible lately. I'm not out to explain theology or provide commentary on the book of Romans--there are better sources for that.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Gifts
Recently one of my betrothed (what a strange word) friends asked me to review her wedding registry for her. Prompted by her practical, service-oriented heart, she and her fiance decided to register online at alternativegiftregistry.org instead of at the usual home and department stores. After glancing through the site, I realized it wasn't just an online registry that opened up the wonders of online shopping to wedding guests, it was an opportunity to ask for non-traditional gifts like charity donations, contributions to investment plans, and lawn mowing. Glancing through several baby registries gave me the idea of listing all the ways that friends and family have gifted us since Caleb was born. Before he was born, I really didn't know what to tell people when they asked how they could help after he was born. Here are some ways that people have helped:
- Bringing meals. I think yesterday was the first time I cooked a full meal in three weeks. Do you know how difficult it can be to simply stir something and hold a crying baby at the same time?
- Being willing to give us time as a family. One of the things I've cherished (here's another outdated word) over the past few weeks is working together with Luke to "figure out" what we were supposed to be doing with Caleb. I think I would have missed out on that had we been receiving advice and help from all angles.
- Generous compliments. Even though our baby may not be the cutest baby in the world, I think so (and you were willing to agree with me). Even though I may not be back in my pre-pregnancy clothes, you still said, "You don't even look like you were pregnant." Is this a time when undue flattery is ok?
- Phone calls and an adult to talk to. While it's true that I talk to Caleb throughout the day, he can't say much of anything that's intelligible at this point. I have figured out the "I-want-to-eat-NOW" cry, the "I'm-practicing- for-choir" cry, and the "I'm-mad-at-you;-you-think-you-can-fool-me-with-a-pacifier" cry, but a two-way conversation is still wonderful.
- Understanding. When I do answer the phone and I can barely hear a word you're saying because Caleb is practicing one of his many cries in my other ear, you understood.
- Showing excitement. We're really excited about having Caleb in our lives, and I love it when other people share that excitement. Some have shown their excitement through blog comments, cards, or emails; others by going out of their way to look and exclaim at Caleb or giving more gifts. However you've shown your excitement, I've appreciated it.
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