Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Delinquency

It's been three weeks since I blogged.

Three weeks!

I could say I've been working a lot, which would be true. Try fifty hours a week at my day job and 10-20 hours a week at my night job and that adds up to a lot of time.

But, the truth is that I started reading the Twilight series when I was in Utah for Annalise's wedding and I've been obsessed with it ever since. I'm surprised my Mom didn't get any pictures of me reading while we were hiking.

I haven't been this into a book series since, well, I've never been into a book series. When I get home at night, all I want to do is get lost in the world of Edward and Bella.

It is so pathetic. And wonderful.

I finished all four books in a week and then felt a huge void so I started reading the fourth book again, slower, so I can actually get all the little side stories I missed the first time.

Everything culminated last weekend when Rachel and I saw the movie. Now my obsession is complete.

My parents are coming in town today for Thanksgiving so pictures of that are to follow.

And I'm not going to read while they are here. Well, I'm going to try...

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Doing My Part ...

The election is over! I was so sick of all the ads and phone calls that I got to the point where I didn't care who won. This area is so politically charged - go figure, it's DC - and the last two years have been interesting to say the least.

Let me preface this by saying that I worked on the Hill in the spring of 2004 as an intern for a democrat from Texas. Although my time in politics was brief (four months actually), I learned a lot while I was there and I believe I have a unique perspective because I worked in the thick of things for a while.

The most important lesson I took from my time on the Hill was that regardless of party, the congressmen really believe that what they are doing is right for the country and, more importantly, right for their constituency. Having that knowledge completely changed the way I listened and participated in political discussions.

The second lesson I learned was that the media is TOTAL crap. I would watch resolutions debated on the floor of the House of Representatives and watch it later on CNN or Fox News and they would completely slice and dice sound bytes to get the story they wanted. In some cases, what they reported was almost completely fabricated from what was originally intended. I stopped watching political news after I worked on the Hill. If I have a question about a bill, I go to the text of the bill itself and draw my own conclusions. You can find this information at http://thomas.loc.gov/. Also, check out http://www.votesmart.org/index.htm, if you want to know how congressmen really vote on the issues.

I have to say that working on the Hill made me somewhat cynical about politics in general. I don't usually discuss my political leanings with acquaintances and I certainly would not argue at a bar over which party has it right. Life is too short to alienate people from you because you don't agree politically. In the end, the system has corruption and hypocrisy on both sides. But I felt that today, after this historic election, that stating some of my opinions in this venue would be beneficial.

While having people in power who support my beliefs is important to me, being a christian has given me the understanding that I answer to a higher power than the US government. Now, that's not to say that I'm above the law, however, when they conflict, God's law rules my life. In the bible, it says 'give to Caesar what is Caesar's' and 'obey the laws of the land'. As a christian and as a proud American I do this every day. However, I don't think that the government should be used to push forward religious agendas. And while there might be earthly consequences for sinning (i.e. killing someone or stealing), I don't believe that all consequences of sin or "un-christian" morality should come from the government.

For example, I am pro-life. I believe that life begins when conception occurs and it is wrong for someone to take that life away. However, I also believe that the consequences of abortion will be dealt with by God at the second coming so whether or not it is legal doesn't make a lot of difference to me. I mourn for the loss of life and for women who make that decision (because they will truly never be the same) but free will allows them to make that decision anyway. That being said, I do believe that there should be more options and more education for women considering abortion, but that is a topic for another blog.

I feel the same about gay marriage. I think it's wrong and somewhat ironic that homosexuals want to bend to the convention of marriage when their life is very unconventional compared to societal norms. And I know that people who support gay marriage will say that there are lots of happy gay marrieds with great marriages who are great parents and look at all the unhappy heterosexual marrieds who are bad parents but that argument doesn't hold a lot of weight to me. I still think it's wrong because my moral compass - the bible - tells me it is. Using bad examples of married people to support the "for gay marriage" agenda is flimsy to say the least. Yet, again, how would allowing gay people to marry affect my beliefs? How would that change my view of marriage? It wouldn't. Their number will be called on the day of judgement - just like mine.

At the end of the day, my core beliefs are rooted in my faith. I don't have hope in government or society or a good politician who is well-spoken to make my life better. I believe that Jesus is the only one who saves and gives us peace. And I don't think Jesus would picket or be aggressive towards democrats or republicans or independents or martians. He loved people (aka sinners)and built relationships with them that changed their lives forever. That is how real change happens. Not through some government resolution, but one person investing time in another.

As an American, I support President-elect Obama. As a christian, I have faith that God is in control and will lead this nation and my life according to His plan.