I have a confession to make. I watch American Idol. I have another confession to make. I was rooting for SanJaya.
So of course I have some thoughts about the "American Idol Gives Back" shows from last week.
First, I find the title ironic. Idol Gives Back. Heh.
Second, I have to say good job. Last I hear, over $60 million has been donated. That is a huge chunk of change that is going to people who really need it. That is $60 million more than there would have been, which is good news.
...But...
The entire situation bothers me. I couldn't help but notice the "hero" mentality that was on the show. It was as if people were "realizing" that rich americans could save the poor without much cost to themselves or their lifestyles. They were given a great opportunity to vote for their idol and simultaneously helped the world. How heroic. What really irks me is that Ryan Seacrest, when urging people to call and vote, said that this call "could be the most important call you ever make."
Pathetic. Over 70 million people voted, and only 60 million dollars were donated. More money would have been collected if everyone gave just one dollar. ONE DOLLAR.
wow. such an important call. i don't know about you, but i sure don't want to miss an opportunity to give away less than one dollar. it could be the most important thing i ever do...
All this to say: WE DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT FOR IDOL TO GIVE BACK. If we ALL gave ONE DOLLAR EVERY DAY, then we would have somethin' goin' on. One dollar every day is cheaper than most coffee addictions, soda addictions, gum addictions, inefficient gas guzzlers, etc. When you find a dollar on the street, you probably don't even get excited about it. Just imagine if those 70 million voters gave one dollar every day. That would add up to $2.1 billion in one month. $25.55 billion in one year. Now that is a big chunck of change.
And one more thing. Even $25.55 billion is not heroic. It is tragic. Among the wealthy of the world, $25.55 billion could be collected from spare change. Among the poor of the world, there is no change to spare. That bothers me. Giving is not heroic, it should be expected. We have too much and they have too little.
In conclusion, Idol giving back is a step in the right direction, but it is nothing compared to what could be. We have the opportunity to give back every single day. And that opportunity is something that way too many people are missing.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Gotta love it
Hey friends,
I was just reflecting on some random stuff that I have recently come to love, and I thought I would share. (this is not a comprehensive list, and it is in no particular order)
1) Yoga. Thanks to my wonderful friend and housemate, Erin, I have discovered the wonderfulness of yoga. After my manic mondays at work, I go to my yoga class and find myself in some awkward, but somehow amazing position. As I am trying to balance on one foot, or going a little closer to doing the splits, I totally forget about the busyness of life, I think about how funny the room of 30 or 40 of us must look, and I simply relax, meditate, and sometimes pray. Its amazing. Not only is it relaxing, but I'm more flexible and I have less back problems. Haha. That sounds like an advertisemnt. Oh well. What can I say? I like yoga.
2) Salsa dancing. Thanks to my wonderful friend Jen and her 23rd birthday, I got to go salsa dancing this weekend. AMAZING. First of all, I love dancing. Secondly, salsa has a beautiful rhythym that is easy to pick up and move to. Thirdly, I love dancing.
3) Fundraising for Water for People. It is currently my favorite part of my job, but it isn't even a part of my job. I am helping make t-shirts, plan a happy hour, do a bake sale, and I get to learn more about Water for People and meet a lot of interesting people in the process. (check out their link on the right). Going to be in Pasadena in May? You should come to the happy hour. I'll let you know when and where in a couple weeks.
4) Talking to the security guy in my office building. His name is Fred, and he is cool.
5) Playing my guitar. I don't know that many songs, but that's OK, I gotta start somewhere. Whenever I need to talk to God or vent or relax, but I don't know what to say or do, I just pull out the guitar and sing. Its wonderful. (I'm not sure my housemates think that, but they at least tolerate it. :))
6) Jesus. I guess I haven't just recently come to love Jesus. I've loved him for a long time. But my current love for him feels fresh, new, deeper, stronger, and closer to complete.
7) Driving with the window down and the music up. Again, I've loved these things for a long time, but I appreciate it more than ever now that I spend 40 hours every week in a quiet cubicle with no window. Thank God for windows and music.
8) Spending time with the neighborhood kids. They bring me back to reality. Even when they are fighting, not sharing, demanding attention, not eating all their food, asking for more candy, crying, etc., they help me remember what is important in life.
9) My beater 2-door, 1990 Honda Accord.
-Dents: 2.
-Stains: countless.
-Oil spilled in the trunk? Check.
-Almost broken lock on the driver-side door? Check.
-Problems getting my key out of the ignition because of the broken Parking indicator? Very much Check.
-Can fit more people than there are seatbelts? Check.
-Missing transmission fluid dip stick? Fortunately, that is no longer a Check.
-My friends and often times carpool buddies, Erin and Preethi, have likened the process of getting out of the back of my car to emerging from the womb. Haha.
-Priceless memories? Check.
10) Reading the countless comments on my blog, which help me to know what people are thinking, what they disagree with, what they relate to, what else I should write about, how to improve my posts, and... oh wait. that doesn't happen. hmm... anyone out there? (hint hint, wink wink).
the real 10) Taking my grandpa on dates.
So great. so great. :)
I was just reflecting on some random stuff that I have recently come to love, and I thought I would share. (this is not a comprehensive list, and it is in no particular order)
1) Yoga. Thanks to my wonderful friend and housemate, Erin, I have discovered the wonderfulness of yoga. After my manic mondays at work, I go to my yoga class and find myself in some awkward, but somehow amazing position. As I am trying to balance on one foot, or going a little closer to doing the splits, I totally forget about the busyness of life, I think about how funny the room of 30 or 40 of us must look, and I simply relax, meditate, and sometimes pray. Its amazing. Not only is it relaxing, but I'm more flexible and I have less back problems. Haha. That sounds like an advertisemnt. Oh well. What can I say? I like yoga.
2) Salsa dancing. Thanks to my wonderful friend Jen and her 23rd birthday, I got to go salsa dancing this weekend. AMAZING. First of all, I love dancing. Secondly, salsa has a beautiful rhythym that is easy to pick up and move to. Thirdly, I love dancing.
3) Fundraising for Water for People. It is currently my favorite part of my job, but it isn't even a part of my job. I am helping make t-shirts, plan a happy hour, do a bake sale, and I get to learn more about Water for People and meet a lot of interesting people in the process. (check out their link on the right). Going to be in Pasadena in May? You should come to the happy hour. I'll let you know when and where in a couple weeks.
4) Talking to the security guy in my office building. His name is Fred, and he is cool.
5) Playing my guitar. I don't know that many songs, but that's OK, I gotta start somewhere. Whenever I need to talk to God or vent or relax, but I don't know what to say or do, I just pull out the guitar and sing. Its wonderful. (I'm not sure my housemates think that, but they at least tolerate it. :))
6) Jesus. I guess I haven't just recently come to love Jesus. I've loved him for a long time. But my current love for him feels fresh, new, deeper, stronger, and closer to complete.
7) Driving with the window down and the music up. Again, I've loved these things for a long time, but I appreciate it more than ever now that I spend 40 hours every week in a quiet cubicle with no window. Thank God for windows and music.
8) Spending time with the neighborhood kids. They bring me back to reality. Even when they are fighting, not sharing, demanding attention, not eating all their food, asking for more candy, crying, etc., they help me remember what is important in life.
9) My beater 2-door, 1990 Honda Accord.
-Dents: 2.
-Stains: countless.
-Oil spilled in the trunk? Check.
-Almost broken lock on the driver-side door? Check.
-Problems getting my key out of the ignition because of the broken Parking indicator? Very much Check.
-Can fit more people than there are seatbelts? Check.
-Missing transmission fluid dip stick? Fortunately, that is no longer a Check.
-My friends and often times carpool buddies, Erin and Preethi, have likened the process of getting out of the back of my car to emerging from the womb. Haha.
-Priceless memories? Check.
10) Reading the countless comments on my blog, which help me to know what people are thinking, what they disagree with, what they relate to, what else I should write about, how to improve my posts, and... oh wait. that doesn't happen. hmm... anyone out there? (hint hint, wink wink).
the real 10) Taking my grandpa on dates.
So great. so great. :)
Monday, April 09, 2007
an easter reflection
Now that I have spent a good 30 minutes trying to come up with the words to correctly express my reflections of this Easter, and now that I have hit the delete and backspace keys several, several times... I have found that I have no words that can accurately present to you my feelings of awe, amazement, grief, confusion, anger, gratefulness, and joy when I think of Jesus at Easter.
More than ever, I feel as though I helped place him on that cross. I feel as if I took a nail and drove it into His feet, or spat at him as he walked toward his death. More than ever this past year, I have struggled to follow Jesus. There have been times this year where I simply didn't want to follow him. I didn't doubt his existence, I was just tired and wanted out. I wished that I didn't know him, that I didn't know his words, and that I didn't know what he was asking of me. I didn't want to give him my life. I put him on the cross.
And now, more than ever, I desperately long for Jesus. I had hated him, but he loved me. I left him there, suffering, bleeding, dying. But he forgave me. I had NO CLUE what I was doing, but that didn't matter. He died for me. And on that glorious day we call Easter, He came back for me.
The funny thing is I struggled to follow Jesus because I stubbornly didn't want to give up any part of my life that I liked. He could have the stuff I didn't like, but otherwise I didn't want to change. I didn't want to feel convicted. I was willing to follow Jesus as long as I could also do whatever I wanted. I didn't want to sacrifice any part of my life to follow him. Hmm... I didn't want to give my life to him, even though he already gave his life to me.
So I stand in humility, and I stand in awe. I am humbled by Jesus' persistant and abundant love. I am in awe of his willingness to die for those who don't even know they are killing him. And I am grateful. More than ever, I am grateful for that day 2000 years ago when Jesus proved that nothing, not even the pain of death, could keep him away.
More than ever, I feel as though I helped place him on that cross. I feel as if I took a nail and drove it into His feet, or spat at him as he walked toward his death. More than ever this past year, I have struggled to follow Jesus. There have been times this year where I simply didn't want to follow him. I didn't doubt his existence, I was just tired and wanted out. I wished that I didn't know him, that I didn't know his words, and that I didn't know what he was asking of me. I didn't want to give him my life. I put him on the cross.
And now, more than ever, I desperately long for Jesus. I had hated him, but he loved me. I left him there, suffering, bleeding, dying. But he forgave me. I had NO CLUE what I was doing, but that didn't matter. He died for me. And on that glorious day we call Easter, He came back for me.
The funny thing is I struggled to follow Jesus because I stubbornly didn't want to give up any part of my life that I liked. He could have the stuff I didn't like, but otherwise I didn't want to change. I didn't want to feel convicted. I was willing to follow Jesus as long as I could also do whatever I wanted. I didn't want to sacrifice any part of my life to follow him. Hmm... I didn't want to give my life to him, even though he already gave his life to me.
So I stand in humility, and I stand in awe. I am humbled by Jesus' persistant and abundant love. I am in awe of his willingness to die for those who don't even know they are killing him. And I am grateful. More than ever, I am grateful for that day 2000 years ago when Jesus proved that nothing, not even the pain of death, could keep him away.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
An empire full of thirsty people
Today I met a man who is trying to create an empire.
He doesn't really care how it happens. He just wants his empire and his crown. If you catch him doing something helpful for a neighbor, he will say, "Don't think that this helpful act is a 'good samaritan thing', I just have to help them in order to help me."
Guess how he is making his little empire. Guess what he is using to gain his power, his authority, and his empire. Money? No. Fame? No way. Good looks? haha, you must be joking. Water? Yes.
And why is water the key to his kingdom? Well like he said to me today, "Money is water and water is money." The more water he can get for his people, the more people that can come, the more money they can create, and thus the fruition of an empire. This plan makes perfect sense.
extra water = room for more people. people = work force. work force = more money. money = empire.
Under normal circumstances, there could very well be no harm in such a plan.
But there is. There are neighboring cities, neighboring empires - other people that need the water that is coming from the ground below them. So this man has to prove that he isn't draining the supply. He has to prove that he can take as much as he wants because there's enough for him and then still more for his neighbors. And he seems to be proving this by throwing around some numbers and test results and calling it good.
There is a man, let's call him Joe, who looks for water supplies from far away lands that he can bring to the local kingdoms. Joe is a good guy. Joe is trying to give all the people water. He doesn't want anyone to die of thirst. Joe thinks (and I have to say that I agree with Joe) that our empire hunter has bad numbers and no proof of this supposed "vast supply of water." Joe needs money to buy water from other places.
But money is expensive, so Mr. I-Want-To-Be-King has decided to keep Joe poor. He would like to buy Joe out, but he can't, so he is keeping Joe poor. He claims there is enough water and that Joe doesn't need any money.
It gets worse.
Empire Man knows deep down that the water will run out, so he is building wells that go deep down - 500 feet deeper than the wells of neighboring cities. This extra 500 ft will allow him to pump water even when his neighbors can no longer reach it. He will be able to pump the ground dry until there is nothing left, long after his rival kingdoms are dry.
And there you have it.
This hopeful king is promising a very attractive place with large, affordable homes, beautiful, well-watered parks, and a life with no parched lips. But he is running the land dry, draining its resources, and creating an empire full of thirsty people.
I think I met the devil today - promising life, but causing death, all because of his desire for a throne.
I just hope Joe wins.
He doesn't really care how it happens. He just wants his empire and his crown. If you catch him doing something helpful for a neighbor, he will say, "Don't think that this helpful act is a 'good samaritan thing', I just have to help them in order to help me."
Guess how he is making his little empire. Guess what he is using to gain his power, his authority, and his empire. Money? No. Fame? No way. Good looks? haha, you must be joking. Water? Yes.
And why is water the key to his kingdom? Well like he said to me today, "Money is water and water is money." The more water he can get for his people, the more people that can come, the more money they can create, and thus the fruition of an empire. This plan makes perfect sense.
extra water = room for more people. people = work force. work force = more money. money = empire.
Under normal circumstances, there could very well be no harm in such a plan.
But there is. There are neighboring cities, neighboring empires - other people that need the water that is coming from the ground below them. So this man has to prove that he isn't draining the supply. He has to prove that he can take as much as he wants because there's enough for him and then still more for his neighbors. And he seems to be proving this by throwing around some numbers and test results and calling it good.
There is a man, let's call him Joe, who looks for water supplies from far away lands that he can bring to the local kingdoms. Joe is a good guy. Joe is trying to give all the people water. He doesn't want anyone to die of thirst. Joe thinks (and I have to say that I agree with Joe) that our empire hunter has bad numbers and no proof of this supposed "vast supply of water." Joe needs money to buy water from other places.
But money is expensive, so Mr. I-Want-To-Be-King has decided to keep Joe poor. He would like to buy Joe out, but he can't, so he is keeping Joe poor. He claims there is enough water and that Joe doesn't need any money.
It gets worse.
Empire Man knows deep down that the water will run out, so he is building wells that go deep down - 500 feet deeper than the wells of neighboring cities. This extra 500 ft will allow him to pump water even when his neighbors can no longer reach it. He will be able to pump the ground dry until there is nothing left, long after his rival kingdoms are dry.
And there you have it.
This hopeful king is promising a very attractive place with large, affordable homes, beautiful, well-watered parks, and a life with no parched lips. But he is running the land dry, draining its resources, and creating an empire full of thirsty people.
I think I met the devil today - promising life, but causing death, all because of his desire for a throne.
I just hope Joe wins.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
My Grandma...
...is getting neck surgery tomorrow, Thursday the 5th, at noon.
After the surgery, she will have two screws in her neck, one screw in her skull, a neck brace, and a bald spot.
To top it off, she is planning on going on a motor-home rally a week later.
I love that about my grandma. I don't think it's a good idea to go on a trip after having screws drilled into her neck and head, but I have to admire her drive.
Did I tell you she went to Disneyland when she had a broken neck? Yeah, that's drive. ...or red-headed stubbornness.
Anyway, if you are into praying, or even if you aren't, please pray for my grandma. Please pray that the surgery will go smoothly and that she will heal quickly. Not only is she having surgery, but she is in the hospital through Easter and into Monday. My grandma doesn't like laying around and feeling stuck. She doesn't like people taking care of her. She wants to take care of other people. Please pray for patience. Please pray for my grandpa. He doesn't like cooking. He might starve while she is gone. haha. just kidding. But he could probably use some peace and patience himself.
Thanks for the help.
I love you, Nana. And I am praying for you.
After the surgery, she will have two screws in her neck, one screw in her skull, a neck brace, and a bald spot.
To top it off, she is planning on going on a motor-home rally a week later.
I love that about my grandma. I don't think it's a good idea to go on a trip after having screws drilled into her neck and head, but I have to admire her drive.
Did I tell you she went to Disneyland when she had a broken neck? Yeah, that's drive. ...or red-headed stubbornness.
Anyway, if you are into praying, or even if you aren't, please pray for my grandma. Please pray that the surgery will go smoothly and that she will heal quickly. Not only is she having surgery, but she is in the hospital through Easter and into Monday. My grandma doesn't like laying around and feeling stuck. She doesn't like people taking care of her. She wants to take care of other people. Please pray for patience. Please pray for my grandpa. He doesn't like cooking. He might starve while she is gone. haha. just kidding. But he could probably use some peace and patience himself.
Thanks for the help.
I love you, Nana. And I am praying for you.
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