Life is like a chess game. You have to calculate your moves well; you must have foresight. You must know intimately what moves you can do and what you can't, and what effect they will ultimately have. One false move can cost you the game. There is some leeway, but not when it comes to crunch time.
Life is like a dance. You must be aware of your partner and the limits of their ability, and you must be able to anticipate also what they might do. You must be aware of the other dancers on the floor. What you and your partner do can affect others.
Life is like a war. You must hold your position in the strictest confidence, lest you be given away, found out, endangered. You must know who you can trust and who you cannot, and still you must be on your guard. Strategy is everything. Something you do or don't do can come back and cripple you.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Thoughts...
I just finished watching Blood Diamond. For those that haven't seen it, it's a movie about the illegal smuggling and exportation of diamonds in Africa. The people are used like commodities just to get these diamonds. Everyone wants control of the diamond trade--the people are slaughtered mercilessly, the women brutalized, the boys stolen and turned into child soldiers. These diamonds are eventually sold to outside buyers, like Britain, America, and Canada. It's greed...people die, people do terrible things just because of this market.
And I think to myself, people are dying. We have no idea that this stuff even happens. If we do, it's remote, not a part of us. Man, I sit at this computer and I type about something that I only briefly got a glimpse into. I am so blessed to be here, and I don't even know it. I complain about the food I am given. I complain if I don't get my way. I look into the mirror and put on makeup and try to live up to some ridiculous ideal. But you know, when I look at life in war-torn countries or poverty-stricken places or whatever, where things like this happen that I can't even begin to imagine, I think, none of this matters. None of it. My stuff, my social standing, how much money I make, how many times I get to go out for coffee with my friends--it doesn't matter. Stuff doesn't matter. What matters is, am I going to make a difference? What am I doing with my life that actually matters? That will actually make an impact? People matter.
I remember in grade 11 english my teacher asked the class if it was wrong to kill a person. Everyone said yes. Then he asked, what if you were on a plane and a hijacker took over. The only way that you could save the people on board the plane was for you to kill the hijacker--would that still be wrong?
I was stumped. I was young in my faith and so I didn't know what was the answer. There are so many times now that I wish I could have gone back and said, yes, it is still wrong. I wouldn't need to kill the person because I believe in a God who is bigger than any situation. I would show love to the hikacker--because I believe that God could change his heart.
And that is what I think of when I see movies like Blood Diamond, and Hotel Rwanda, and such. People matter. God can change hearts. He can bring hope. I saw the desolation and the despair on the faces of the people, and even though it was a movie, my heart still broke. I can see how it looks like there is nothing left for those people. And materially, maybe there isn't, or isn't much. But God is bigger--God gives hope because there is truly only hope in God. One of the lines in the movie was when the guy had asked himself where was God in all of this, and then he 'realized God had left Africa a long time ago'. But he hasn't, and I know that. God is still working in all of it!
How can I live in this world and not do something? I don't want to cry a bit, blog a little, and get over it. I want to make a difference. I want to use what I learn here. I want to be the hands and feet - help people. People matter--I want to get that in my heart and live by it.
Sharon.
And I think to myself, people are dying. We have no idea that this stuff even happens. If we do, it's remote, not a part of us. Man, I sit at this computer and I type about something that I only briefly got a glimpse into. I am so blessed to be here, and I don't even know it. I complain about the food I am given. I complain if I don't get my way. I look into the mirror and put on makeup and try to live up to some ridiculous ideal. But you know, when I look at life in war-torn countries or poverty-stricken places or whatever, where things like this happen that I can't even begin to imagine, I think, none of this matters. None of it. My stuff, my social standing, how much money I make, how many times I get to go out for coffee with my friends--it doesn't matter. Stuff doesn't matter. What matters is, am I going to make a difference? What am I doing with my life that actually matters? That will actually make an impact? People matter.
I remember in grade 11 english my teacher asked the class if it was wrong to kill a person. Everyone said yes. Then he asked, what if you were on a plane and a hijacker took over. The only way that you could save the people on board the plane was for you to kill the hijacker--would that still be wrong?
I was stumped. I was young in my faith and so I didn't know what was the answer. There are so many times now that I wish I could have gone back and said, yes, it is still wrong. I wouldn't need to kill the person because I believe in a God who is bigger than any situation. I would show love to the hikacker--because I believe that God could change his heart.
And that is what I think of when I see movies like Blood Diamond, and Hotel Rwanda, and such. People matter. God can change hearts. He can bring hope. I saw the desolation and the despair on the faces of the people, and even though it was a movie, my heart still broke. I can see how it looks like there is nothing left for those people. And materially, maybe there isn't, or isn't much. But God is bigger--God gives hope because there is truly only hope in God. One of the lines in the movie was when the guy had asked himself where was God in all of this, and then he 'realized God had left Africa a long time ago'. But he hasn't, and I know that. God is still working in all of it!
How can I live in this world and not do something? I don't want to cry a bit, blog a little, and get over it. I want to make a difference. I want to use what I learn here. I want to be the hands and feet - help people. People matter--I want to get that in my heart and live by it.
Sharon.
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