music, politics, and other bits of life.

bare with this one. its lengthy, but i do make a point eventually.

the date is march 6th, 2008.  we recently had the texas primaries and will have the presidental election in november.  you cant turn on the news without seeing the faces of hillary, obama, and john mccain- none of which i personal care to see, much less for the next four years.  thing is, if you arent seeing them, its a school shooting, actor/actress O.D.ing themselves to death, or a bomb going off either home (times square thing happened today) or abroad (happens just about everyday).  the housing market is unstable and wall street is sweating bullets as bad as a school kid who didnt study for his final and now has the exam sitting in front of him.  kinda seems like complete madness. ever have those moments where you’re just thinking, “what the hell is going on?” gets me a little despressed.  like it or not we are slowly, but surely, crumpling right before our eyes. i started to have one of those moments today and then the perfect song came on.  i immediately relaxed a little. i am the most musically untalented person you have ever met- i cant read it, i cant sing it, i cant play it, but for all i lack in each of those areas i make up for in appreciation of it.  music is probably the most theraputic thing God put in my life (second only to running, which is usually coupled with music).  i can think back to times in my life when sometimes i felt like music was the only thing i could relate to.  it has helped pull me out of every single funk ive had.  dont get me wrong, i have wonderful friends who i could tell things to and were encouraging, but they couldnt always be by my side or in my presence when i needed them because-well, they had lives of their own and are often spread out all over the country. but when i was really low on cash, really low in spirits, and really needed something to call my own, i felt like i could call a song mine because it sang my soul that day.  that probably sounds really silly, but if music could be added as a 6th love language from God, i think it would definitely be my most primary.  it didnt have to be “christian” music, and honestly rarely is/ was, but it can heal my heart and make sanity out of chaos more than any other tool i know. so yeah… if you want to give me a really great present just send me good song suggestions…. its as good as a million christmas presents to me. 

i had a long and rather needed conversation with one of my best friends today which was completely political in nature which, in this case, is great because ive never seen eye-to-eye with someone as much as i do her.  we talked until we were blue in the face and felt we had adaquate logic to our approach (and couldnt understand the logic of other approaches). i reaffirmed my desire to get into politics because of my passion, and the wisdom to stay out of them because i would be angry all the time.  bottom line is the fact that i feel although i would love to ignore it and keep myself busy with other things, on a national scale all our arrows are pointed in a rather scary direction. i know its dangerous to talk politics (or religion) because it arrouses emotions and has strong potential to kill relationships, but i think we have sacrificed the things we stand for for the sake of being liked, not offeneding others, and just generally not pissing people off.  i actually didnt start this blog to write about politics, but i would just leave you with this thought-and i am saying this to myself even more so than i am speaking it to anyone else and that is this:  its better to stand for something and be hated for it than to go to your grave lurking in mediocricy.  im not saying go down guns a’blazing, im just saying have a backbone and stand for something- and stand for it tastefully and tactfully.