Important Women In My Life

Four women have had profound impacts on my life up to this point. While you may guess that at least one of the women would be among the ranks of my family that is not the case. While I do appreciate my mother and sisters, they have not made their way into this list.

The first female to have a great impact on my life is was my math teacher from high school. Heading into her class my freshman year I already had a love for the subject but mathematics does not hold the answer to her influence over me. Though small in stature, she was a giant in the realms of education, both the kind that is found in textbooks and the kind that no curriculum can contain. On numerous occasions an entire class period passed by without any instruction in mathematics because something weighed heavy on my teacher’s heart, or on the heart of one of her students, and so she would preempt her academic plans for that day to address the matter of greater importance. As I look back at my high school years the greatest lesson I walked away learning was the importance of not missing the important things because we are too busy doing those things that are required.


The next woman that had an impact on me was a girl I dated when I was 21. At the time I dated this New Yorker I was working a decent paying job but the job was not very fulfilling. When many individuals around me encouraged me to be thankful for the great job I had, the girl I was dating encouraged me to pursue my dreams even if meant taking risks. Through her encouragement, I began perusing my dream of returning to school and eventually I went on to obtain my education as well as find my dream job. I am thankful that even though the advice I was given was not popular, someone was willing to encourage me to peruse my dreams, and through the encouragement I finally took the first step towards fulfilling my dreams.

As time moved on the next woman of impact came into my life. This west coast girl was unlike any of the friends I had had in the past. While she was fun to be around, her impact on me came from her willingness to risk personal rejection by opening herself up to share the deep, dark secrets of her soul with me. Some have said of me in the past that my life is often an open book, but this was the first time that someone was willing to become vulnerable with me by sharing things that we are often left to carry alone. By showing trust in me, our friendship was able to move past the realms of a casual acquaintance and eventually she became one of my closest friends.

The last woman of note is a friend I met at college who helped me discover my true personality. For years I had grown accustom to giving people what they expected from me but this southern belle, through accepting me for who I was, helped me to embrace life and live it to the fullest as God had intended. Through her encouragement I finally moved outside of the safety of my own personal domain and was able to enjoy life and what it has to offer. (On a side note, even if this friend hadn’t helped me look outside of the familiar to embrace new experiences, I think she would still deserve a place of prominence in my memory for introducing me to the music of Norah Jones.) At some point in each of our lives I believe we all need that someone who will help us enjoy life by giving us the encouragement to take part in the things that would not necessarily do on our own. In my case, once I overcame the limitations I had established for myself in my own mind, I was finally able to realize that there was a whole new world around me that was there for my enjoyment. Through my friend’s encouragement, I learned that I actually enjoyed many of the things that I had always shunned, and ultimately I learned how little I actually knew about my own self.

Do Liberals Ever Lose?

Liberals in America are mopping around this week trying to determine what they did wrong as they lost the presidential election, their leader in the Senate, and seats in both chambers of congress. As liberals lick their wounds and look to the future I began to ponder the question do liberals ever really lose in America? I know it may sound like an oxymoron since I already mentioned that their candidate’s were defeated by Republicans, if not conservatives, but do they really lose or are they just delayed from achieving their ultimate goals? After putting some thought into it, I would have to say that the left does not lose when those on the right win elections, but rather they are merely slowed down from changing society’s moral standards to match their own. However I do believe that every time liberals win conservatives do lose ground in their battle to retain traditional values. With every liberal victory I believe that another blow is handed to not only conservatives, but also to the foundations upon which our country was built. Alexis de Tocqueville visited America back in the 19th century and wrote in his book “Democracy in America” that America’s true power came from her churches and her religious foundation. Tocqueville wrote “America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." With every liberal victory, more of our nation’s religious heritage is taken away and eventually we will be left with nothing but a shell of the great nation we once were. Even though conservatives were handed a victory in this current battle, I am afraid that the inevitable defeat has only been delayed barring a miracle from hand of the Almighty.

Election Year Torture

While America is breathing a collective sigh of relief that a hard fought election season is over I am already looking ahead to 2008 and asking myself if I will be ready for another election that soon. Unlike the previous two presidential elections that I cast ballots in, this election all but took over my life for the nine months leading up to it. I love being a member of the media but I will be the first to say that political coverage overload can, and did; set in early and by mid-June I was wishing I could warp myself past the remainder of the “democracy in action” time of our political cycle. One of my responsibilities working in a news department is to watch and gather news and so there was no escaping the continuous barrage of information regarding the men seeking our nation’s highest office. Don’t get me wrong, I whole heartedly believe that it is important for each and every citizen to be informed and to exercise their right to vote, but I am starting to believe that too much information can be almost as dangerous as no information at all. Living in one of the infamous “swing states” of this election, I was not able to even turn on a baseball game or MTV without being bomb-barded with commercials for or against a candidate. Now that the election is behind us and our President has been chosen I believe that I need a break from politics, as well as the news, to try and clear my mind and prepare for what is next to come. Unfortunately, I am not sure that there is enough time for me to prepare myself before this sick cycle carousel is ready to take off in route to election 2008.

When it comes to politics, put up or shut up

Politics and religion are an unusual mix in America today, but it has not always been that way. A solid majority of our nation’s founding fathers were men of religious conviction even if they did not have a personal relationship in Jesus Christ. As we move close to this year’s election I have come across many within religious circles who believe candidate A or candidate B is God’s choice for our country but my question is should we as Christians be in the habit of making political endorsements? Anyone who has spent any amount of time around me knows that I have my opinions on just about every subject, including politics, but I am wary of praying that my choice will be elected because I personally feel that I should be praying that God’s will be done. Now I am not saying that I will handle the November election the way that 5 Point Calvinist handle evangelism, pray that God’s will be done and do nothing on my own, but as Abraham Lincoln once said, the question shouldn’t be is God on my side, but rather am I on His side. As I have matured in faith and intellect I have come to the point that I can see the logic behind why individuals vote for candidates on both side of the political fence but one thing I cannot stand is when someone makes an endorsement or cast a vote without taking the time to think through what their candidates stand for or the reputation that precedes them. The reason I am somewhat indignant on this subject tonight is do to the fact that I just returned from a concert in which a political endorsement was tossed around but the Christian artist making the endorsement did so without giving any logical arguments. “I am pro life for all life” she said, “and as governor of Texas George W. Bush allowed more than 150 executions to take place.” After other ramblings about how war is never a solution she preceded to say that she is casting her “vote for change.” Now, on the subject of war I can see how someone could be opposed to war but what about the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis that were put to death for merely speaking up against their leadership? Would she say that Iraqi lives that were taken aren’t important aren’t worth respecting? But her comments against the war were not the thing that frustrated me the most, but it was her comment about being “pro life for all life.” So, let me see if I can figure out what she believes. She is against abortion and against capital punishment so since Candidate A, George W. Bush, did not offer clemency for convicted killers he is worse than Candidate B, John Kerry, who has cast votes in favor of abortion on demand which takes the lives of a million or more innocent, helpless victims a year. Maybe I am not the smartest individual in the world but her logic makes no sense to me. It would be like a person who is on a diet saying that eating one Twinkie is bad but eating two boxes of them is ok. My advice for this singer, and anyone else who cares to delve into the realm of giving political endorsements, is to first off think through your logic and have a good reason for why you want others to follow your lead. And secondly, don’t assume that your audience will bow down and take your advice just because you have star power. Either have logical arguments for why you believe what you believe or please, for the sake of everyone who has to listen to you, shut the heck up.

A Time to Mourn

Death is something that we all think about but rarely discuss. Even if we are spiritually ready for it, the fear of the unknown still lingers. When someone close to you loses a loved one, what can you say to them? If I know that their loved one was a believer I can reassure them that they are now in heaven, but can anything I say really help to console their pain? I am left pondering these thoughts tonight as one of my closest friends is facing this excruciating grief. Even though the death did not come as a surprise, it still is hard to take. The hard part for me is being twelve hundred miles away and not being to provide a shoulder for her to cry on, or to give a hug when no words will do. At this time of sorrow I am encouraged, however, by the fact that her father was loved by his family and that he will be missed. While some may say it’s a shame that his life was cut short, I would contend that fifty years full of life and love is better than ninety years of just passing time. If when it is my time to go I am mourned and missed as my friends father is, whether my life lasted thirty years, or if I lived to the ripe old age of a hundred, I will consider my life to have been a success.