Friends (continued)

How do you know when someone is actually your real friend? Is it because you never ever disagree with them at all? That you never have fights with them? I would say that if you never have fights or disagreements with your friend(s) then they are not really your friend at all, that would be more like they are your aquaintance than anything else. If you never fight or disagree then at least one of two things is happening, (a) you are not talking about anything that is likely to touch on and encounter strong emotions, beliefs, or opinions, or (b) if such topics are broached, then at least one of you is not speaking their full mind on how they feel about the subject. In either case that is not a display of real friendship. That is a diplay of politeness rather than showing your true nature, which is always what a real friend will do.
Also, a real friend will be the first to point our when you have done something or said something incredibly insensitive, half (if not fully) uninformed, or if you are just plainly horribly wrong. I am glad to have such friends as that, and my best friend in particular is incredibly good at both pointing out when I am wrong and taking my corrections when I know they are wrong. For some reason I am wrong far more often then they are, but then again I am far more outspoken and impulsive than they, so therefore far more likely to put my foot in my mouth (or my keyboard whichever the case might be). So thank you for doing that and taking the time and care to build up our friendship and pointing out so clearly and convincingly when I am wrong, even when it stings or even hurts a little bit when you first do it.

On novels

"A great obstacle to good education is the inordinate passion prevalent for novels, and the time lost in that reading which should be instructively employed. When this poison infects the mind, it destroys its tone and revolts it against wholesome reading. Reason and fact, plain and unadorned, are rejected. Nothing can engage attention unless dressed in all the figments of fancy, and nothing so bedecked comes amiss. The result is a bloated imagination, sickly judgment, and disgust towards all the real businesses of life."

-Thomas Jefferson

Friends

Have you ever noticed that guys have the strangest ways of expressing their friendships? it really is hilarious and outrageous. Whenever I am with one my best friends, Josh, or my brother, Josh we are always ripping on each other and giving each other a hard time about what they did, how they got dressed that day, how I beat them at sports, or anything else that comes up. You will never see a group of women sitting around and acting like that. I am not saying that I have a problem with how guys get along and show friendship, I just enjoy noticing the differences that we are inherently created with. I always am telling my fiance that I am so very glad that she and all other women are different from us guys because this world would be far worse off without them to balance out our social habits. Congratulations ladies and thank you for being the fairer sex.

wasted money

Have you ever realized just how much we waste the money that we earn? Well, in an alarmingly high percentage of the population it would be the money we receive, but that is a completely different topic. Anyway, just think about it.
How often do you stop for coffee? I had a coffee the other day, tall mocha latte with an extra shot, and it cost $3.65. If you get that same tasty treat for yourself a mere three times a week that adds up to $569.40 a year. If you just gotta have that caffeine to get through work five days a week that number jumps to $949 a year.
Now, even just in a selfish sense, what could you have done better with that amount of money for yourself? Even if you just put it into an ordinary savings account at 3% interest that $949 by itself will give you $142.35 in five years, and that is the least you could do with it.
Stop and think outside yourself for once and try to name a way that you could use that money to help someone else without any benefit to yourself save the satisfaction of doing it. What could you do? Local food bank? Local charity? National charity? How about a specific ministry, not just a, "Oh, I'll drop it in the offering plate."
Just try to go and do something for somebody else with your Starbucks money. I guarantee you it will perk you up more than that extra shot.

New surroundings

Back in the middle east for the second time and I must say the place hasn't changed a bit. I cannot for the life of me figure out why someone would want to live in such a place. The heat is just part of the reason, in fact it is only about 80 during the days right now. It is the entire culture of it that I cannot stand. Everything is supposedly related to their religion but in practice it is only when their religion is convenient that they throw that card out there.
Oddly enough this offends me far more in their culture than in ours where the same practices are observed every day. But then again I cannot stand our culture of complacency, instant gratification, and entitlement any more than I can tolerate the Muslim culture of condescension, stagnation, and oppression.
In the younger generation of our culture why has it become a negative thing when you choose to pass your free time by reading a book or writing, by hand, instead of by playing PSP, Nintendo DS, or the latest game app for your phone that no longer has any resemblance to the use of a phone? I must admit to have fallen in love with my iPhone while I was back in the states, but now that I do not have it, I feel so much better than I did when it was always in my pocket or within arm's reach.
I hope that soon there will be an intellectual awakening of our culture because I honestly believe that for our country to be saved morally and spiritually the attitude of "I'm sitting here, now entertain me," has to be replaced by a spirit of "I am constantly striving to become better than I was yesterday." Only a people and culture that is awake cognitively, alert to the fact that they need saving, can be saved.