It's really quite strange how I just vanish. One day I'm here then I'm gone. But, I do return. I'm glad most things in life are not this way, i.e. disappearing at whim.
I've learned many things since I last posted. What I haven't figured out, however, is what this blog is really for. Is it for me to post any of my personal random thoughts? Or to focus on a particular topic? As the ShadowTrader (Peter) says, "Vot is the purpose of this?!"
An event of note: Kansas football. 11-1 Kansas has finally made it into a BCS Bowl game for the first time in 69 years. They're playing the Virginia Tech Hokies.
Over the past two days, I've been pondering changing career tracks completely and trying out education, i.e. becoming a high school teacher. It's a very strange thought for me as I've never really envisioned myself teaching 16 - 18 year olds. There are numerous hurdles associated with teaching, but I wonder if any of them are legitimate concerns for me or simply egotistical ones.
Something else I've been pondering: free will. It's a much discussed and debated topic amongst philosophers and theologians. The gist of it is that we all have free will, granted to us by God. We can choose to accept God or we can choose to not accept Him. I think free will is a great thing and allows us to truly become the humans we are as opposed to robots controlled by our creator. However, I think we ought to have the ability to choose to turn off free will after we have decided to follow a particular ideology. Of course, we'd have the ability to turn it back on too. But, to limit mindless play, you should only be allowed to change it no more than 2 or 3 times during your lifetime.
Moving on. Christmas is near and it's frigid outside, here in South Bend: 21 degrees at 2:00 pm EST. I'm coming to thoroughly dislike the time leading up to Christmas in America. Why? Because it has no meaning anymore than a gigantic season of worrying about getting stuff for people. Give gifts to the needy - great. Volunteer and help the poor - lovely. But worrying about buying this or that for people who already have more than enough is beyond my comprehension. Personally, I have everything - yes, you read that right, everything, I need at this time in my life. Accumulating more stuff - aka junk - only makes my already complicated life even more so. I might be the only who feels this way, but I think if you're thinking of giving people who already have plenty of stuff more stuff, forget about it. Rather, donate your time or money on their behalf to a needy cause, and then tell them you did it thinking of them. For instance, if a friend is passionate about animals, volunteer to clean the animal shelter; or, if a friend believes in a particular cause or supports a particular charity, donate your time or resource to it and tell them about it on Christmas. Americans probably give each other more stuff than any other country, yet divorce rates remain high, overall happiness is lower than many industrialized nations, the list goes on. So, the bottom line: stuff does not equal love, happiness, or unselfishness. It probably just propels the desire for more stuff.
And, finally, on a much lighter note. The next time you come across statistics, think of the following:
"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. " ~Aaron Levenstein
Of course, do have a Merry Christmas!
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