One of my classes is called "Immigration and Assimilation in the U.S." The lectures are powerpoint presentations online with our professor reading his lecture script as a voice-over. The subject matter is interesting, but he speaks at such a slow cantar, it can be mind-numbing to listen to more than two in a row.
Trying to keep myself occupied, I turned on some music in my iTunes player and played with the volume levels until I could listen to lecture AND some instrumental music. My music of choice? The Lord of the Rings soundtracks.
Now whatever my professor is saying sounds dramatic, as an epic score swells behind his words, lifting them up out of their mediocrity and into grandiosity.
Lectures are much more interesting now. And I am ever-the-more convinced that everything in life deserves a soundtrack.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
I Don't Want Your Party
Brace yourselves: I'm diving into politics. Much as I don't want to, it's all around me, impossible to ignore. And we shouldn't - as Catholics and Christians, we are called to be in the world, but no of it, meaning we can't abandon the world to self-destruct around us as we stay in our church and family bubbles.
To which a small voice in my head says Boo-hiss.
Barack Obama is now our president elect (I'm not going to comment on the fact that Blogger thinks both of his names are misspellings). Madison has been a temple for this man. It's close to worship. Which scares me on the 1st level. But St. Paul's is a safe-haven of conservatism. In one environ, it's so clear that the biggest issue is the pro-life movement (including abortion AND euthanasia), but when you step outside, it looks like the economy and issues of social justice are what need to be addressed.
Catholics are often put in a difficult position. Catholic Social Teaching rests on the basic principle of the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death. Taking care of the poor, health care, international politics - on these issues, I am of a democratic mind-frame. And it's usually how I identify myself. But as I feel more called to be a mother, and with all the new mothers and babies around me, I realize that I have to be fiercely pro-life. It used to not be a problem to be a pro-life democrat, but now the party lines have been drawn so clearly, a democratic candidate would be shooting himself in the foot by being pro-life. Though I can never stop hoping.
I wouldn't mind it if Obama didn't have a strong stance on abortion. His supporters don't think he does, but he's made it clear through his promises to Planned Parenthood what he thinks of it. He has promised to lower the age when a girl can have an abortion and not tell her parents to 13. THIRTEEN. It breaks my heart to think of 13 year old girls being sexually active, and disgusted with our society. Obama has also said that he plans to approve FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act) as one of his first orders of business. Please please please do some research on this. I can't articulate it well enough, but it needs to be known. Obama wants to make abortions even easier to get than they are now. He supports abortions to be performed throughout all nine months of pregnancy. With Partial-Birth abortions, a baby who is fully formed, ready to greet the world, can still be killed as he or she comes out of the womb. I worry for our country on the 2nd level - heck, even the 3rd, 4th, and 5th levels.
Abortion is never the main issue for me. It is a symptom of a greater problem. It shows a contempt for life. It is an escape route for those who don't want to take responsibility for the consequences of having sex. And it takes it out on a completely innocent child. People say all the time, "I wouldn't get an abortion, but if someone wants one, they should be able to get one." BULL.CRAP. That's like saying, "I would never steal a plasma TV, but if someone wants to, they should be able to." The government tells us what to do all the time, not to restrict us, but for the health and benefit of the society. Stealing is an ethical choice, but if everyone did it, we would descend into anarchy. The rise in abortions points to the fact that our American society does not value the lives of others first and foremost - it only values the individual.
Which is why I'm scared on so so so many other levels.
To which a small voice in my head says Boo-hiss.
Barack Obama is now our president elect (I'm not going to comment on the fact that Blogger thinks both of his names are misspellings). Madison has been a temple for this man. It's close to worship. Which scares me on the 1st level. But St. Paul's is a safe-haven of conservatism. In one environ, it's so clear that the biggest issue is the pro-life movement (including abortion AND euthanasia), but when you step outside, it looks like the economy and issues of social justice are what need to be addressed.
Catholics are often put in a difficult position. Catholic Social Teaching rests on the basic principle of the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death. Taking care of the poor, health care, international politics - on these issues, I am of a democratic mind-frame. And it's usually how I identify myself. But as I feel more called to be a mother, and with all the new mothers and babies around me, I realize that I have to be fiercely pro-life. It used to not be a problem to be a pro-life democrat, but now the party lines have been drawn so clearly, a democratic candidate would be shooting himself in the foot by being pro-life. Though I can never stop hoping.
I wouldn't mind it if Obama didn't have a strong stance on abortion. His supporters don't think he does, but he's made it clear through his promises to Planned Parenthood what he thinks of it. He has promised to lower the age when a girl can have an abortion and not tell her parents to 13. THIRTEEN. It breaks my heart to think of 13 year old girls being sexually active, and disgusted with our society. Obama has also said that he plans to approve FOCA (Freedom of Choice Act) as one of his first orders of business. Please please please do some research on this. I can't articulate it well enough, but it needs to be known. Obama wants to make abortions even easier to get than they are now. He supports abortions to be performed throughout all nine months of pregnancy. With Partial-Birth abortions, a baby who is fully formed, ready to greet the world, can still be killed as he or she comes out of the womb. I worry for our country on the 2nd level - heck, even the 3rd, 4th, and 5th levels.
Abortion is never the main issue for me. It is a symptom of a greater problem. It shows a contempt for life. It is an escape route for those who don't want to take responsibility for the consequences of having sex. And it takes it out on a completely innocent child. People say all the time, "I wouldn't get an abortion, but if someone wants one, they should be able to get one." BULL.CRAP. That's like saying, "I would never steal a plasma TV, but if someone wants to, they should be able to." The government tells us what to do all the time, not to restrict us, but for the health and benefit of the society. Stealing is an ethical choice, but if everyone did it, we would descend into anarchy. The rise in abortions points to the fact that our American society does not value the lives of others first and foremost - it only values the individual.
Which is why I'm scared on so so so many other levels.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Handling Frustration
I am currently on my fifth over-the-phone attempt at reconnecting our internet with AT&T. I have had more than a few choice words to say about the company, and about Charter. If large, monopolizing companies had souls, those souls would burn (or freeze) in the deepest circle of hell. Every other attempt before now has failed because a) the phone I was using to make the call would drop the connection (my cell phone is also AT&T, they’re sure hittin’ ‘em out of the park) or b) I was on hold for over 15 min, and 15 minutes of garbled muzak is enough to drive anyone batty.
I made two of these calls late Thursday morning. I had to hang up the phone after 15 minutes because I was another 15 minutes away from walking into daily Mass. I knew that if I stayed on the line any longer, I would be frustrated beyond belief and wanting to take it out on anyone around me.
Not exactly the kind of attitude one should have before receiving the Eucharist.
I’ve seen a lot of this attitude in myself lately, and it’s scaring me. I’ve long known that I get flustered and panicked when I have a plan, and something goes wrong. A surprise gets thrown into my schedule, something I don’t think I have time to handle, usually completely out of my control. I FREAK. OUT. Crying is ofttimes a by-product. I feel like the world is crashing down around me.
It’s something I’m trying to work on.
So lately, it’s been manifesting itself in anger. Pure, unmitigated anger. I immediately regret showing a friend, or even someone I don’t know, less respect and care than I know they deserve. A woman who works in the ILS department called me out on it, saying that an e-mail sounded a little “snippy”. I still feel horrible about that. My problems shouldn’t affect other people in this way. I should be able to control myself. I should have enough peace in my heart to not let frustrations and anger get to me. The key word is, of course, “should”.
I stumbled on a blog post from Jenn at Conversion Diary that helped me think about it. For the vast majority of days when I get angry, I haven’t prayed. Things in my day go so much more smoothly when I start the day with prayer. As much time as I can manage, sometimes just a moment to dedicate my day and the work that I do to God. And I can see God’s sense of humor pretty clearly as He tries to impress upon me the importance of prayer. And it’s not like God rewards me with a good day when I’ve come to Him first; things are simply put into perspective after spending time with God. I can see Him in others much more clearly. I have the motivation (namely, love) to do everything with excellence. I know that these things will all pass away, that these little bumps in the road aren’t enough to toss the car off the road.
And so I pray through writing while the open phone sits on my stomach, issuing that horrid, horrid music, waiting for a service representative to answer my call. It’s probably been almost a half an hour now. I’m upset that a company does not staff enough people to handle demand. But I think I can separate the person on the other end of the phone (thank God! A real person!) with the bureaucracy that makes me want to boycott this company. After all, that has to be the most thankless job. They don’t need one more irate customer making their day a living hell.
Update: I was on hold for an hour and a half while I typed this. Then the recorded voice was kind enough to tell me that the office was... closing. That's right, closing at 5pm without taking my call. Deep breaths. Practicing patience, practicing patience, practicing patience...
I made two of these calls late Thursday morning. I had to hang up the phone after 15 minutes because I was another 15 minutes away from walking into daily Mass. I knew that if I stayed on the line any longer, I would be frustrated beyond belief and wanting to take it out on anyone around me.
Not exactly the kind of attitude one should have before receiving the Eucharist.
I’ve seen a lot of this attitude in myself lately, and it’s scaring me. I’ve long known that I get flustered and panicked when I have a plan, and something goes wrong. A surprise gets thrown into my schedule, something I don’t think I have time to handle, usually completely out of my control. I FREAK. OUT. Crying is ofttimes a by-product. I feel like the world is crashing down around me.
It’s something I’m trying to work on.
So lately, it’s been manifesting itself in anger. Pure, unmitigated anger. I immediately regret showing a friend, or even someone I don’t know, less respect and care than I know they deserve. A woman who works in the ILS department called me out on it, saying that an e-mail sounded a little “snippy”. I still feel horrible about that. My problems shouldn’t affect other people in this way. I should be able to control myself. I should have enough peace in my heart to not let frustrations and anger get to me. The key word is, of course, “should”.
I stumbled on a blog post from Jenn at Conversion Diary that helped me think about it. For the vast majority of days when I get angry, I haven’t prayed. Things in my day go so much more smoothly when I start the day with prayer. As much time as I can manage, sometimes just a moment to dedicate my day and the work that I do to God. And I can see God’s sense of humor pretty clearly as He tries to impress upon me the importance of prayer. And it’s not like God rewards me with a good day when I’ve come to Him first; things are simply put into perspective after spending time with God. I can see Him in others much more clearly. I have the motivation (namely, love) to do everything with excellence. I know that these things will all pass away, that these little bumps in the road aren’t enough to toss the car off the road.
And so I pray through writing while the open phone sits on my stomach, issuing that horrid, horrid music, waiting for a service representative to answer my call. It’s probably been almost a half an hour now. I’m upset that a company does not staff enough people to handle demand. But I think I can separate the person on the other end of the phone (thank God! A real person!) with the bureaucracy that makes me want to boycott this company. After all, that has to be the most thankless job. They don’t need one more irate customer making their day a living hell.
Update: I was on hold for an hour and a half while I typed this. Then the recorded voice was kind enough to tell me that the office was... closing. That's right, closing at 5pm without taking my call. Deep breaths. Practicing patience, practicing patience, practicing patience...
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