Guns are not the problem

Ideal: 

Removing the object of temptation, 

does not remove the origin of temptation.

Reality: 

If the object of that temptation is poised to kill me, 

then by all means please do remove it.

Ideal:
I'm concerned about the level of gun violence.

Reality:
Hand guns and sniper rifles are awesome!
More guns please.

Ideal:
I'm simply preparing to take part of "A well regulated militia, to the security of a free state." It's my Second Amendment right.

Reality:
Fuck with my shit and I'll shoot you dead.

American by Birth

OK, here's my response to the following article:

The Human Identity Bridge: Section Seven The Vision Problem

(http://www.theidentitybridge.com/identity-fountain-of-american-freedom/vision/)

Increasing the Volume: 010813

Let me start by saying that this band has managed to remain one of my favorites for many years. Sure their sound may be a bit dated but they ask all the right questions..Sometimes they find answers I happen to agree with and sometimes not, but they're never PC or a band that beats around bush with subtle inferences to avoid offense it's simply not who they are.

Next, let me say that this song in particular has always touched me deeply. It speaks to my heart. It's mood and lyrics are quite moving, oddly comforting and yet somehow a little unsettling as well.

To anyone who has every known the loss of someone close, take a listen. I sincerely hope it is of some comfort to you as well and helps to ease the pain of the difficult questions we naturally tend to ask ourselves as those sobering times.

However, none of that is what I started out to say here. To spare you the boredom, I've put the point of this all at the end. You don't have to check it out, but I hope you manage to get that far.

Enjoy or don't, whatevs...db

___________________________________________________________________

You can hear / watch it by clicking below: 

the The - Love Is Stronger Than Death

Lyrics:

Love, love, love 

Love, love, love

Me and my friend were walking 

In the cold light of mourning. 

Tears may blind the eyes but the soul is not deceived 

In this world even winter ain't what it seems.

Here come the blue skies here comes springtime. 

When the rivers run high and the tears run dry. 

When everything that dies...shall rise.

Love, love, love is stronger than death. 

Love, love, love is stronger than death.

In our lives we hunger for those we cannot touch. 

All the thoughts unuttered and all the feelings unexpressed 

Play upon our hearts like the mist upon our breath. 

But, awoken by grief, our spirits speak 

How could you believe that the life within the seed 

That grew arms that reached 

And a heart that beat. 

And lips that smiled 

And eyes that cried. 

Could ever die?

Here come the blue skies here comes springtime. 

When the rivers run high and  the tears run dry. 

When everything that dies shall rise.

Love, love, love is stronger than death. 

Love, love, love is stronger than death.

Shall rise. shall rise. 

Shall rise. shall rise.

___________________________________________________________________

Now here's what I really wanted to say...

Recently a good friend and I were discussing a question of great importance. A difficult question that many people, over many years have struggled unsuccessfully to answer. The answers I've heard seem to be ones without firm resolve, or at least not presented so convincingly as to cause me to feel with any certainty that they are right.

The question? "When does life actually begin?"
It is a question that I too, as with my friend, have struggled with for years.

As I've found is often the case, many of life's most crucial answers aren't simply handed to us. Which is good considering the nature of people, as doing so often serves to undermine the value and importance of it. We tend to take to heart those answers we find through effort over time more deeply than those we are given. We understand them because we've reasoned through them.

Tonight, as I listened to this song, the answer struck me. All my pondering paid off and I had a revelation of sorts. It was one of those moments when an answer that feels in retrospect like it should have been obvious all along suddenly reveals itself.

Most often we search for the answer to this question from a biological perspective, as though biology alone were the only factor, or the only important factor at least to consider. I don't believe that it is, and it seems many people seem to agree. 

In my experience though, a lot of those well meaning people who believe there is more to life than the beginning and end of it here in this world (the biology of it) try to approach the question the same way and tend to site somewhat vague biblical verses to support their stance. 

Anyone who's read the Bible seriously knows the Bible isn't at all meant to be a science text, though it may offer that sort of insight, it is incidental and not the point of it.

As I sang these lyrics tonight, loudly and quite badly, it occurred to me if there is in deed more to life than what we see, then we've been approaching this question all wrong. I no longer believe that the biological approach is the one to take since the question isn't a biological question.

So the answer I found? Life begins when it is loved.
Yep, I said it, life begins when it is loved, and God loves all of His creation. If it is life at all, it is loved, and as is true with all of creation that alone is enough to to give it value. 

Consider this text from what is unanimously agreed as being a non-Christian document: 
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

What is it that equalizes all men? That gives them value and thus unalienable rights? That's right, their Creator...with a capital "C". I think this non-Christian document says it quite clearly.

That our Creator loves it gives it value, shouldn't we too then? To take it one step further then, if all life has  said Creator shouldn't the taking of that life then be reserved for its Creator as well?

Feel free to disagree, as I'm sure many will.
I'd love to hear your thoughts, but at least think about it, like something very big depended on it, because it does.

peace,
db

The Fault Lines

Disappointment is the result of unmet expectation.

So if we find ourselves being disappointed, perhaps the first, and best thing we can do is to ask ourselves what it is we actually expected.

The next best question is then is what we did or didn't do to make that happen.

There's no better way to be disappointed that to have expectations that are unexpressed and thus unmet.
Doing so is destructive, self-destructive and in the end it's really not fair to anyone.

Sharing is caring...

INFINITY

Come on, you've already asked yourself that question about the birds. 

How long will you continue to ask yourself the same question? 

It's no wonder you never move on. 

You keep staring at these birds, pondering these trite, unanswerable questions over and over.

Perhaps what you meant to say was,

"Then I ask the same question of myself." 

Forget everything you used to know

This is now the reality of communication.

A Large Well Requires Many Shovels

Individual cases can be used to represent any stance on any issue.
And while individual cases make up the overall situation, one should not be mistaken as being accurately indicative about the nature of the other in any way.

Just as all is not representative of one, neither is one representative of all.
Consideration of the overall situation provides a more accurate basis for a well thought out opinion.

The collective whole is made up of the individual parts, one cannot hope to be the other.
That said whole must include all of its individual parts if it is ever to be considered a collective and complete representation of those parts.

This is especially true when the issue is one who's answer is one that will be applied to the collective whole.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Below is my attempt at writing for a consulting company.
Doesn't look like that's going to happen, but it doesn't make this any less true.
Enjoy, or don't, whatevs...

Welcome to 2013!

It doesn't appear the world is going to end soon. Thanks to the internet and social media though, the world is changing drastically everyday, especially the business world. By now many business owners seem to recognize the benefits of a web presence, but it appears a good number of businesses have failed to understand the what that web presence means and just how much of an impact their on line presence has.

Studies show that about 80% of business and commerce is done on line, and 78% of consumers do their product research on the internet. So what does that mean to you? Combined with social media, the increased use of the internet means that yesterday's emphasis on interpersonal contact is a decreasing factor when consumers are deciding how and where they will spend their money. The internet has moved from a means of advertising and simply passing along information to a means and method of doing business. Instead of a customer service representative as the face that represent your company, your web presence has now become your most valuable means of telling people who it is they are doing business with...or not.

The internet is now your businesses lobby, showroom and market presence all in one. While you wouldn't want a shoddy showroom or lobby, hire a bad sales rep or exemplify a disregard for your clients in today's culture that's exactly what you're doing if you have a web site that is static and boring. To the modern consumer, the failure to update your site with fresh content, making it difficult for the average user to navigate, and broken links virtually amounts to a company that doesn't take their reputation, customer satisfaction, and perhaps their product seriously. It's just bad business.

Good internet representation doesn't have to be expensive if you're a little tech savvy  resourceful, and are able to put the time in to it in order to do it right. Of course you could hire someone as well. Either way, it pays to remember that to most people the quality of your web presence is wholly indicative of the quality of your business so if you're going to do it, you should do it right or perhaps not do it at all.

The internet...if you're not getting business and making money there, you're as much as giving it to someone else.

Beyond the Black and White

Life, the experiences of it, and the wisdom of age, well let's just say that it's a lot like the pixels on this screen.

Throw Your Hands Up

If I were ever in a situation, where for some reason I was forced to consume my own hands, I imagine that shortly there after my stomach would uncontrollably and forcibly reject them.

It might be projectile, and so I just might throw them up in the air, but not heave them like I didn't care...I use those things everyday.

They, Them, We

If we repeat what "they" say, do "we" then become "them"?

A Holy Man in a Funny Hat

The Laziest Pharisee

Just read this on a christian web site:

"In the end, 
if abortion was such a grievous sin 
Jesus would have mentioned it. 
He said nothing."

...on a christian web site.

Consider this: 

Oh, the humanity!

And this is just one branch of their military.

Our Successful Failures

What is failure? 
For that matter what is success? 

Even Better if I Were a Pirate

If my last name were Steele, I would have to name one of my kids Robin.

If I were a pirate, that would have to be my assumed name.

Stepping Up or Stepping Out

Providing for the welfare of individuals... 
well that's the church's job, not the government's. 

Scarlet Letters

Favorite 80's guilty pleasure band(s)? (Emphasis on GUILTY pleasures)

South Bound 51

Not too long ago I had a Honda. 

It was actually a pretty nice car.

One day I got in a car wreck. 

A pretty bad one in fact.

Really messed up the car.

Really messed me up too.

I recovered.

The car didn't.

Volumes 2

It's never good when the women start talking quietly.

Volumes 1

10 times otherwise quite things become very loud:

Living On A Prayer

I think I have half of an eating disorder.
(no purging)

You may say I'm a dreamer

I just had a dream in which I told someone I had Disassosiative Disease.

A disease in which no symptom had relation to any other symptom.

That was weird.

Money, It's a Hit

Money has a funny way of moving from an issue to the issue when people get it in their head that there is chance they might somehow get some of it. 

Spare Me

Inspired by a recent viewing of a documentary on Dietrich Bonhoeffer I've posted a couple of quotes that might help you to see why I found him so inspirational.

Enjoy or don't, whatevs.

d(-_-)b