An Open Letter To Fellow Men Guys

It's time to step it up a little.
I'm thankful to be from a state where common courtesy is uncommonly common. Not to say Texas is better than anywhere else (though it sort of is . . .), because i have much disdain for numerous aspects of it.

1 Peter 3:7 "Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."

Now, this is directed not just at men, but rather married men. Still, parts of this can be applied to unwed men, namely the part where it says "showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel."
Here lies some controversy, as this could be seen as a male supremacist quote. How many male manual/heavy laborers are there for each female one? How many male bodybuilders are there for each female one? There are women stronger than me, and more physically capable than me. But on average, men are stronger than women, and that's fact. Deal with it.

Now on to the point of this post.
Guys, we really need to work on our manhood. In the verses leading up to this one, it speaks of the conduct of wives; how they should act and why. It tells them to be, essentially, not just women but ladies. There is a difference in the two terms; a woman is a person of the female sex. A lady is a woman who is noble and true. She is an upright, moral, intelligent woman. She is not one to fall in with any crowd, to appease for the sake of appeasing but rather for the sake of setting an example, and she is respectable in her respect for others.
And guys, with what is asked of women in this chapter, we are asked merely to show honor to them as the weaker vessel.
Our gender-role is quite simple, really.
Yet we still fail at it.
It's time we fixed that, yeah?

I'm not saying we should all become gentlemen overnight (though we should try). Let's start by becoming men. Let's work on the gentle part after we have mastered the way of being a man.

In this, i'm challenging any man that would accept.
Let's start simple, like opening doors for women, or offering to help load groceries. If we see a woman carrying something heavy or trying to lift something strenuously, it's our duty to show honor to them by offering assistance. Not to flex our muscles, but to use them so that they aren't required to.
We're not flirting, we're not trying to win hearts, we're not trying to impress, we're not even trying to be gentlemen; we're just being men.

And yes, i'm trying to add contrast between the genders with this, to repaint the line between our natures.
Not for the sake of friction or to say one sex is greater than the other. No, neither is greater; we're both required, we're both capable, we're both equal. Our natural tendencies and capabilities are different--not better or worse, just different.
But we need lines. We need contrast. We need character. We need God-given roles in our lives.
A brain and a heart are both required for life, so which is greater? The heart for pumping the blood to the brain so that the brain can tell the heart to pump blood? No, they're different, mandatory, and equal.

Without these gender-roles, society's heart will stop pumping blood to the brain, or else the brain will stop telling it to . . . Society will lose both its heart and its brain if we continue diminishing the contrast between the two.

Excogitation: The Escape

This is an excerpt from a story i've put off for some time. Recently, i've figured out the proper ending and, therefore, am ready to pick it back up. This is where the two main characters, Liam and Ari, share a dream through mechanized telepathy (neural implant).

 The sky became blue, and later turned black, eliminating all light except that which radiated from the fire. She had fallen asleep, but he sat with knees brought up to his chest, and stared at the orange-red glow, sometimes watching shadows dance upon the wall of the cliff or over the figure of Ari as she lay unconscious. His eyes became heavy. He'd never grown tired and wanted to fight off the urge to sleep. Slumber had always been an escape. Now he lived the escape and staved off sleep.

 Images began flooding his consciousness, overpowering his ability to focus to where all he could see was what his mind was showing him.

Walking through a meadow. Soft dirt, moist air, warm sunlight, clear skies, still water. Content. Peaceful. Green.

 He managed to regain his concentration, seeing a soft smile cross her face before the rush of imagination filled his senses once more. And he didn't fight it anymore.

 Their thoughts mingled as they lay across the fire from one another, their dreams merging, feeding off one another's subconscious. Gray turned to color, pallid to vibrant, monochrome to a rainbow array, coarse to smooth, sharp to soft, dark to light, futile to hopeful.

 The clouds floated away, leaving a blue expanse in the void. The Spires regained a measure of saturation about their heights, their branches sprouted limbs and leaves, blotting out the blinding ring in the sky, creating a soft, cool shade. Wire-like strands of plant-life rose out of the ground, wrapping around the trunks of the trees, twisting and writhing as they pulled themselves up the bark. The facility crumbled, falling into a lake where creatures with strange arms -wings, he felt they were called- glided slowly in from the sky, coming to rest on the water. The air moved without a door being opened; a chilling, comforting rush of wind made its way over his skin. Soft, green shards sprouted out of the ground, circular shapes of various colors and patterns reached skyward: grass and flowers.

 The smell was far from the acrid, stale aroma he'd always known. The scents of the grass, flowers, trees, and water all fused into an amalgamation on the breeze. There was something bright about the olfactory response; it was sweet and light, uplifting and joyous. He inhaled deeply just to get another breath of the subtle harmony of scents.

 And there she stood, the most beautiful sight of the entire view, seeming to bring life to the plain in her wake as she walked. Each Spire caressed became a tree, grass grew in her footsteps, budding flowers where the beads of her dress draped along the dirt.

 She looked towards him. As their eyes met, he felt a similar life rise and flourish inside of himself.

 The two minds became one as the light flickered about the motionless bodies containing them.

 The world was alive.

 He was home.

Trust . . .

My parents . . . Are perfect.
Now, they both have flaws, just as we all do. They don't always agree with me, nor i with them, but we never have any real 'spats'. We communicate openly; if they have a problem with something i'm doing, they talk to me about it and, vice-versa, i am encouraged to confront them if i find issue requiring attention regarding their behavior. They don't always act like i want them to, just as i don't always act like they want me to.
So it may seem hard to understand how, when they have flaws like everyone else does, i see them as perfect. That's the thing; they're perfect for me.
Some people living with their parents require restriction, others demand freedoms. Through them, i've a perfect blend of both for me.

But here's the thing . . . They trust me.
Children are, essentially, a fruit of one's works by faith. And i am the result of their parenting, example, leadership, etc., and they trust me to do what's right and to follow God in every decision.
I have a harder time trusting people who don't trust their grown children, and that's precisely why. If they don't trust the results of what they've done, they don't trust their own example, so how are they to be trusted? Sometimes, though, people are just unfortunate; they sometimes just have stubborn or rebellious offspring. I am genuinely sorry for them.
But i trust my parents because they trust me. They trust their faith, their work, their influence. And if they can, i can. If they couldn't trust me . . . How could i trust them?

As said before, my parents are perfect . . . For me.

Technology/Communication Issues . . .

I realized this after talking with a deacon from the local First Baptist church; technology is our downfall. I'm the biggest hypocrite for saying that, i know, since i almost need my mp3 player at work, can't leave my cell phone at the house, i spend much time on the computer, etc.

But i'm told technology brings us closer together. I mean, i can talk face-to-face with people on the opposite side of the world if i wanted (the desire has yet to arise, but it's possible). I can post my mood or thoughts for many of my friends and family to see instantly. We post "statuses", and anyone who is on our "friends list" can see it immediately. I've family in other states, and technology makes it much easier to connect with them and actually be family with them over the distance.
But there's an issue with all this blessing . . . A cancer that outweighs the good . . .
When we're close to everyone, we're intimate with no one. When everyone knows everything about you, what is left for your close friendships? When we give ourselves one small piece at a time to hundreds or thousands, what's left for those meant to be close to us?
We lose intimacy.
The closer we let strangers become, the more distant we force those we love to go
The more we communicate to everyone, the less we share with our true friends and our family.

A couple years ago, an older gentleman who has a very thick accent (and who now considers me a friend) came in the feed store and said to have a nice "'Arbor Day". I thought he meant something about planting trees.
It slipped my mind that the date was 12/7.
He jumped my case, asking what they teach in schools nowadays . . . For a while after, he wouldn't so much as acknowledge my existence. But he and i do share a friendship now.

In my defense, i did know what "Harbor Day" was then. Not quite as much from school (though i had read a lot about it in my curriculum) as from a video game called Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. I had memorized the names of the ships that were sunk that day from that game. I knew how many people were killed, even down to the minute the first Zero came in because of that game. All that was covered in history books, but it wasn't as easy to remember as it was when a guy was shouting in my virtual ear about which ships went down and when.

But this isn't a pro-video game post--i scarcely play them anymore (historical learning can be a lot easier when put into things like that, though).

This is just to remind people that real people died that day for you and i. Not characters in a game, not actors in a movie, but real flesh-and-blood people.

They gave their lives in service to their country and to their families. They gave their lives for our freedom. Your fathers, your grandfathers, your great-grandfathers; these men chose to serve this country to the fullest extent possible, some paying the ultimate sacrifice.
Thank God for them, and thank God for those who have served since and are serving now.

"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends."

(this was written in OpenOffice, so the capitalization of "i" is autocorrected in many instances but not in the cases of "i've" or "i'm". Sorry for the inconsistency)

So, last weekend, a couple people I know saw me sipping from a Nos energy drink. Now, I only drink one a day, occasionally two.
It's a bad habit, I know, but it's the same as having two Cokes or Dr. Peppers as far as the caffeine content is concerned. Not really enough to harm me.
Apparently, there have been about a dozen or so people die in the last few years with their deaths linked to the 5-Hour Energy shots, and about half a dozen linked to Monster. Mostly heart issues. My guess is it's people drinking more than the recommended limit of 3 per day, and with preexisting issues. But I don't know for certain . . .
But to the point, when they saw me drinking it they said “You know, those are bad for you.”
Here's the irony. This was said by an ex-smoker. They don't smoke anymore, so good for them.
Then the other person there said they'd been linked to about fifteen people dying over the last few years. I thought this was funny because this was coming from someone who drinks religiously. To the point they're drunk practically every weekend.
Now, i'm not going to say that drinking them is less bad for me because they drink alcohol, but I was very tempted to say “Within that entire amount, how many people, drinkers or bystanders, have been killed as a result of your favorite beverage in the last forty-eight hours?”
But I held my tongue.

When buying one of those once, the cashier told me of the dangers of them and how a few people have died from them . . . This cashier works at a store about a half-mile from my house, so I pass by there quite frequently—she's often sitting outside smoking.
Again, not excusing my energy drink drinking, just pointing out the irony.

I should quit drinking energy drinks. And I probably will, but it will be my choice at a time of my choosing.

Why i hate football (and other professional sports) . . .

On Thanksgiving, there was apparently a very thick cover of fog on I-10. There was a 100-car pile-up, and two people were killed. It's sad that something like that happened on Thanksgiving. Two people's families will never celebrate Thanksgiving the same way again. With the way my mind works, it was hard to not put myself in the families' shoes and wonder how to give thanks when tragedy like that strikes (i hide things like that rather well). I know it happens all across the country on any given day, Holidays notwithstanding.

That doesn't seem to have anything to do with football, does it?
Well, here's the thing. That happened early in the morning. I didn't find out until after the Texans v. Lions game. People died, and they didn't interrupt broadcasting of people PLAYING A GAME to tell us that friends, neighbors--famil(y's)(ies'), father(s) and/or mother(s), brother(s) and/or sister(s), son(s) and/or daughter(s) had died. And a game couldn't be cut off for a minute to tell us?
Besides, after the game was over, it's not like they spent more than twenty seconds on the news to tell us that two people had died--twenty seconds . . . Couldn't spare twenty seconds in a three-hour sports match. That completely disgusts me.
Oh, yeah, and after that, there was an eight-minute special (in the "news", not the "sports") about how the Texans won their first Thanksgiving day game . . . Somehow, the fact that they won was twenty-four times as important as two people's LIVES.

So why is it that the "news" is more concerned with a game than it is with our fellow man's lives?
I didn't care for football (or other professional sports) before, but now i'm genuinely outraged and sickened by it. If you watch it and contribute to it being a higher priority to the general public than the lives of two people, thank you. Thank you for making me feel this way about it.
If this offends you . . .  Well, let's put it this way: if you contribute to what offends me and yet you don't care, why should i care if what i say offends you?
Watch your pointless games that mean nothing.
If you're an adult and watching it, it's a game. Being played.
(it's not very Christian of me to be this irate about something, but . . . I'm in the world, not of it. I'm not angry at people, i'm angry at the world and the way it is)

My two cents.
Don't like my opinion? Blogs are free. You can write your own about how it's just entertainment . . .