Three6ix5ive's Blog
Three-hundred sixty-five days. One at a time.Archive for foreign service
Day 179: Getcha foreheads dirty!
I’m gonna borrow a lot of other people’s words for today. Today is Ash Wednesday. In the words of my housemate, Nicky, it’s the day where “you get your forehead dirty if you’re Catholic”. Lent is my favorite part of the Catholic year. It leads up to Easter which is my favorite holiday for reasons I am a little bit gray about. I guess I like it when there’s a universally recognized part of the calendar set aside to focus on putting faith in action. Putting your humility where your mouth is. Anyway, I have a lot to say about Ash Wednesday and about Lent, but I’ll say it when the words come to me.
I’ve been thinking for a long time about what kind of intentions and commitments I’d make this season. And what sacrifice would do me well. I want to make a bigger effort to live in a way that is aware of the people here with me. I’m looking to kinda break down my learned standards when it comes to luxury and privilege and such. I’ve had a few ideas that I may share with y’all later. For now I’d like to share a couple of sites and a quote.
I am borrowing words from a woman who borrowed them from C.S Lewis as recorded by Ron Sider. (Yeah this is an MLA nightmare, so please excuse my utter unwillingness to even try and punctuate that)
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you & I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may go on to victories you never dreamed of.” If you say, “I’m a student, I’m too poor to be materialistic or to worry about downsizing my lifestyle,” you will miss the chance of making value-based decisions which will shape the rest of your life.
Wurd.
Globally Significant Lifestyle à la John 3:17 – Step back and see a bigger picture when it comes to needs, wants, service, and stewardship. Wondering how much of the world lives (or more like survives) off less than $1 a day? Find out.
Millennium Development Goals – The UN’s special project to save the world. never heard of it? It’s kinda a big deal.
2009 World Hunger Map – A visual representation of where hunger lives in the world. Please just take a look. Ask questions. Look for answers. Find more questions. Repeat.
US Poverty/Hunger Map – Quick facts about hunger and poverty in different states. Note: Hunger in the world view and hunger in the US view are two very different things. And about “hunger”… in 2005 some people in suits decided to change the terminology for hunger to “food insecure”. Guess hunger is too dirty a word.
Day 149: All Falls Down
Last week, Haiti was hit by the most devastating earthquake it’s seen in 200 hundred years. I didn’t hear about it from the news. My friend Michael gave me word the next night during a phone conversation. His best friend, Joey, is doing service in Haiti for the year. By now I’m sure so many of you have had the chance to donate or learn more about the crisis or hear from people who saw houses fall and felt the earth move beneath them. I think it’s worthwhile to get into another person’s story… y’know as long as you’re blog-surfing and all.
One of the things I love about Joey (and ironically one of the things about him that can intimidate me sometimes) is his unabashed honesty and conviction with which he explains his experiences and thoughts. At the end of four years as a pre-med student Joey made the choice to join a service program in Haiti and become a full-time volunteer. It’s no doubt he’s getting a certain kind of education unequal to anything else. He’d been there for a few months when the earthquake hit. The latest post on his blog gives his accounts of the events immediately following the quake.
Thanks Joey for letting us see with your eyes for a little while. Visit Joey Mans’ inner-workings here.
