Have you heard that Tori Amos song “I don’t like Mondays”? If not, I would reccomend taking a minute and downloading it (via legal means of course!).

The silicon chip inside her head
Gets switched to overload
And nobody gonna go to school today
She gonna make them stay at home
Daddy doesn’t understand it
He always said she was good as gold
And he can see no reasons
‘Cause there are no reasons
What reasons do you need to be shown
Tell me why
I dont like mondays
Tell me why
I dont like mondays
I dont like, I don’t like, I don’t like mondays.
Tell me why I don’t like mondays
I want to shoot the whole day down
Down, down, shoot it all down
And all the playing’s stopped in the playground now
She wants to play with her toys a while
And school’s out early and soon we’ll be learning
And the lesson today is how to die
And then the bullhorn crackles
And the captain tackles
With the problems and the how’s and why’s
And he can see no reasons
‘Cause there are no reasons
What reason do you need to die
Tell me why
I dont like mondays
Tell me why
I dont like mondays
I dont like, I don’t like, I don’t like mondays
Tell me why I don’t like mondays
I want to shoot the whole day down

I’m constantly pondering the big questions and find myself frustrated constantly. The questions I wan posing to myself and pondering, I can not answer with where I am at. I simply lack the resources to investigate, both in terms of material and time.
Why do we ask the big questions? It’s part of our humanity to explore, to reach out for new knowledge and new insight. We share this with a cat but that’s not the point. We look for inspiration and the desire to leave no stone unturned. We live as a community and we share our knowledge with others. This is why one person does not have to know everything. If I have a question regarding film, I can ask Maure. If I have a question on music, I can ask Chris. If there is something about organic that I want to know more about, Hung is my guy. What am I looking to be an expert in? In what field am I already an expert?
Maybe I just don’t like Mondays. Class time.

Voice mail lets hope come calling for homeless
An interesting program to help homeless people find jobs by giving an employer a place to call, besides a public pay phone in a soup kitchen.
The program is in 37 cities, Houston and Dallas in Texas, and they are looking to expand to the 50 largest cities in the U.S. by 2008.
The program can be found online at www.cvm.org.

This is a reoccuring theme with me recently and so while I feel like I’ve said this before, I’m going to say it again.
We are more than our worst mistake. We are human and because of that, we really screw up sometimes. We should strive to not make these mistakes, and when we make them, we should strive to become better than we were before. Christianity, and the pilgrim pathway of salvation it offers us through Christ Jesus, is built upon forgiveness. It is built upon making “bad things” right.
Jesus never said “Did he sin against you? Eye for an eye buddy- go take him out. Cast him out with the goats. He is the child of Satan- may he get what he deserves.” Jesus taught a lesson of forgiveness. If any of us were to receive what we deserve, none of us would reach our eternal salvation. Ideally, we would be able to completely forgive the past transgressions against us. It’s not always so easy. I don’t do it every time either.
To what higher ideal are we calling towards with our bitterness? To what God or gods are we appealing to by our sacrifice of friendships, or relationships?
Being a Christian is not easy folks. It’s not. We are called to forgive those who causes our blood to boil- I’m not saying call them up, invite them over to watch a movie with you or anything like that, but we are called to forgive even our worst enemies. We are called to be like the One who is the perfect Son of God Himself. We can’t live up to that, we make mistakes. When we make mistakes and fail in our goal of living as Christ, we then become hypocrites. We’ve all been there. When we are hurt and upset, we are to forgive. This is not easy stuff. Christ, the sinless person, forgave those who were killing him, as they were killing him. Not after they turned around and said “ya know, he’s not so bad. I might not drive in the nail so hard.” No, he forgave them as they were killing him. This is the type of love and forgiveness we all called to! It seems crazy, it really does. It is something I am working towards still. Nonetheless, it is to what we are called.
If nothing else, hanging on to something that is in the past will do nothing but consume your present. If the situation is still in the present, that is something different. But, if the situation is in the past, it is in the past. People don’t go away as easily. As much as we would like them to sometimes, they don’t. If a bully stops bullying you, it’s over. They might still be there and you might not like it, but the bullying stopped. If you continue your quest to get that person out of your life, is the bully your problem? Or are you festering that previous problem and keeping it alive?
Again, I am not saying forget what happened, ask the bully to hold your lunch money for you while you tie your shoe or whatever (Although, it would be ideal to get to that point). Forgive and let go.

We make the road, others will make the journey.

— Victor Hugo, “Thoughts”
There is a very curious thing that exists in this world. There exists “the way things have always been done.” Since the dawn of man, when the first humans made fire, there has been the way things had always been done. Most people go out of their ways to make sure not to distrupt this precious thing. They walk home a certain way; the teach in a certain style, they practice medicine using certain techiques.
In some cases, this is laudable. Why reinvent the wheel? Why experiment on a new headache drug when aspirin works for the target audience? In other cases, it is what is holding us back.
Our ancient ancestors would carry supplies on foot from the rivers to the caves. One of them, at some point, thought there had to be a better way. They invented the wheel and cart. They had always communicated by gesture. Someone thought there had to be a better way and started writing in pictures. Then, something even better, someone else came along and thought that there had to be a better way. Symbols represented thoughts and ideas, in addition to just “pictoral” symbols. Even better, someone thought that there had to be a better way and invented an alphabet with words to represent our thoughts and ideas for transmittal.
We must constantly push for the next thing. That doesn’t start by inventing the next thing or redefining the old. It starts by trying. It starts by having the courage to step up and possibly look stupid.
One of the most beautiful things about being young is our ability to transform what is around us. There is no limit to human achievement and there is no limit to what one person can do. We can transform one person who will then change the world. We can transform people- helping them to realize the potential that exists within. We can transform disciplines and fields to become the Mendel’s of heredity or the Crick’s and Watson’s of genetics.
What field will be turned upside down next? Which one of us will be the one to do it?