What i'm thinking about this month...

I keep a word document open on my computer where I briefly type things when they come to mind or copy quotes or excerpts from articles that I find particularly interesting. Here is a sample from this month’s random thoughts

1.Much of our life can be thought of as a struggle between emotion and rationality.

2.Where is the line between learning from your mistakes and becoming jaded and hopeless? Do our experiences really show us the way things always are or just the way things were one time? How can we balance rationality and idealism?

3.“I know you are here to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man”

“Many will call me an adventurer - and that I am, only one of a different sort: one of those who risks his skin to prove his platitudes.”

Che Guevara is surrounded by a lot of controversy for his ideals and methods of revolution but I admire the fact that his passion and convictions were so strong he would take great risks to make things “right”. Is there anything that I am this passionate about? While he may have been misguided he cared about his cause in a way that I cannot relate to. I can’t wait to see Benicio Del Toro’s depiction of his life. At the same time, I’m perplexed by liberals who champion Che’s revolution and place him on a hero’s pedestal. While I understand their affinity towards his “message” I’m not sure how they can overlook his methods. If your anti-war, Che Guevara probably isn’t a guy you should be wearing on your t-shirt. Maybe you could consider Gandhi…or Stephen Colbert…

4.Is everyone better understood if we understand their context? I believe that we must strive not to judge people or their behaviors because we have no idea where they are or where they have been. “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”

5.Horseracing, Nascar and golf are all starting to be covered regularly on ESPN and are seeing record breaking popularity. I wonder if this means that Americans are generally more bored than they used to be…I guess there could be other logical explanations

6.I would bake more if I wouldn’t eat what I made. I love to bake but I don’t want to look like I love to bake.

7.“I don’t preach a social gospel; I preach the Gospel, period. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When people are hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now is that political or social?” He said, “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.” –Bishop Desmond Tutu

8.At the risk of sounding braggy, before the end of this year I’m going to Cambodia, Lollapalooza, and Ethiopia. It is possible that I am equally as excited about all three. I’m not sure I should share that…It feels wrong somehow that Lollapalooza made the list with my visits to two developing nations