Thankful for inspiring blog posts of others to inspire one of my own.

What if we were “set free” so to speak, from societal standards, expectations of one another, and insecurities that we feel due to social pressures, etc.? I was just reading a wonderful friend of mines blog and it made me think of this. How amazing and life changing would it be to act independent of others around you-and not in an unrealistic way, but I mean how absolutely empowering would it be to live life free from all of that? Isn’t that what Christians see from Jesus? Jesus lives for God, and for us, but in a way that is less common in society. The way that Jesus was as a person was a beautiful example of the life we could live, and how wonderful that would be. Jesus lived FOR us, and he died FOR our sins. He was laughed at, ridiculed, spat upon, kicked, joked about, betrayed, denied, hated, scorned, out casted, beat up, arrested....and eventually tortured to death, all for the purpose that he believed in with his whole heart. He believed that humanity shouldn’t have to be burdened with the weight of their sins, of their mistakes, of their short-comings, of their relentless pride. Because, as we are all fully and painfully aware, we ALL fall short. Perfection doesn’t exist. And Jesus was the kind of man who loved with his whole heart, who cared for people just because. He acted justly, loved mercy, and walked humbly with God. What set him apart from other men claiming to be God wasn’t his prophetic fulfillment or his seemingly miraculous spiritual and physical healings. What made his followers start to believe that this man really is from God, was his least supernatural actions of all; his desire, willingness, and ability to forgive people left and right. This was extremely uncommon for his time-In Judaism, rabbi’s were strict on never saying to someone, “You are forgiven” because that would imply they know Gods will. All of a sudden, here comes this man who is forgiving the worst of the sinners ( like tax collectors and prostitutes ) and even inviting them over to have dinner with him. These sort of actions and beliefs that Jesus had are remarkable and inspiring. I don’t know who wouldn’t want to live like that. At least for me, I want to strive to be like that. I want to not allow people to feel alone if I can help it. I want to be kind, merciful and act with justice in my heart. I want to feel the presence of God in my actions, pushing me forward towards a fulfilling life. So you see, the more we try and be like Jesus, the more we use his actual example of how to live rather than taking it surface level, the less we will be bound by societal standards, expectations and insecurities. You don’t have to have previous religious interest or experience to learn from the historical Jesus, but I’m telling you, one of the best parts you’ll realize if you start to study him is that he not only wants to help the people of his time, but he wants to help you, right where you’re at no matter where it is, and the coolest part about it all is that there is always hope with God, and that is something I firmly believe in.

The first in a very, very, very, long time...but completely worthy of posting.

No I have not edited, spell checked, refined or made more concise this post. It was written after feeling suddenly compelled post-theology class. Please take the time to read, but don't feel defensive or anything if you feel I've offended your lifestyle. This isn't meant to hurt anyones feelings-try to look at it from a more macro perspective. Thanks. Today, I’m reminded of how important it is to not forget the past. How important it has been proven to be aware of the capability to commit evil, horrendous acts that humans have. Sometimes, we get pushed to what seems like the edge-about to snap at any given moment-completely denature the values that we thought were so grounded in our very being. People often lose sight of the bigger picture when going about their daily, busy lives. I wish people would open up their eyes instead of becoming a robotic, desensitized human being. I wish it were more common nature to ask ourselves reflective questions such as, Why am I here? And what do I want to accomplish in life,learn, and leave behind? In our Judaism unit in theology today, we finally touched on contemporary Jewish culture. So much of the contemporary beliefs and traditions in Judaism were affected by the most tragic and inhumane act of evil in human history; the Holocaust. 12 million people killed, of which 6 million were Jews. Those numbers are so staggering, so ineffable, that we don’t know how to wrap our minds around them. The danger is that we are desensitized to the numbers-but number represents a person. A person who died a horrible, undeserving, indescribably awful death. A person who’s family was affected by the devastating loss of a loved one just for being themselves. So really, each person represents a group of people. And this is why 6 million Jews murdered is almost impossible for anyone to understand; I know my generation really struggles with it. The tragedy of this event in history can not EVER be forgotten, or skipped over in history/theology/literature classes of any time. Especially now, when the last survivors are passing away. Watch a documentary now and talk about it with your friends, just to re address it. It's up to all of us now to never, ever, let anyone forget. The importance of remembering this event can not be stressed enough-looking around, I see people doing horrible things to each other. I see people also making things worse for themselves by identifying their situation as horrible-but we have the power to control how we feel. This is one of the reasons psychology interests me so much (may seem random). The human mind is amazing! But we can’t let it believe that we are in an awful situation when we’re not, and that we’re in a normal situation when in fact it is horrible and needs to change. That’s the adaptive strength of our brains that could be called an “error”-the plasticity of our brains is such that if we complain enough, or tell ourselves enough that our lives suck and we’re hopeless, that is the reality for you. And the reverse is true as well-if we pretend everything is ok when, to an outsider, it is CLEARLY not, we will adapt to that reality. Keeping things in perspective is so telling to how we will feel. Being a freshman in college with very few people I knew before this year, I spend a lot of time alone in crowded places. I over hear things like “My week was brutal, how was yours?” and “This test is going to slaughter me”, and my favorite (not really) “I just need this week to end” (When it’s only Monday). You see, we lose sight of the gift of life, and how every single day we are given is not gaurenteed. We are at risk for forgetting history-the blood that was spilled for our freedoms, the tragedy of genocide, rape, torture, segregation, racism, sexism, discrimination, etc. These things are very real and can not EVER be ignored. I’m not saying spend every second thinking about these things, but as a college student, I know that most of us are trying to figure out what the hell to do with the rest of our lives. Well for starters, let’s be thankful for the opportunity to choose, and go from there. I know that I never want to look back and think, “I wish I did more to help.” Or “I wish I had done something to change that”. Another thing. We are our biggest limitation. By this I mean that we set rules for ourselves that are complete fabrications of our own minds. Things like “this week I just want to get these tests over with and be done with it so I can relax on the weekend”. These things are so micro level and bypass ALL the capability/opportunity for that week. In a single week, a lot can happen. And for the majority of it, it is up to you to make something happen. We can not become passive people, passive to our OWN lives. Who wants to live a boring life? A good life doesn’t mean one filled with personal happiness. Sometimes the most rewarding things are the hardest ones to do and get through. Tough times are what shape our character. The best things in life are not free-we have to work at them, experience, be vulnerable, suffer, and learn in order to really get some of the most important lessons out of life. This may seem a little bit extreme, but people often don’t listen to things unless they stand out. My point is this-after re-addressing the holocaust for the first time since my history class in high school, I’ve been reminded at how much capability humans have for evil. Other things stemmed from that of which I touched on, but that was the main realization. BUT there is hope, because just as we are capable to do evil, we are capable to do much, much more good. The struggle is finding it within ourselves to believe that we can actually do it. We can rise above the evil in this world and be triumphant. It is also much more beneficial to society, in terms of spreading this goodness, if we work together. Community is what will get our country, states, cities, and people through these hard times. What won’t get us through these times is trying to force each other that what specific individuals believe is better than what others believe. We MUST accept differences in people. People are born to be different. If we weren’t, we would all look the same and act the same. But there are too many things that affect a persons personality, beliefs, habits, characteristics, lifestyles, hobbies, weaknesses, strengths, religious opinions, etc. Once we establish a general respect for difference, diversity, in our culture, we will finally be able to truly, not artificially, work together for a purpose aside from our own selfish desires. A purpose that will benefit everyone-not just a select few. We will work, together, to finally bring an end to the tragedies that are prevalent all around us such as hunger, homelessness, discrimination, and political disputes that cause breaks in society’s. Just like we learned in PRE SCHOOL, We (ALL of us) must learn to get along with one another if we want progress towards a more peaceful, loving, just, kind, and humble world. This was a ramble but I needed to get this out onto something. By the way, the quotes I used about people complaining were mostly ones I’ve said. We are all to blame, and all must re assess our behaviors and attitudes on a DAILY basis..