Slavery, Agnosticism, The Future, and a Drinking Song

The Mind is a Slave unto Itself

(Warning: this particular section of today’s blogpost is exceedingly long, and you may wish to avoid it if you’re not keen on religion or related subjects)

In the last few weeks – indeed, the last few months – I’ve been reflecting a great deal on the role of religion in my life. A particular spark was lit when I was browsing The Economist’s website a few days ago (link here). On the debate page, there was a discussion on whether or not religion was ultimately a force of good in the world. I read through the pros and cons, and didn’t feel any more or less obliged to one particular direction more than the other after reading it. I’ve held for a long time that I believe religion has, on the whole, been a net positive for mankind. It’s inspired men and women to do great things, alleviate human suffering, and brings forth a sense of community that’s integral to real human needs. At the same time, it’s also been used as a weapon (and oftentimes a cheap excuse) to do what mankind is so prone to – killing itself. Then, for whatever reason, I was reading something involving the role of Christianity in supporting and opposing the institution of slavery throughout human history. Reading through the material, a profound question entered into my mind like no other had before – why did Jesus Christ not condemn the institution of slavery?

Before I expand on that question, let me explain its context and importance. In just about any Christian faith (except for Unitarianism, to my knowledge), Jesus Christ is revered as being divine and of God; I know this is common knowledge to just about everyone under the sun, but it’s worth contemplating for just a second: Christ was God here on earth, in human form (to Christians). At the time that He came down to earth for His divine purpose, the corrupt and reprehensible practice of slavery was a completely institutionalized social, political, and economic norm; it permeated throughout society. It was so widespread and acknowledged that the Old Testament is rife with rules and regulations about the treatment and conditions of slaves. BUT it’s never condemned. I never gave it more than a passing thought, because it had been explained away as just a context for the times (that and that slavery back then was markedly different in its practice from what most Americans think of slavery to be, re: Antebellum South). It was not a great theological question that I ever wrestled with. And then all of the sudden it hits me like a fat kid hits a chocolate bar, or like my head hits a stop sign in Korea.

So there’s the question: Why didn’t Jesus Christ condemn the practice and institution of slavery. I mean, He’s God, right? Isn’t He supposed to be in the business of condemning things that elicit and perpetuate human suffering? Murder, lying, stealing, coveting, shrimp cocktails, etc. all get some mention in either the Old or the New as being an offensive, but never the forced submission of one man or woman to another. Jesus Himself taught parables through the servant-master relationship to describe the man-God relationship, though “servant” most always meant “slave”. And while I’d have no problem with suggesting that every person belongs to God, the idea that one man can be owned – literally, in every sense – by another is gravely appalling and morally unjust. We know that today. Although the practice still occurs in various corners of the world, the human race has since acknowledged its practice to be a crime against humanity. Why didn’t Christ?

To hear the apologetics, you’d get various answers. The Catholic answers from New Advent site (here) comment mostly on the role of the early Church and the practice. Their contention is that had the Church opposed slavery, society itself could’ve very well crumbled under the social and economic upheaval that would’ve ensued had the practice been condemned. Others would argue that had Christians opposed slavery from the get-go, the religion would have died in its infancy (though one would think that it would spread quickly amongst slave populations).

I have two responses to this. First, yes it probably would’ve caused a great deal of social consternation; removing an institutional feature that was woven into the fabric of life at that time would certainly rile things up. But so what? Didn’t Jesus come here to cause “upheavals”? After all, the Endgame in Christianity is one big upheaval. Further, should not all moral injustices be opposed and condemned? Since when is it a tenet of any religion to merely oppose what’s unpopular? Such things are easy.

There is a big seeming contradiction here, based on the premise that Jesus was divine, that God WOULD NOT condemn something that was heinously evil, slavery. This is itself premised on the conclusion that slavery is evil, which I think any rational person would concur with. If Jesus was truly divine and morally infallible, surely He would’ve said something on the matter. On the other hand, if Jesus was simply a man and operated within the context of the times as such, then His response (or lack thereof) towards slavery is understandable. BUT there’s where the kicker is: that conclusion supposes that Jesus was not divine, thereby causing this current crisis of faith.

Edna’s Response

Consulting various sites and sources, I hadn’t been able to find any worthwhile reconciliation of the two. Most of what I read suggested that slavery was simply a fact of life at the time (and for thousands of years after); a certain attitude of “c’est la vie” seems to permeate a lot of Christian thought on the topic, coupled with the admonition that the Christian churches eventually opposed the institutions.

I then spoke with the other native English teacher at my school, Edna, who is among the wisest souls I’ve ever encountered (and one of the best cooks, for that matter). We discussed the issue for a good half hour, and she seemed a bit stumped herself. So she got back to me a little later in an email, trying to reconcile all these things. From Edna:

“ Why did Jesus not openly condemn slavery---that it is wrong and therefore must be stopped? The same way that He did not openly condemn other issues at the time. Come to think of it, do you think that would be a better strategy? Would that reach the heart? Or would that just be the talk and not the walk? Remember, Jesus is concerned after our hearts.

That had happened two thousand years ago---and yet look at His very words ----they still ring in our ears; and His very acts wrench our hearts.”

That’s actually the best response I’ve thought about since I asked the question. The question is reframed from a societal point of view into an individual one. Oftentimes, we lose sight of religion being a personal thing – it is indeed personal. Insofar as a Christian’s relationship with Christ is concerned, it is intensely personal. Community matters a great deal, of that there can be no doubt; that’s why we have the Mass, why we go to services, and why we say we’re interconnected when we talk about the Body of Christ. BUT you can’t forget the personal aspect to all this. At its very core, the Christian faith is one of a “personal relationship”, as its said, with Jesus Christ. To the skeptic/agnostic/doubter/etc., that does mean talking to what many people perceive as some magic man in the sky; it can make you look crazy to many others, but that’s what it is.

So the question is reframed from a societal one (e.g the role of slavery in society) to an individual one – e.g how does slavery affect the individual person, both slave and non-slave? That becomes a more muddled area of concern, because slavery in antiquity isn’t entirely relatable to slavery in the Antebellum South; I think people in antiquity had greater worries of war and food than we do today, and as such the role of slavery as a debatable issue back then did not take precedence. Consequently, speaking of it and attacking it would presumably – and this is an assumption, something to take on faith (I suppose) – somehow prevent the Gospel from having its effect on the individual heart. And whenever Christ – or, for that matter St. Paul in his letters to various audiences – did have any mention or say about slaves/servants, it always emphasized the need to treat each other as brothers and sisters, as family. If these people at the time had such a difficult time of relating to each other in that simple way, it is entirely possible that a drumbeat about servitude might not be entirely effective.

 And all we have of Christ’s teachings seem fully focused on individual – not societal – remedies. The rich are admonished to give up their possessions and take their treasures in heaven, but He doesn’t say anything about taxing them. We’re talking about a societal problem framed in a societal context, when Christ’s approach to just about everything is individual. The Church is for the societal, then, and its role in either supporting or condemning slavery is what becomes critical.

I’m sure I have some more thoughts on the matter, but right now I seem to be at something of an impasse. It’s a more difficult question to grapple with.

Of course, I could always take the easy road and throw my hands up in the air, become an agnostic, and simply be content to live a life of good deeds and kimchi. But I’m not giving up just yet. There are still deeper meanings to understand and headaches to overcome.

Agnosticism as the most reasonable position; or “I am not a reasonable person”

I think the agnostic point of view is easily the most reasonable and rational, since it doesn’t presume to know whether or not there is a God; or if there is a God, what the qualities of that deity are. And quite frankly, none of us can prove one way or the other whether God exists. By the same token, I can’t prove that a pink elephant is on the roof of my school at the moment. It’s exceedingly unlikely, but unless I physically get up on the roof and confirm there is no pink elephant, the possibility of it being there still exists. It’s kind of silly to make an apples to apples comparison using the two – God and a pink elephant (would God make a pink elephant) – but there’s some logic behind it.

That being said, I find it difficult in adopting a point of view that stipulates the universe as we know it is the result of a random sequence of events that just somehow happened. Reality, as I perceive it, takes into account of coincidences and the laws of randomness; but I don’t trust coincidence, and I don’t trust randomness. Everything we see and experience on earth has some purpose behind it, most notably our own evolution over millions of years (the purpose being to adapt and survive in our environment…which hopefully we evolve the ability to breathe CO2 and live in 150*F weather, at the rate we’re going). And that human perception – that self-awareness – is a key trait we hold in trying to answer the big questions.

That being said, I could use a break from the big questions. As you can see, they’re driving me mad.

Teaching in the Middle East

I’ve got until June 2011 before my contract in Korea is up, and I’m dithering as to what my next move will be. Most likely, I’ll resign and stay another year here – it’s the most practical and logical decision for me, as I’ll have my debt incurred from college paid (not to mention have a few extra dollars in the bank). But that’s only two years down the road. The question of what after comes up, and my answer can be one of many different paths. I could finish up my M.Ed at UNLV, and that’d be the most likely option; I worked for a year on that thing, and it wouldn’t seem right leaving business unfinished – not to mention the debt that I owe to my colleagues and friends from the C&I dept. there. Once that’s completed, though, I don’t know where things will stand.

I could possibly take the LSATs and enter law school, but then I face two harrowing prospects: a.) a life in a career that I find unfulfilling and economically challenging (law school debt + bad job prospects) and b.) listening to my mother say “I told you so.” for the rest of my adult life. I could also relocate outside of Las Vegas – most desirably to Seattle or the Bay Area – but, again, I don’t know what the prospects would be at the time.

Perhaps the most interesting and intriguing path I could take would to take a job teaching English or Social Studies at an international school in the Middle East. There are numerous schools – particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – that pay quite well relative to the cost of living, and offer the chance at exploring another unique culture and its language. Doing so would probably give a few people heart attacks, but it’s something I might want to pursue.

A Lot to Drink About

Between having a crisis of faith, accepting my irrationality, dealing with 1kg of kimchi in my stomach, and wondering about the future, I think Jimmy Buffet has it right.

Tequila? Of course I’ll have some!

Rumors, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, and the 49ers

Speak Up and Be Heard, but Don’t Believe Everything You Hear (The Downer)

As most of you know, I’m a person who loves to talk (to a fault, no doubt). I don’t know why, but it’s always been in my nature. Conversation is an art-form, and one that you must practice if you wish to excel at it. The problematic thing is that you can often fall into the trap of saying the wrong things or speaking to the wrong people. I’d like to say that such things as rumor-mills and gossip never crossed my path, and that I never engaged in them, but I’d be lying if I did; the odds are the same for you too if we’re being honest with ourselves. They seem to be integral to the human experience, particularly when we’re in our formative years and lack true wisdom and judgment. That being said, I genuinely despise rumors and gossip. Not only because I’ve been subject to them before – mostly miniscule and silly, others rather hurtful – but because the damage they can do to one’s reputation can sometimes be irreparable. Further, rumors and gossip can start amongst one or two people and then their nets can be cast far beyond your social and professional networks. People that you’ve never heard of before have now heard of you, only what they’ve heard is an untruth that you will have to work to discredit.

I think the worst rumor that I’ve dealt with is that I had spread gossip about someone’s personal life when I didn’t. When such things get thrown around to people that you don’t even know, it can sting; when they’re tossed to people that you have admired and deeply respected for a long time, it can feel like someone punched the air out of your lungs. And it can drive you nuts when you don’t know what the full extent of the damage is from something that you didn’t even do; all you did was be present in a conversation that shouldn’t have occurred, and got tainted. Like most situations in life, I suppose that you can take some positives from it. For one, it forces you to check yourself, what your character is, and what your words actually are. For another, it makes you re-evaluate your relationships with other people and gain a better appreciation for the persons that are really your friends. But at the same time, it can also leave you feeling deeply resentful for a awhile. You just have to evaluate, think it over, and then ultimately let it go…and pray that those whom you respected and admired don’t let you go.

Even worse are rumors and gossip that are started at places that are holy to you – literally. For whatever reason, church can be a breeding ground for half-truths and cooked up lies about people. I live 6,000 miles away from the place that I would come to every Sunday to worship, reflect, and get away from it all, yet I’ve heard more than a few different things being spread around about a few different people in just the last two weeks. Without getting into details – it’s all very obnoxious and pathetic – it’s troubling how something so un-Christian happens in a place of Christian worship. I think a lot of it stems from the insecurities that plague us, and the lack of confidence and wherewithal we have about who we are. It’s as if you want to hear other people being torn down and thrown under the bus because that’s exactly how you feel; even if I never said anything about another person, there have been times where I was so down and out that I felt exactly that way. But while we all have hearts that are bruised and battered at some point – sometimes bludgeoned - , that shouldn’t lend itself to the battering bruising of others’.

The Grilled Cheese Crucible and the Shrimp Pizza Redemption (The Upper)

This week, I had the joy of compiling a lesson on different foods and food-related expressions for my 2^nd grade classes. I teach 4 2^nd grade classes full of funny and adorable little kids, so it’s always a little bit of a treat to start my mornings off with them. I found a quick video clip of a cheese expert (what a title) serving up a grilled cheese sandwich, and thought it appropriate to use in my classes. After all, we can watch the video and learn some introductory vocab words: bread, cheese, butter, heart attack, clogged arteries, coronary, etc. So I downloaded the clip and put it into a neat little powerpoint presentation. I thought the kids might get a kick out of it, as anything that’s visually appealing gets wild raucous applause amongst these students. But not with this one…

We get to the video portion, and it starts to play. What followed was the strangest response to a cooking show that I’ve ever seen. Students started to gasp and awe when the bread was buttered and placed into the skillet (why is this so exciting?). Then, the cook flips the sandwich in the air with her spatula, and the kids go wild. “WWWWOOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!!!” was the common scream heard at about 65 decibels. But THEN, the sandwich was finished and thoroughly ready. The cook broke the sandwich in half to reveal the ooey-gooey cheese that would make any American mouth thousands of miles away from his home water. The kids’ reaction, however, was markedly different. There were screams of horror and agony, to the point that you’d think they were frightened and horrified by some ghost. One kid even pointed to the television scream shouting, “NO!” I was absolutely dumbfounded at the tawdry reception the great American grilled cheese sandwich had received.

The next day, I switched the video in favor of a Wolfgang Puck clip in which he made a shrimp pizza. It actually looks like a marvelous creation, though I wondered what response it would elicit from the students. So I put the video into the powerpoint and used new vocab words with identifiable pictures – tomatoes, cheese, shrimp, pizza dough – and let it rip. The kids loved it. Absolutely loved it. As all the toppings were being put onto the dough, there was a collectively mild “ooooooooohhhhh!!!” permeating the room. Wolfgang slid the pizza into the oven, and the kids were a little confused (probably because I didn’t translate the word “oven” was, or something). But once the pizza came out of the oven all fully cooked and at a golden brown, the students started clapping and chanting, “Yaaaaaayyy!”.

Moral of the story – Korean kids are funny. And grilled cheese sandwiches cause riots.

The 2010 San Francisco 49ers

are breaking my heart every week with new and inventive ways of losing. How wonderful it was to watch Nate Clements return a possibly game-winning interception, only to fumble it away because he didn’t go down in time. At 1-3, the 49ers would be only one-game behind in the NFC West. But instead, they sit at 0-4. I keep hearing all is not lost, and all is not lost for the 49ers; after all, they’re in the NFC West. It’s possible that an 8-8 team could end up winning the thing. And I don’t think it’s as bad a division as everyone says. Rather, it’s a terribly mediocre division. The Seahawks, Rams, Cardinals, and 49ers are all teams that have a chance for an 8-8 record; .500 isn’t awful, it’s just mediocre.

Still, I can’t keep waking up at 3am Monday morning to watch a game that will end up making me feel blue all day. If that’s the case, I won’t be the big jolly red man that the kids seem to endeared to.

Milk Delivery, Exciting Vocabulary, and Other Things

Milk Delivery

If you go into my mother’s apartment and use the bathroom (as I hope everyone gets the opportunity to do so…it’s very exciting stuff), you’ll notice that there’s an art picture of two teenage boys delivering jugs of milk in the middle of a monsoon. The picture is entitled “Monsoon Milk Delivery”, which is entirely appropriate given what I just wrote. The photo was taken in Hong Kong, sometime in 1995 I believe.

Every morning, two students (which are in one of my sixth grade classes) are required to deliver little cartons of milk to every teacher in my school. One of the kids that delivers the 우유 looks just like the guy in the photo driving the little cart – either that, or I still can’t tell my Asians apart (which brings up a rather embarrassing time a few weeks ago when I said to a student “Didn’t I just have you in last per..oh wait that wasn’t you.”). Anyways, the kids came in yesterday morning to deliver the milk and placed the cartons in our office refrigerator. I got up and asked them “How are ya, today?” to which they replied “I am funny!” and “Yes.” respectively.

Good show, kids. I see you’re learning a lot from Mr. Foh-ree.

The Things You Tell Friends

I got a text message from a new Korean friend I’ve recently made yesterday that tore me up in awkward laughter. To give you some perspective, I met him at the gym and we started shootin’ the shit about different things – American slang, Korean schooling, the evils of soju, etc. Anyways, here is a transcript of that conversation:

“Hi Ryan. How are you today? ^^”

“Hello, Chun. I am doing great. How about you?”

“I feel good. Now I have a bowel movement without toilet paper.”

“…” “That is very exciting.”

Let’s think about this one, folks. You’re fairly new to English linguistics, and your skills in that regard are rather limited (and part of many Koreans befriending Westerners has to do with improving language skills, which if we’re wise we’d take advantage of the opposite too). You’d think that with limited proficiency, you wouldn’t have the term “bowel movement” in your vocabulary. Apparently, he has another American friend who’s been “helping” him with his English. So now I have the task of re-setting some of his expressions and helping him use new words…as well as to make sure he doesn’t talk about bowel movements in casual conversations.

My Father's...err, Mother's Son

The more time that I’ve spent living on my own, the more I realize just how much I am like my mother. Growing up, I thought the traits that were dominant in my personality were more characteristic of my father. Now, I see it more as a 50/50 between the two. John was outgoing; Phyl has a good command of a crowd (she’d never admit to it). John could be very inattentive. Phyl worries about everything that’s under the sun, and considers everything from every angle (except Sharon Angle). John was hardheaded; Phyl…can be stubborn. Now all this is true of me, I think (though I’ve had some classes that I subbed for go straight to hell…then again one wonders if anyone but Jesus could’ve saved those classes). But the counterbalancing characteristics that give me the red ass are that whereas John was a manipulative and conniving schemer, Phyl would always put the interest of others (see: me) ahead of her own. I’d like to think the same is true of me. I can be as selfish and manipulative as my father, I’m sure. But I certainly hope to high heaven I can display some sense of selflessness as well.

Also, Phyl is very fond of letting television analysts know how stupid they are by reiterating it to the television scream; I’ve counted myself telling at least a few different reporters on CNN World and BBC to “(word) off”. Great fun.

Comparative School Systems

Speaking of CNN World, I caught a segment on Korean unemployment among youth here and how it compares to the rest of the world (basically: screwed). But whereas the problems facing 18-29year olds in the West is fairly cyclical, the problems here are structural. Korean education, for all its greatness (consistently ranking in the Top 5 in Mathematics and Science), is also inherently weak in some very critical respects. If you’ve ever heard of Koreans going to high school from 7am to 11pm while practicing monotonous memorization of formulas and facts, you’d be spot on. It’s a cliché, and it’s a generalization to be sure. But it’s also quite true. There is very little creative agency in the curriculum, which is desperately needed to fully educate and equip a human being. Everyone here wants to work for Samsung or LG, but LG and Samsung recognize that you need creative people who can think independently for them to be successful outfits. Great that you can come up with a computer program with a revolutionary logo rhythm, but can you make it revolutionize?

Much of Korean production seem to me like DuPont – they don’t make things, they make things better. Once the West (or Japan, for that matter) comes up with something, the Koreans will find a way to make it better (Hyundai, Samsung Galaxy, pizza delivery with ACTUAL utensils and clean-up service, etc.). If they make wholesale changes in their educational systems and curriculum, we could find the peninsula becoming the envy of the world.

Compare those systematic problems to American education, where the problem is best described here.

Fresh & Easy.

How I miss that store, with its bulky cheese and chocolate bars the size of my head. Also, it’s name is ripe territory for “That’s what she said!” jokes. Kind of like your mom.

Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?

I came across this song by Jimmy Buffett the other day by accident. Says it all, doesn't it?

You’re Building a Mosque at Ground Zero? Are You Crazy?

No, you’re just letting popular mischaracterizations and fear of Muslims drown out what should be your common sense. First, it’s not at Ground Zero – it’s two blocks away. Second, it’s a mosque, a house of God. People go there to worship God, ask for forgiveness of their sense, and seek guidance of what to do in their lives. It’s no different than what I do at church or what a Jew does at synagogue. And if you think Muslim = terrorist, then ask yourselves why you even have the ability to read this rant given that 1 billion people could blow up the world if they wanted to. Third, equating Bin Laden’s Islam with mainstream Islam is the exact same as equating Timothy McVeigh’s Christianity with mainstream Christianity. In its practice, there is no difference – taking commandments of peace, decency, and respect and twisting them into weapons. What is different is that our country isn’t majority-Muslim, and therefore it’s easier to malign and attack that which we don’t understand, and we’ve allowed ourselves to do just that.

This whole firestorm sprung up around May, and this project has been in the works for much longer than that. Hell, Laura Ingraham (see: conservative commentator) said back in December that this thing should be built and it was a non-issue. What changed? Election time. I’m sure there are earnestly-minded people who do have reservations about putting up a mosque 2 blocks away from GZ, but A LOT of this comes from the exploitation on the Right of fear for political purposes. They know there are a lot of us who don't know jack about Islam, and they bait unpopular minorities well. Remember, gays were such an affront to the family that everyone needed a constitutional amendment to prevent them from getting married – because that was the most pressing issue facing Americans in 2004. Why should Muslims not be fair game?

It seems a lot of people are of the mind that “All I need to know about Islam, I learned on 9/11”. And if that’s the case, then we have two big problems, one internal and one external. External in the sense that the Muslim world will think (more so than at the moment) that the West (U.S in particular) is at war with it, and if you thought someone was at war with you, you’d probably respond; internal in the sense that if that attitude is indeed prevalent, then we have a lot of ignorance to deal with. To say that someone can’t share equally in the American experience because he prays to the East and uses Allah in place of G-O-D or Yahweh is very sad, and it’s ultimately un-American. So let’s stop with the pretense and just admit it – America has a problem with Muslims, like it once did with Catholics and Jews. And we need to address it.

Decision Points and Changes of Scenery

Decision Points

Former Pres. Bush is coming out with a new book, entitled "Decision Points". Supposedly, it's something a memoir, something of a series of case studies in his life. I don't think you can call me a big fan of GWB - two dangerously mismanaged wars, trillions of debt added, blind eye to structural economic inequities perpetuated by education/healthcare outcomes, lack of intellectual curiosity, collapse of a world economy among others, etc. - but I think the premise of the book is an interesting one to consider: in our lives, we all come to certain decisions in our life that greatly define who we are, not just influencing or impacting. I'm trying to think of such decisions in my life, and I'm coming up with blanks. The biggest decisions in my life thus far have been...well there really haven't been any. The question of whether or not I should go to college and pursue a degree wasn't really a question; for if I answered "incorrectly", I'd face a barrage of torment and annoyance from my dear mother. The question of whether or not to have children has been decided thus far by a number of factors, chief among them a.) income b.) age and c.) not wanting to deal with the little twerps. The big question of "what to do with my life" is a work in progress, and probably will be for some time, so there haven't been any real "decision points" in that regard, except almost completing an M.Ed in Education. I do anticipate finishing that up within the next year or two. But that doesn't necessarily mean my overarching calling in life is to be an educator (actually, dealing with all the bad beer here, perhaps my call in life is to liberate the Koreans from the oppression regimes of the Hite, Cass, and OB Brewing companies).

Majoring in Political Science wasn't much of a question, as I knew I'd like the subject matter. I can't say I regret getting that degree, even though I'd be the first to acknowledge it's lack of inherent value in this globalized economy of doom that we find ourselves in (to my young college-bound and college-entrant friends - if you're of the mind, get a degree in engineering, mathematics, or something science-related. It will most likely pay great dividends in the future). That being said, studying Poly Sci and the related subject matter has probably changed me. I guess you could say I am a much more realistic person than I was five years ago graduating high school, where I was an outspoken idealist. Then again, so have the events of the last five or so years (Are we really dealing with a $1.3 trillion dollar deficit while also facing a declining middle class, lackluster pension schemes, and a healthcare system that is due for only marginal improvement due to that big political push we all witnessed?).

Perhaps the biggest decision point in my life came one month ago, when I found myself singing in dramatic and loud fashion to the tune of Barbara Streisand's "Woman in Love" after one-too-many cocktails. Not. exactly. my. finest. hour (The decision, btw, was to never combine Babs with a rum and diet. Bad things abound after such a mix). Who knows, perhaps tomorrow I will wake up and decide on something grand, something that will be a real "decision point". Until then, my next biggest decision involves whether or not to play Madden or go to bed early, as I'm tired.

I'm betting on the 49ers.

With More Change Comes More of the Same

One change I've noticed in myself these last few months has been the wearing away of the novelty of being abroad. For me, it's not adventurous, unique, or even foreign. Don't get me wrong - I am enjoying my experience in the Land of the Morning Hangover - but the experience has been almost domestic. I've seen things here I'd never see in the United States - men walking around with purses while being completely heterosexual, managers of grocery stores peeing on the side of a nearby competitor's store while being consistently intoxicated, and teenagers running up to me saying "Nice to meet you! You are handsome!" (more creepy than it sounds) - but the experience hasn't been earth shattering, and none of my pre-conceived notions have really been challenged or altered. And I could use something that would shatter my earth.

I take that back - Korean curriculums are not what they're cracked up to be back home. Evidence here (this is seriously the crap that we have to work with, and the reason why my BAC is 15% higher on average than it was back home).

The Gathering Storm

I woke up this morning to howling wind and fiercely pelting rain on my apartment. In a somewhat unusual situation for the Korean peninsula, a typhoon hit the entire country. Power went out, schools were either delayed or cancelled, and shoddily-built umbrellas were dispatched without mercy. Within a few hours, though, the storm had passed, classes came back into session, and I suppose new umbrellas were purchased (?).

Greed is Go(o)d

In the "This should piss you off if you're paying attention" segment of today's news, it's been reported that CEOs of firms that laid off people in 2009 made more money than their counterparts in companies that did not ($12 million on average). This includes a number of firms that were fairly well-positioned despite operating in the worst economic cycle in America since the Great Depression, and who were already making profit. Story here.

There is class warfare in America, and we're a bunch of fools if we don't recognize it.

There Are Always Reasons For Hope

Things might be bad - the bad economy, environmental disasters, Paris Hilton's cocaine charges, etc. - but there's always hope.

Ramblings and Such

- I had the good fortune of talking to one of my best and closest friends today, Bryan. We were musing…ok, moaning and bitching about how things have not turned out the way either of us would have wanted in terms of life at twenty three, and the fact that we can’t necessarily define what it is that we would have wanted. I think he exhibits a healthier attitude towards certain things than I do; he’s more logos whereas I am more pathos. I came into the conversation feeling lethargic and somewhat pissy after a mediocre day of lessons and teaching. I wasn’t on my A game to be sure, and I’m afraid it translated into the students being more apathetic than usual. I left the conversation feeling much more uplifted than I did coming in to it. Thank God for good friends.

If you’re wondering what he said to cheer me up, btw, it can be stated as simply que sera, sera. Nnneeeeeeee!!!!!

We’ve been friends for quite a long time, since 2000 I believe. We shared 8^th grade math together with Mr. Smith, who himself was quite a character. He referred to me as “buckethead”, for some reason. I guess my head looks like a bucket, I don’t know. I’m not exactly certain what brought on the conversation, but our friendship started when (I guess) I had mentioned something about watching a movie in which the main character was on a 747 and the flight attendant literally threw herself on him (“Would you like coffee, tea, or me?”), hit the good foot, and did the bad thing. For whatever reason, he didn’t give me that “What the hell are you are talking about?” look that I’d been used to for some time, and instead replied “I guess that was PAM AN Airlines!”, making a play on words from Pan Am. Two algebra lessons and twenty other crap jokes later, we were best friends. Still are to this day.

- It’s not an overstatement or an invitation to ethnocentrism to suggest that Korean society is homophobic. For whatever reasoning, many Koreans to this day won’t even acknowledge gay or lesbian people as having a different orientation from heterosexuals; they simply need a vaccine or something to cure their desires of whatever ails them. The influx of Evangelical Christianity on the peninsula certainly hasn’t made things easier for our brothers and sisters here, to be certain. Yet all the men wear man purses and spend countless hours doing their hair. Thus, there’s a new term to be invented: “He’s not gay; he’s Korean.” God love ‘em.

I had a girl in class today that had a pencil case with an English caption on it. It read, “Happy Virus.”

…

Think about that one for a second. Happy Virus. Two words that should not be thrown together, like blue apple, or Jersey Shore. One of the most entertaining parts of Korean society is the bad English that’s strewn along the t-shirts, backpacks, and other garments that most people wear.

Then again, Happy Virus does not measure up to the best line I’ve seen so far on a t-shirt: “I’m sorry, but I do not accept credit card.” Oh, honey, you’re just opening for business, aren’t you?!

On the lighter side of things, my mother is appearing in a number (at least 2) of commercials on behalf of the Titus campaign/AFSCME, attacking Joe Heck for his record on various issues. Whether or not the ads are effective, one thing is certain: Phyl is a star.

Back in 'Merica, Thinking about Tomorrow.

It’s been an interesting, invigorating, and reflective last week. I’ve been back Stateside visiting friends and family in Las Vegas and in Upstate New York, while also taking a side beach trip to Southern California. The break has been very much needed, but what I really need is a break of different sorts; I need a mental break. It seems that at any given moment, there are about 4 or 5 things running through my mind that cause me stress, delight, confusion, joy, angst, hunger, depression, and amazement. Perhaps this is the case for most people and they just don’t readily admit it, or perhaps I’m a few prescriptions away from being labeled as certifiable. I think a lot of it has to do with being 23 and wanting to do a lot while not knowing what exactly that is. I’ve found it useful to compile a short-list of the things that I want within the immediate 2 years and the coming 5 years: to be debt-free, conversational in Korean, more knowledgeable in history and politics; and, perhaps most importantly, learn how to relax and not let my wandering meandering mind control me. Speaking of the meanderings, here are the Top 5 thoughts running my head the past couple of days:

Marx was right – history is the tale of struggle between the wealthy and everyone else

Since high school, I’ve read textbook accounts of life for the ancients, during the medieval periods of European history, during the Industrial Revolution, etc. Basically, life for most people was a dreadful existence. Depending on your lot in life and the time period in which you inhabited, you were either a slave, serf, or common worker disposed to dreadful conditions. Oh, and you had to battle the common afflictions of malaria, dysentery, and plague-themed diseased. To be certain, we don’t have all of that in the West today as once existed…at least in the sense that general human existence isn’t perilous. But the metrics for judging the progression of a society (wholly subjective, I grant) indicate in large measure that things haven’t really changed all that much. The wealthy still control the world – not just exert wide-ranging influence, but control.

http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

This gives you some idea as to how wealth is spread.

In the US, a mere 10% of the population wields 85% of its wealth. Now the more politically conservative and ideologically capitalist segments of society would roll their eyes in contempt for a person even bringing that number up. For whatever reason, they seem to find that it’s fair a few hold the lion’s share of the GDP pie. Is it really fair that everyone else – most of whom contribute to that GDP and wealth creation – don’t get to share in the prosperity? In the last twenty years, wages have remained stagnant, and even declined for most people if you account for inflation. At the same time, healthcare and education costs have skyrocketed, BUT the United States has seen some pretty fantastic growth in the money pot overall; that is, there is more money to go around due to the hard work and increased productivity of most people. Yet we don’t all share in it. The story has been that the rich have gotten richer and everyone else has been ignored and shouldered to the side. The 2001 Bush tax cuts and the Capital Gains cuts of 2003 are examples of this, with their havoc being wrought on the federal budget further proof that the Republican Right doesn’t care for anyone with a net income of less than $1 million. Then again, the Democrats haven’t exactly been inspiring anyone as of late.

So more money is being created (even seeing healthy 5% GDP growth at some points during the generally dark Bush year), yet wealth is being even further redistributed from the bottom 80% on up. That’s a funny little phrase, redistribution of wealth. Why do those on the left seem to clench their lips when getting in that discussion or debate? I would personally welcome it. Pres. Obama got in trouble by saying that we need to “spread the wealth” to Joe the Plumber (isn’t he a correspondent for FOX News now?). Something is a miss to me about what all the fuss is about, given that so many kids can’t get a decent education, retirees‘ pensions and social security are in trouble, and we have people dying due to lack of health insurance. Do we really want to live in a society that celebrates the glamour of a few at the expense of everyone else? Then again, much of the inequities in the system can be placed on the people in the Republic, for only half vote, and many that vote end up voting against their own economic interest due to things like guns, gays, and God (who’s just ecstatic that our society doesn’t seem to value the sick or poor like those damned agnostic Europeans). In this sense, the Democratic Party should have our sympathy on the left – how can you convince people to vote for you if they’re willing vote against themselves?

I just don’t know.

There are a few things that I know, a lot more that I don’t.

I know that I’m very tall and freckly, and that for whatever reason I get on well with most people.

I *know* there is a God, that He/She/It/Platypus is beyond comprehension (which is more than just a convenient cop-out to not explain things), though I don’t know why God makes it so difficult to locate Him/Her/It/Platty.

I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I don’t even know what not wanting to do with my life even means, except that it gives me far more problems than I should let it…especially in light of the fact that every voice of reason around me tells me to shut the hell up and quit the bitching over the worrying (though the voices do so in ways much more tactful and elegant, to be certain).

I don’t know what the purpose of my life is to be, and I do know that I find it particularly frustrating because any well-lived life requires a purpose, whether the person living that life creates his or her own purpose or finds an “external” purpose to which he or she attaches to.

I know there are people in my life whom I love very dearly. I don’t know why one or two of them has had such a profound effect on me, particularly when the love was not returned in kind.

I don’t know why the only place to get a sandwich at the Syracuse Airport is before security and not after. Seriously, Kitty wanted a pastrami.

I don’t know why I sometimes refer to myself as Kitty. It gets disturbing and ridiculous for some, I’m sure.

I don’t know why I feel better for laying all of this out there. I just know that I do.

I need chipotle. NEED.

I have a 6am to SFO and then an 11am to Seoul this Friday; I will need massive Chipotle burritos to bolster my spirits and see me through.

Marriage is (mostly) a sham heteronormative construct.

Think of all the married couples you know, and the people that have been together a long time in your lifetime. How many of them made it work? Like actually made it work? The kind where they’ve been together beyond something that could be labeled as co-dependency or doing what was required of them? I can only think of a few. Perhaps that’s because the idea of marriage as this holy great thing is a big load of crap. Jesus was never married, and I never remember reading anything in the Bible that spoke of marriage as being something elevated beyond chastity (though I’m certain to be corrected…and I welcome it!)

I love apple pie.

Seriously.