Hi. I’m back.
Exactly a year ago I wrote about the end of the american empire. This new updated chart shows what it will look like after the bailout goes through.
Six months ago everyone was saying we would be coming out of the downturn by the fall. Right. Now what will it be– 2009? 2011? We haven’t changed anything we’re doing so you’d have to be mad to believe the outcome would be any different.
Listening to people talk is troubling. “If we’re bailing out wall street, shouldn’t we bail out the innocent people who have to pay their mortgage every month?” Which is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place. This underlying presumption that we deserve something. And the political demagogues oblige. But you’re not innocent and you don’t deserve that house or that car. “I know, but, but”–no. No. NO. just no.
Last week when we ran out of gas everyone everyone knew it was only for a couple days. Yet two men in Franklin attacked each other with bats at a gas station. Because human nature is the same today as it’s always been. The hearts of men of two men in Williamson county are no different than the hearts of two men in 1943 who made families crawl into a pit and doused them with gasoline– because they were running low on bullets. If you have any allusions otherwise, read Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland — the one book I read in college that really shook me up.
I’m not sure where all this is going but it feels really ominous– it feels like it’s going to get really bad.
This time I really hope I’m wrong.
Every day I get to do meaningful and challenging work alongside some awesome friends. There’s not much more I can ask for than this.
In every station new trials and troubles call for more grace than I can afford
And where can I go but to my dear savior for mercy that pours from boundless stores?
He made a way for the fallen to rise, perfect in glory and sacrifice.
In sweet communion my need he supplies and saves and keeps and guards my life.
To thee I run now with great expectation to honor you with trust like a child.
My hopes and desires seek a new destination and all that you ask your grace will provide.
Grace upon grace, every sin repaired, every void restored, you will find him there.
In every turning he will prepare you, with grace upon grace.
why can’t i configure my bank account to send me a text message every time a transaction is processed? it would prevent millions of dollars of fraud, so somebody needs to do it.
I’ve considered a concept at different times that I think is finally starting to see some fruition… One of the core reasons facebook and other social websites work is because they are built on the idea of privacy and control. You have total control over what kind of image you project to other people. For some time I’ve been waiting for someone to come out with a “wikipedia for humans” — a completely open directory of everyone that you don’t have any control over — the net effect just being endless gossip. If you offend anyone for virtually any reason they will be able to say whatever they want about you anonymously and you would have no recourse. That’s scary but also fascinating. It could severely undermine the social fabric. Will people learn to be more transparent? I don’t think they will have a choice.
All of this comes to mind because of a new site that has been in the news the past couple weeks– JuicyCampus– that’s doing this exact thing. At the moment it’s more limited to on-campus gossip, but pandora’s box is getting ever closer to being opened…
my brother kris said something to me in passing the other day that got me thinking.
think back about all the people, past and present, who have been deeply affected by the gospel. people like jonathan edwards, cs lewis, billy graham, the list goes on… i’ve realized that you wouldn’t really categorize any of them as “happy” people… is there something about the gospel that make people unhappy? i think so… maybe when you really get the gospel you realize just how deeply jacked up you and the world are. you realize there is something a lot better than all this. you realize there’s good reason to be, in a way, quite discontent.
i think when you really get the gospel it probably drives you into uncomfortable places by definition. so it makes you take everything more seriously, pushing you into deep joy but also deep longing.
i want to do some more reading and thinking about all this.
found this amazing documentary from a few years back. pretty astounding insight about how we find validation and significance by buying crap and comparing ourselves to others…
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=b-dib6hSlcU
…it’s also intriguing to me that people on the left/atheist/hippy/environmentalists tend to be the biggest proponents of simple living and reducing consumption. To me that’s somewhat confounding because I can’t think of many reasons to reduce consumption without the gospel… If this is all there is to life then it seems like endless void-filling consumption isn’t really such a bad idea after all.
There’s a great article that just came out from IxDA Interaction 08 conference on the importance of design and craftsmanship in creating great products.
http://ajaxian.com/archives/interaction08-ixds-in-savannah-alan-cooper
What a nice reminder that the first-to-market mantra that is drilled into our heads is not entirely true.
