February 7, 2007
Today, we talked about inflation in WWI in my Canadian national history class. It got me drawing parallels with human needs.

Inflation is

a persistent increase in the level of consumer prices or a persistent decline in the purchasing power of money, caused by an increase in available currency and credit beyond the proportion of available goods and services (from Dictionary.com)

Can social inflation be

a persistent increase in the level of human need or a persistent decline in social services, caused by an increase in economic, social, and spiritual poverty combined with social service cuts beyond the proportion of available people to address and improve these human needs?

Not sure if I like that definition, so I need to think about that one. I did google the phrase "social inflation" and found one blog, written by a U.S. soldier, that used the phrase in a war context. I scanned it briefly and noted that he made a reference to the generation of WWI people as the "Greatest Generation." It's a term I've heard of before, and for the life of me, I can't shake the thought that my generation is the polar opposite. Officially, we're the non-descriptive "Y generation." That's probably because it's not nice to offically call us the "Worst Generation," or the "Self-absorbed Generation" (although, I suppose the "Me Generation" of the 80's alludes to that).

Nowadays, when I see headphones jammed up someone's ear (which is way too often), I just want to rip them out and tell them to pay less attention to their own comforts and more to the discomfort all around. We just can't seem to survive a 15-minute walk home without some sort of distraction, can we? So damn pathetic.

As you can see, I've been grappling with the issue of addressing great needs when there's so much apathy, and more specifically, how I can live incarnationally. Honestly, I see myself as more part of the problem than part of the solution right now. Heck, I can't even articulate anything further than the problems and apathy I see around me. It's probably because I don't want to escape the apathy myself.

Better leave this post off with other people's words. It's sort of a contradictory and random collection from this past week, but here goes:

"When the next generation asks us what we were doing when 30,000 children died every day in Africa, what will we say?" - on a friend's MSN

"...we, the church, are a called people." - Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling

"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." - Frederick Buechner

"We are trying to be heroes, and the sooner we let such dreams go the better." - Gordon T. Smith, Courage and Calling

"March on, my soul; be strong!" - Judges 5:21b (TNIV)

February 3, 2007
Ahh, stupid mouth. Stupid opinions. Stupid passions. The older I get, the stupider I feel. What do I know?

All I think has been thought before.
In the company of friends I've never met, I hear my words eloquently expressed.
I still grapple now, yet find the struggles resolved, but untied.
All I think has been thought before, but I'm still tasked to think again until the answer is my own.
Pick up these dusty ropes.
There's a long way yet to go.

On another note, I decided to stream Air1 today, with the main aim to discover some new stuff (I do believe that I found Mat Kearney this way, among others). Comes from Elliot's comment last night about how he wasn't the music junkie that I am. Self-confirmation bias. :oP Anyway, they played this sweet little song that turned out to be Relient K (really, pick up an acoustic guitar, sing a few sweet lines, and I'm won over). Matt Thiessen is as emo as I am. I love him.

SONG OF THE MOMENT

Am I at the point of no improvement?
What of the death I still dwell in?
I try to excel, but I feel no movement
Can I be free of this unreleasable sin?

Never underestimate my Jesus
You're telling me that there's no hope
I'm telling you you�re wrong

Never underestimate my Jesus
When the world around you crumbles
He will be strong, He will be strong

I throw up my hands
"Oh, the impossibilities"
Frustrated and tired
Where do I go from here?
Now I'm searching for the confidence I've lost so willingly
Overcoming these obstacles is overcoming my fear

I think I can't, I think I can't
But I think you can, I think you can
Gather my insufficiencies and place them in your hands

"For the Moments I Feel Faint," Relient K (from The Anatomy of Tongue in Cheek)
"Never under... estimate my Jesus." Indeed, he is my strength. How often I forget that in those down days. So silly.

February 1, 2007
First things first. Let me update this site before I get going on my homework! :oP

Wow... I can't believe it's February already. School always flies by so quickly... it never ceases to creep me out! Things to look forward to in February: JOY Retreat, completing half of my time at placement, beginning of Lent, finalizing Europe plans...

Anyway, don't have much else to say. Mainly wanted to archive the old stuff today.