dream

click on the photo to enlarge

Angles.

Rainstorm is keeping me awake. I'm dry and warm, but the sound of rain has always kept me awake. It's something I've certainly complaind about many times. Or how about this one. A fridge and cupboards full of food yet I can't find anything to eat. Perhaps my pesrpective is corrupted First World Problems read by Third World People.

and. . .

I should mention I'm really glad to have met Mark and Rebecca here on Blogger (over our mutual love for Compassion International). I'm alienated from nearly every local friend I have right now, and it's nice to be able to be honest with you guys. Thank you.

Casualty

American Dream

noun

1.

the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American.

2.

a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S.

I don't even think the first definition applies to what we consider the American dream anymore. It's become all about that personal happiness and material comfort. All we dream of anymore is marriage, kids, owning a home, having a successful career, and driving a nice car. 

I see how blind we are to the first definition. Do we ensure freedom and equality and opportunity for every American? What about the children who are sold for sex every night? Where is their freedom or equality or opportunity? And what about our neighbours? Could we ever be troubled to think about anyone but ourselves? Could we be bothered to love someone across a border or across the ocean?

I feel like every extra day I spend in Orange County just drowns me in the American Dream. There are so many broken people there. They need love. But I feel my great weakness is resisting the way my environment suffocates me. I don't know how to fight the pressure. I don't know how to even breathe when I'm surrounded by concrete idols.


My greatest fear is being a casualty of the American Dream. Of a life of schedules and patterns. I want a life that astounds me. I want a heart for people. And I want to love solitude again.

I don't know how to breathe in brown air.

note the gym to the right of the bridge. I've been in it. you can work out and watch 12 lanes of cars speed by. I suppose it's better than watching TV but I still don't get it. 

I'm supposed to feel special for living here.

downtown is dwarfed by the mountains.

I love those huge clouds. How blue the sky is. The purple mountain's majesty.

I really miss the crunch of gravel under my feet being the loudest thing I heard while walking the trails. I miss the freezing water of the creeks. Watching snowflakes tumble from the sky. The silence and the solitude and the realisation of how insignificant I am.

I just need a chance to breathe again. I need a reminder of how small I am. 

"We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls." -Mother Teresa

Metric "Twilight Galaxy"

Just discovered Metric, and they sound good acoustic too!

Did they tell you 

You should grow up 

When you wanted 

To dream 

Did they warn you 

Better shape up 

If you want to succeed 

I don't know about you 

Who are they talking to?

They're not talking to me 

I'm higher than high 

Lower than deep 

I'm doing it wrong 

Singing along 

Did I ask you 

For attention

When affection 

Is what I need 

Thinking sorrow 

Was perfection 

I would wallow 

Till you told me 

There's no glitter in the gutter 

There's no twilight galaxy 

I'm higher than high 

Lower than deep 

I'm doing it wrong 

Singing along 

Go higher than high 

Go lower than deep 

Keep doing it wrong 

Keep singing along 

I'm alright now 

Come on baby 

I've seen all 

The demons 

That you've got 

If you're not alright now 

Come on baby 

I'll pick you up 

And take you 

Anywhere you want 

Anything you want

Just One

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

sometimes there is only black and white and no shades of grey. 

I've been thinking about something I posted not too long ago. And through my pondering coupled with some web surfing tonight, I've found something pretty cool to talk about.

“Today it is fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately it is not fashionable to talk with them.”–Mother Teresa 

I just bought a T-Shirt from Just One. Check out this website--One Voice To End Slavery. It's a social network for abolitionists. And that is how I found Just One's sites, like OBWL



And this is what I am going to do (once I can actually ride my bike). I've spent the last few days thinking about one of my favourite spots to go play Ingress, at a park in Costa Mesa. I was actually interviewed by a local news channel there about the "homeless situation". The city of Costa Mesa treated them like a nuisance instead of seeing them as people. They spent $60,000 tearing down a picnic area to try to get the homeless to stop sleeping there. When I go there at night after work to play Ingress, I see no difference in the amount of people there. So instead of spending $60,000 to care for these people, the city just gave them less shelter. 

OBWL seeks to encourage every day citizens to fill their backpacks, riding bags, tubs, etc with new socks, toiletries, dog treats, bus passes, and other simple necessities jump on your bikes and ride, spending time with your neighbors who live under the stars. It is our hope that OBWL Chapters will start in different cities or neighborhoods throughout the US.