John's Baby

I knocked on the door gently and I was unsure if anyone heard it. I almost knocked again.

"Come in," John called from behind the door. I turned the knob and pushed cautiously into the hospital room. The whole place smelled like antiseptic and latex.

John sat down. Apparently, he had stood up when he heard me knock. As I entered the room, his wife nodded a hello to me as she sipped Sprite through a straw.

"Would you like to hold her?" John asked, his voice quivering slightly. He stood up again.

"Can I?"

"Of course, of course."

He picked the baby up gently from her plastic crib, making sure her tiny head was supported by one of his largish hands. He brought her over to where I stood in the entrance way and held her out to me. I took the baby carefully and held her close to my body. I held the baby awkwardly, like someone trying to carry too many grocery bags, but no one seemed to mind.  I looked sheepishly at John and then at his wife. They both smiled back at me warmly. John stepped back towards his wife and sat down beside her. They watched me as I began to pace. I did not see them watching me because I was looking at the baby.

She slept. And while she slept, she smiled. I began to move all about the room, rocking the baby to and fro. She did not stir. After a few minutes, I broke the silence.

"How are you?" I asked the mother, looking up from the baby for the first time.

"I'm fine. I'm very tired and I'm hurting," she replied. Her eyes were dull, but her face was vibrant. She was practically glowing.  She was a small woman, but she was very strong.

"Her name is Eva."

The mother's face flushed with pride.

I stopped walking and sat down. John quickly joined me. We looked at the baby and she sneezed, screwed up her face, and yawned. Soon after, quietly, her face relaxed into the same easy smile she had.

"I've never seen a baby smile like that before. Not when it's so little," I said.

"She's beautiful," John whispered, looking from the baby to his wife. "She's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen."

Tim's Big Break

Tim hung up the phone and quickly clapped his hands with delight.  He had never been quite this excited before.  He had just finished a very important conversation with his boss, Steve.

He stopped clapping and looked around.

"Hooray!" he screamed suddenly and at the top of his lungs, "I'm finally going to wait on my first table tonight!"  A little bit of spittle clung to the corner of his mouth.

His eyes were wild and slightly glazed.  His hair was a tumult and his glasses askew.  He looked quickly over the room.

Tim grabbed the person nearest to him, and looked intently into his eyes.

"Did you hear me?" he mouthed inaudibly, "Did you hear me?"

The man nodded hurriedly and looked down at his feet.

Everyone in the gym locker room looked at him uncomfortably.

Tim, not noticing, jolted out of the locker room without his pants on.  A line of toilet paper was still attached to one of his shoes.

He power walked confidently away to his car knowing that his big break had finally come.

"No one will ever laugh at me again," he whispered harshly to himself.

Merry Christmas

For the first time since I was a boy, my family had a white Christmas.  And as my little sister said, after much thought, the snow was the greatest present of all.  This even after I hit her with a snowball.  Merry Christmas 4 days late!

O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of Thy only Son Jesus Christ; Grant that as we joyfully receive Him for our Redeemer, so may we with sure confidence behold Him when He shall come to be our Judge; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

-THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER-

Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast made known the Incarnation of Thy Word by the testimony of a glorious star, which when the wise men beheld, they adored Thy majesty with gifts; grant that the star of Thy righteousness may always appear in our hearts, and our treasure consist in giving thanks to Thee.  Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

-THE GELASIAN SACRAMENTARY-

Technocracy?

I was watching T.V. yesterday with my mom and dad, and a Windows commercial came on.  The commercial depicted a frustrated mother looking at recently snapped pictures of her distracted and rambunctious family.  Needless to say, only the mom is looking at the camera in the photos.  Using Windows' new photo shopping tools, the mother makes changes to the photos to make it appear as though everyone is looking straight at the camera.  The commercial ends with the mother saying, "Windows gives me the family that Nature never could."  No emphasis added.

I found myself disturbed by that last sentence.  "Windows gives me the family that Nature never could."  It would seem that the undercurrent idea in a seemingly comedic and lighthearted ad portrays human creators as greater than the Creator.  This commercial states that creations, specifically man's creations, overshadow those things which preceded them.  In a handful of articles I have read over the past years, my views on technology and the dangers inherent have radically changed.  I never thought too ill of the rapid advances in technology.  Other than making life simpler and easier, I felt that it had no adverse effect on my life and the lives of those I knew and loved.  How could it?  I have only presently become aware of some of the detrimental and dehumanizing effects this advancement has on lives here and abroad.  We are told time and time again that technology seeks to eliminate the age old dilemma of separation due to distance and time.  However, the very opposite seems to have taken place, especially when communication devices are concerned.  The masses are far too absorbed by their cell phones (texts, emails, games, etc.) to carry on a real, genuine conversation or to tell a gripping story.  Certainly all of us know of times when we were so absorbed in our phones that we missed out on what was going on around us.  How many times have we missed a conversation with someone who was right in front of us because we were texting?  However, we shouldn't limit the trouble of technology with phones.  Television, the internet, and cars are all culpable at moving us farther and farther apart from one another in a variety of ways.  Knowledge of facts seems to have increased exponentially, but analysis and logic have declined to depressingly low levels.  Patience and silence abdicate to noise and convenience.  Physical bodies are replaced by a mediated, plastic substitute.

Read the article below.  I have hopes that it will provoke you to find and read more on this subject.  And, as the article convicts, read all of it.  I chanced upon a commercial for Google's new Droid phones immediately after reading this article.  A man was sitting in a meeting using his phone to access information concerning the discussion at hand.  As the man used the phone, the skin on his arms slowly peeled back to reveal that he was turning into a robot or "Droid" as he used the phone.  Creepy.  I hope to post more articles on this topic in the near future that will better explain my thoughts on this matter.  I know I have present technology only vaguely, but I hope to elaborate my views in later posts.  This is a general introduction to the discomfort I have with rampant and reckless development of technology for the masses.  Anyway, enjoy.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

Hawthorne and Halloween

In honor of All Hallow's Eve, I thought it appropriate to post one of my favorite short stories, "Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  While Edgar Allen Poe is typified as the author of everything macabre and spooky (I used to love reading his poems on Halloween), Hawthorne also explores the hidden darkness in human nature in this chilling tale.  In the story, a young puritan travels away from home on a dreary night to make a deal with the devil himself.  Hiding his wicked plans from his lovely wife, Faith, and the good townspeople of Salem, he embarks into the woods leaving all he knows behind.  After meeting a traveller on the road who we can only surmise is Satan, Brown soon learns that all the people in Salem and the surrounding region, including Goody Cloyse, his aged catechism teacher, have all previously made a pact with Satan and are gathering that night to initiate he and his wife into their cult.  Learning that his wife is being born along on the very same evil errand as himself if more than enough to raise Brown from his stupor.  The intent of Goodman's journey becomes one of salvation rather than damnation as he tears through the woods at a superhuman pace to rescue his wife from destruction.  Just as all seems lost, Brown comes to consciousness the next day in the middle of the forest, not knowing whether his fantastic quest was a horrible nightmare or an actual event.  Unable to discern whether his adventure in the woods was real or not, Brown's faith in his wife and fellow townspeople is all but lost at the mere notion that they are all complicit in the work of the evil one.  Brown's disillusionment with his fellow man, consequent loss of faith (and Faith, you can think more about that), and resulting bitterness are a worthwhile study by anyone who wishes to challenge their faith and thinking in a creative way on the 31st of October.  Below is a link to the story.

"Young Goodman Brown" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Happy Halloween and happy reading.    

A Brief Introduction

Welcome, friends.

I have toyed with the idea of starting this blog for some time now, so I am excited to begin.  

The purpose of this interweb exercise is essentially two-fold.  Firstly, I want to get back into the habit of writing, which is something I have been away from since college (way back in December of '09).  Writing, or writing well*, brings me a considerable amount of joy, and I sincerely wish to find my way back to consistently jotting down many of my ideas, thoughts, stories, poems, etc., etc.   The transition from thought to written word is a great challenge, so, for myself, a certain sense of accomplishment and wonder accompany everything I write.  Because of this, I have hopes that others will find as much enjoyment reading this blog as I do in writing it.

Which, I suppose, brings me sort of clumsily and haphazardly to the second purpose of my blog - to inform.  Now, I am not so presumptuous to presume that I will be informing anyone of things that they do not already know (or I might, I just don't want to be presumptuous).  I am all too aware of the shortcomings I have as a thinker and a writer.  However, I sincerely feel that I have recently come across a few items, namely articles and essays, that may be of some use to any and all who choose to read over my posts.  To clarify, I want to inform others of what I have recently been informed of myself.  I wish to stimulate deep thinking and challenge presuppositions not only in my own life, but in the lives of others.  I have a great feeling that myself and those people around me think wrongly about things more often than they think rightly.  And I want to fight against wrong thinking in a bad way.

Anyway, as the title suggests, this is brief.  More to come soon.     

*As a disclaimer, those things which I believe to be written well may or may not be written well.  While I have been out of the habit of writing for nearly a year, the habit of bad grammar and making up words never goes away.