...the question of goodness--though our foremost value currently--should not be at the forefront of our intentions....

Perhaps, then when national disasters happen the US could respond accordingly. Not doling out a mere 35 million dollars and recieving the branding of, "stingy" by folks on the international scene. Also, perhaps recognizing though that the restraint of a great nation goes along way as well. Iraq, I suspect, would not have developed into quite the international quagmire that it did had the US excercized restraint equal to its greatness.

Our obsession with all things good, and by virtue, all things evil. Has trapped America into a color and nuance blind tailspin. We strap on the goggles of goodness and look for evil and erradicate it. Obliterating all traces of good along with the little evil that may have existed.

This good / evil dichotomy may prove hurtful.

[via a badchristian blog]

I am sick of hearing arguements against, or for, God (in whatever form or tradition) being piggybacked on the deaths of so many people that most of those talking the loudest have never met, seen, or given a single thought of love or hate towards in their entire lives. Sure, a disaster like this is terrible, but we all act as if this brings up some kind of new issues when in reality it simply them on the front page of the newspaper. How many people die every year of aids? malnutrition? Should I go on? So what, this new natural disaster simply provide a way for people to yell louder about their particular position that they already held before, and probably will hold afterwards?

Certainly, there are questions to be asked, and attempts should be made at answering them. But lets at least try to remember they aren't new questions, and more people dying doesn't make them any more or less intense (no disrespect meant for those who have and are bearing the brunt of this latest tragedy).

[from this post via The Road to Daejeon, emphasis mine]

What would Jesus Listen to?

[via The Invisible Sun]

Calculating the Cost

How much is too little for the tsumani victims?. [via The Eagle and Child]

Moreover,

While relief is necessary to help people immediately affected by the crisis, it's not going to solve their greater problem - long term employment, the devastating hit to the overall economy. The media isn't helping either - the inbred urge to sensationalize paints a picture that may be worse than it is.

[via small dead animals]

Putting the tsumani help in perspective:

Imagine if every day the headlines in every newspaper in the world and every television show was: "29,000 children died yesterday from preventable diseases and malnutrition" and then the rest of the stories alternated between detailed personal accounts of families where this devestation was taking place, and side bar features detailing what was happening in advanced industrial countries, like this: "all this suffering was happening while the wealthiest people in the world enjoyed excesses of food, worried about how to lose weight because they eat too much, spent monies trying to convince farmers not to grow too much food for fear that doing so would drive down prices, and were cutting the taxes of their wealthiest rather than seeking to redistribute their excess millions of dollars of personal income." If the story were told that way every day, the goodness of human beings would rebel quickly against these social systems that made all this suffering possible, suffering far far far far far in excess of all the suffering caused by tsunamis and other natural disasters.

--Rabbi Michael Lerner, The Tikkun Community

Thanks to Mainsteam Baptist for the reminder!

There are times I worry, anticipate that every motive I've possessed over the past year will only bury me deeper in this grave. I'm being buried alive, but there's no bell for me to ring.

... I tried to be apathetic and it was difficult. The first tear had fallen and the others wanted to follow. But I wouldn't allow them. I conquered. I always obliterate it before anyone can see it ensnare me.

[via Llama Drama]

"The world is too small now, isn't it?"
[via Bene Diction Blogs On (if the previous link seems off then try here instead]

Life goes on, with or without grubby admirers standing around watching... with or without me, beautiful moments disappear.

[via Greenhorn]

For the past

If sadness gripped you in the last year

[via Deluded Wine]

---

Release into comfort-
this auspicious connect;
dawning of promises
kept.

[via Been There...Still There]

[a poem I wrote yesterday]

Constancy

Time is filled--

as the sun will rise tomorrow
and the sun will set today
while it stays without rest

Still, it patiently traces the spinning world
As it circles the hearth that enlightens.

it almost feels like home
so far, far away
out of orbit

In the meantime the moon
Becomes a pesky fly to swat
As we chase the fading past
From our position.

It would be a crude and cruel joke
If we were really surprised--

if only we could laugh it off
if only we could cry it out
if only the ponderous pace
could lead us astray.

It all seems vain when time gets full.