Here are a few quotes I found interesting. I hope you do as well.
1. "If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day." John Wheeler
I found this interesting because I am strange. Many people don't know that I have a completely goofy side, but I do.
2. "The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it." Franklin P. Jones
But, man, are they there to notice when you are late. Everybody and their mother seemed to have shown up right on time. :-)
3. "I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it." Voltaire
Considering this comes from an atheist (or atheistic person), I could infer that his enemies are Christians (among others) and boy do Christians often look ridiculous. Now, I am not talking about the following whole following Jesus, which very often appears foolish to the world. I am talking about Christians who say and do things that are, quite simply, dumb.
Like Pat Robertson, saying some off-the-wall stuff, the video on the web of the charasmatic woman suggesting we need a "Holy Ghost enema" (not kidding), Fred Phelps and his like that protest at an AIDS victims funeral with signs saying "God hates fags". [It is one thing to disagree with someone and their lifestyle choice and another to be completely rude and offensive for the wrong reasons.]. There are others, but I will stop there. :-)
4. "You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing." Michael Pritchard
Me likey.
5. "America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week." Evan Esar
Ha. How true. As much as I would not mind getting paid more, I would be concerned if it were the money that teachers were getting into the field of education for. The cynic that I can be would be higly suspicious and I think the quality of professionals would drop dramatically, if teachers got paid big bucks. Were they in it for the kids or the money?
Happy Birthday to my friend Travis. Be sure to check out his site Fivacious on the right. He has a new one, and maybe he'll drop us a line with the address.
Happy Tuesday,
Derrick
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3 comments:
<< I found this interesting because I am strange. >>
If that is something you say proactively and by your own admission, you are strange. :D
<< There are others, but I will stop there. :-) >>
But your observations would not be well-balanced if you weren’t to mention another group. I speak the group of Christian apologists who try to sound smart, or who think they’re smart, but sound like a bunch of naive, sophomoric heels when they try to go beyond the simplest of biblical hermeneutics. (Yet even this is something they mess up horribly.) This group includes even the giants of the popular Christian literatti, and so I probably speak even of people who are reading this right now, yourself not included; for the mistakes of the leaders end up being the mistakes of the followers.
<< Now, I am not talking about the following whole following Jesus, which very often appears foolish to the world. >>
Of late, I’ve spent much more time around unbelievers than believers. And then one night, having gotten back from work and sat down to watch some TV while there was a church-service TV show on, something dawned on me: evangelicals really do seem freakish, and not in a good way.
To make a long story short, there need not be something absolutely corny about concepts of goodness, holiness, piety, and doing good works; there also need not be something absolutely corny even about having men sing songs in gatherings of the saints or having them pray or even in their speaking of love or stuff like that. Nevertheless, evangelicals have become a freakish, repulsive lot of people who quite plainly are repulsive not only in some subjective aethestic or romantic/ideal way, but on some level they do seem indisputedly corny and repulsive while many of the men among them seem emasculated. May be interesting to hear what your unbelieving friends and co-workers think about Evangelical Christians the next time you ask them what they think about these people.
<< The cynic that I can be would be higly suspicious and I think the quality of professionals would drop dramatically, if teachers got paid big bucks. Were they in it for the kids or the money? >>
I don’t know. Even if teaching were to pay big bucks, many of the people who go into teaching might still end up leaving after 5 years or so--5 years of dealing with immature, evil, detestable youngsters does not make for happiness and a high quality of life for many of us. Some of us insist on having at least some measurable quantity of contentment as it relates to our job, career, or profession, so maybe things won’t get too much than they are now if they start paying grade-school teachers $80K/year.
Actually, it might be nice if instead of trying to entice and to reward people with money they would instead let teachers beat their unruly students when needed, or else let a classroom-dedicated proctor do that for them. Then you match that with some plan that will cut the amount of time spent grading homework and preparing lesson plans by 3/4, and now the whole grade-school teaching thing sounds like a better idea of employment. After all, one of elementary education’s ugliest quasi-secrets is that that vacation time you get in the summer if offset by the time you spend grading papers and preparing lesson plans, ha ha!
Kwame,
"If that is something you say proactively and by your own admission, you are strange. :D"
That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.
It is true that much of "Christian" broadcasting makes Christians look very silly, and not for the right reasons. However, I think we are in a time where Christians are starting to take their talents and the use of them to glorify God in a more serious manner, particularly in the arts, and entertainment business.
Christians are striving to do better work, not just to get the message out, because we know that production value is often greatly sacrificed by trying to get a message out.
One problem this causes, I think, is that the only ones who are getting this message is the church; that is, most people won't purposefully go see a "cheesy" movie, so us Christians sit around and watch the Christian movies with our Christian frineds.
But, as a eluded to earlier, I think Christians are starting again to do good work first, practicing their skills and talents and then getting the message out. (Look at the difference between Narnia and Left Behind).
---As to the teacher thing, I can't say I would be sad to get paid 80K/year for doing what I'm doing. I think, regardless of what the media or governments say, there are many fine teachers doing whatever they can to educate our young.
Gotta run,
Derrick
<< It is true that much of "Christian" broadcasting makes Christians look very silly, and not for the right reasons. >>
But then, I’m talking about church services themselves, not Praise-a-thon on TBN or something.
<< ...That is, most people won't purposefully go see a "cheesy" movie, so us [sic] Christians sit around and watch the Christian movies with our Christian frineds. >>
No, we won’t go to a theater to see them--instead we just sit back and watch the corny Christian movies that they show on TBN every now and then. And you know, many of them are not up to Hollywood’s top standards, and most are perfectly corny. But darn it, the corny ones are still pretty fun to watch, after you’ve accepted that you are now watching a movie that does not exemplify cinematic excellence.
<< But, as a eluded to earlier, I think Christians are starting again to do good work first, practicing their skills and talents and then getting the message out. (Look at the difference between Narnia and Left Behind). >>
Yes, but neither of these have Mr. T packing heat, ready to bust persecuted Christians out of prison. “Judgment” is classic, and you gotta watch that one if none other. I’d choose that one over a Narnia movie any day.
<< ---As to the teacher thing, I can't say I would be sad to get paid 80K/year for doing what I'm doing. I think, regardless of what the media or governments say, there are many fine teachers doing whatever they can to educate our young. >>
Interestingly enough, I happen to know that in CA one can make $70K/year just by teaching. Not too bad, even if you lose a lot of that money paying Uncle Sam, state of CA, and the people that will keep your money till you retire, if you retire.
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