what makes me, me – part 2
Most of our community group meetings open up with an icebreaker type question. Last night’s was “What Is Your Favorite Holiday?” See, I have a problem with Christmas (not because I don’t want to celebrate Jesus’ birthday) because it’s 5 days after mine and well, I like celebrating birthdays but it always was hard to do when I was young because Christmas was always the same week. Heck, it’s still hard to do now because everyone’s already left for their vacations… I never got cupcakes in my kindergarten class, rarely got birthday cards outside of immediate family and best friends and yes, I’m still dealing with those issues 
my election day tracker (hand made!)
Anyways, I thought it about it and went through the year and thought when was the last time I wanted to throw a party for a holiday? ELECTION DAY! So yes, I let part of my inner nerd out and said Election Day. The response from the room was what anyone would expect So I went on to explain about my wonderful Election Day party that I planned in my head for like a year… I even made a huge color in map with white boards above it to keep track of electoral votes!
Let me explain why I like Election Day.
1) I love government and politics. I majored in International Studies with an emphasis in Political Science in school but prior to that I was a straight Poli Sci major and took a course in Campaigns & Elections. I learned a lot about what goes into campaigning cause we had to work one and everything and had a new outlook on it all.
2) Yes, I am only 1 vote. BUT IT’S ONE VOTE! If I didn’t vote, there would be one less. AND elections are starting to get so close now (i.e. Minnesota Senate Race 2008, Presidential Election 2000, etc.), what if someone wins by just 1 vote? You’d be glad you voted!
3) There are so many people in the world who are not blessed to live in a democratic society where they can freely vote. Or if they can, they might get shot while going to the polling place if they are supporting an opposing party. We are lucky. I can go to my local polling place with full confidence that I can vote for whoever I want, freely. It does makes me sad when people don’t vote, but that’s their choice. I’ve gotten in crazy arguments on it before just because we are lucky to live in a democracy and there are people who would die to have the chance to vote.
Election Day is a great holiday. No we don’t get the day off work and no, there’s no gifts but it’s still exciting to see the poll numbers come in at the end of the day and know that I helped contribute to them
inauguration day
i spent most of today in and out of sleep (i have a bad cold) but was sure to stay awake for the inauguration of our country’s 44th president.
being a complete political nerd i celebrate any political occasion but to see so many people celebrating too blew me away. politics is one of those subjects that you shouldn’t discuss and it’s in casual conversations everyday! i love that people are beginning to have hope in a political system that, to me, is truly amazing. our country’s history is an amazing story that has brought us a very long way in a very short period of time.
where i live i am not surrounded by many people who have shared my support for barack obama but i hope that we do stop thinking about ‘me’ and focus on ‘we’ as has been greatly discussed in the last several days. our new president’s call to service is a wonderful request and i hope people can get out there and serve.
here are some links on how you can find a place to serve:
- http://www.volunteermatch.org/
- http://www.dosomething.org/
- http://www.usaservice.org (there are dozens of other organizations here – http://www.usaservice.org/page/content/opportunities/)
so let’s hope for the best in the next 4 years. no more selfishness (which should help the credit/loan problems our country is deaing with) and more togetherness.
never again should mean never again
darfur
the reason i declared my major in international studies with an emphasis in political studies was largely fueled by a crazy passion that i had to change the world after watching a documentary on the genocide in rwanda. i couldn’t understand why no one did anything… almost a million people died in 100 days! after learning about this i wanted to change this, i wanted (as many others did) to never let this happen again.
president clinton said, “genocide can occur anywhere. it is not an African phenomenon. we must have global vigilance. and never again must we be shy in the face of the evidence.”
tonight i finally sat down and watched sand and sorrow, which is a documentary on the present genocide in the darfur region of sudan. i knew there was a genocide going on there, i knew part of the history of it but really wanted to learn its origin and current state which is why i rented it. genocide is real and it’s happening there. there are many conflicting reports on the actual statistics of the atrocities that are going on there and it’s impossible to really have a number of people affected but the movie said deaths are around 400,000 and there are over 2 million people displaced from their homes because of state-sponsored murdering. in watching the documentary, it’s amazing to learn how politics plays such a huge role in why the world (particularly the UN) hasn’t lived up to what it stands for.
in the convention on genocide, the UN basically says that those who are responsible will be held accountable and will be stopped. (fyi – the united states has signed this convention) on september 9th, 2004, secretary of state collin powell said that genocide was being committed. like many i was excited to hear this because once its declared, action was soon to follow. unfortunately declaring it did nothing. peace agreements were signed with northern and southern sudan with inclusion of darfur, but murder is still happening. the UN has their hands tied because china and sudan are strong allies.
so does that mean that because the UN can’t do anything we should just put a blind eye to it? my mind doesn’t work like that.
so, here’s my plea… write. write EVERY person who may represent you. my letters will be in the mail on monday and i hope yours will be out soon too.
click here to find out who is your representative in congress
click here to find your senator
write to john mccain, sarah palin, barack obama and joe biden.
in the end, one person probably can’t make a difference but neither does one wave on a cliff. but that one wave is accompanied by several which can errode a cliff and make it disappear eventually. do something to improve the quality of life for a person that had it taken away.
political thoughts: dnc & crazy vp pick
so as the political lover that i am two weeks of conventions is like christmas to me! while the republican convention will be altered due to the arrival of hurricane gustav on the gulf coast, it will still be a very interesting week (only to be made more interesting with mccain’s announcement of a running mate last friday!)
hillary @ dnc
first let’s start by looking at last week (my apologies for my late commentary). i thought all of the speeches were executed amazingly and really did what needed to be done, unify some people. my thought for the best speech of the week would have to belong to senator hillary clinton. there was a lot riding on this speech, and i think she knocked it out of the park. in an effort to build a bridge from her supporters to the nominee, barack obama she asked the following questions after stating several reasons as to why she 1) ran for president and now 2) supports barack obama… “I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?” excellent way to really make one who supported her really ask why they supported her. did they support the person or the causes? if the answer is the latter (which it probably is for most of her supporters) then they need to move on and support the candidate she now supports.
at least i found that very interesting.
obama @ dnc
but you can’t talk about great speeches of the week without talking about the monumental, history making crazy epic speech given by the party’s nominee, barack obama with 80,000 of his friends in a football arena as well as 38 million viewers all around the country. just watching it was awe-inspiring. i am soooooo happy that more people watched that speech than watched the season finale of american idol and the opening games of the 2008 olympics because there are so many people who have become apathetic, to know there were that many people who gave up that time in their evening to watch something political gives me hope that apathy will one day end.
call him a rock star, call him a celebrity, call him an agent of change, call him whatever the heck you want. but in the end it is such a cool thing to see how far we have come as a country and it really does make me believe that we can transcend the boundaries that were previously present due to horrible occurrences in history.
NOW… onto the crazy announcement of the week.
sarah palin - vp nom (r)
honestly… who expected this?
i would have put a lot of money on romney, as many people that i have talked to would have.
i know very little about this pick other than what we have heard the past few days – hockey mom, five kids, lifelong member of the nra, very conservative record, and from alaska.
she so far seems like a great speaker and i have heard mixed reactions, i think it will take some time and story telling on the part of the rnc to let us know who she is and what she is about to really see how this affects the polls.
this is going to be a long, crazy, probably ugly, intense and history making race. we have 64 days until election day. more posts will come on this topic including one following the republican national convention.
convicted
i stayed up very late last night because i was watching coverage of the democratic national convention. i love politics, i find it fascinating. but today in between my constant yawning at work a blog popped up on my google reader. and all it said was:
i wish people would be as passionate about Jesus as they are about elections. (ragamuffin soul)
OUCH. like a slap in the face. i don’t stay up super late glued to my bible like i do my television during election season; i don’t pray half as much as i read cnn.com; i am not passionate about the one thing that matters in the world.
after several weeks of what i thought was attempting to really grow into a great relationship with God, i realize that i have a long way to go. not that all my attempts have been lost but this simple sentence was a real eye opener.
too many things in my life have become my golden calf… what are yours?
donald miller closes dnc with prayer
donald miller took the place of cameron strang to close today’s democratic national convention in prayer.
here’s an interview with donald miller about accepting the invitiation and here is his prayer:
Father God,
This week, as the world looks on, help the leaders in this room create a civil dialogue about our future.
We need you, God, as individuals and also as a nation.
We need you to protect us from our enemies, but also from ourselves, because we are easily tempted toward apathy.
Give us a passion to advance opportunities for the least of these, for widows and orphans, for single moms and children whose fathers have left.
Give us the eyes to see them, and the ears to hear them, and hands willing to serve them.
Help us serve people, not just causes. And stand up to specific injustices rather than vague notions.
Give those in this room who have power, along with those who will meet next week, the courage to work together to finally provide health care to those who don’t have any, and a living wage so families can thrive rather than struggle.
Hep us figure out how to pay teachers what they deserve and give children an equal opportunity to get a college education.
Help us figure out the balance between economic opportunity and corporate gluttony.
We have tried to solve these problems ourselves but they are still there. We need your help.
Father, will you restore our moral standing in the world.
A lot of people don’t like us but that’s because they don’t know the heart of the average American.
Will you give us favor and forgiveness, along with our allies around the world.
Help us be an example of humility and strength once again.
Lastly, father, unify us.
Even in our diversity help us see how much we have in common.
And unify us not just in our ideas and in our sentiments—but in our actions, as we look around and figure out something we can do to help create an America even greater than the one we have come to cherish.
God we know that you are good.
Thank you for blessing us in so many ways as Americans.
I make these requests in the name of your son, Jesus, who gave his own life against the forces of injustice.
Let Him be our example.
Amen.
amazing. thank you donald miller for being willing to transcend the boundaries that we draw and for a wonderful prayer that i couldn’t have said any better.
this is a great way to start off two weeks of conventions!
let the real political season begin!
with the political conventions right around the corner and the ads beginning to take over the television it is safe to say that we have entered the final stretch of what has been a very long political season and i have to say I AM SO EXCITED. for those of you who don’t know, i have my bachelor’s in international studies with an emphasis in political studies. so i love politics and current events
McCain & Obama with Rick Warren
tonight was the first time that both senator barack obama and senator john mccain were on the same stage (not together) but in the same arena answering the same questions, it was a reason to celebrate! so i got together with some friends and we watched the two hours of discussion. with all political rhetoric aside i do think we got to see a little more into each person that is up for this large role.
i believe the questions that were asked were great questions, i am ecstatic that rick warren really brought to light a lot of the social issues that are plaguing our world such as human trafficking, orphans, and genocide among others. there were some questions that i feel weren’t really answered on both sides. but that’s politics.
it was hard for me to really get excited because the candidate i did prefer didn’t make the final cut (his signs are still hanging in my room). but watching events like this get me fired up for the discussions to be had in the upcoming months. and i now am fully confident in my candidate of choice which i am sure will come out sometime on this blog, if you can’t already figure it out i am ready to dance, sing and cheer for him and proudly cast my ballot on what i like to refer to my christmas, election day.
happy election season everyone! get excited because it’s an important decision
