Appreciation that is "implied" often picks up the adjectives "insignificant" and eventually "invisible."
Your significant other often shows appreciation/affection in a certain way because, subconsciously, (s)he would like to see those two things given in a similar way.
This doesn't mean you have to (or even should) change your entire game plan. Most of the time, show affection as comes natural to you. But from time to time, if (s)he leaves you little notes on the counter, do the same. Or cooks for you. Or tweets some sappy nonsense first. Or gets you a gift just because it's Friday.
It is on both parties to keep the love blossoming. When is the last time you have seem an "implied," "invisible," or "insignificant" rose that you could also classify as "fresh?" In all actuality those roses are not invisible. They do exist. Very often they do so in the confines of a landfill.
Don't let your love end up there. Don't let your appreciation fall victim to implication, insignificance, and invisibility.
My first football coach said it best: "Doing the little things will take care of the big things."
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Theocratic Voting 2012
The more I read the Word, the more I realize that this nation is far from trusting in God (as our money says we do). If we really trusted in Him, He would be consulted in every decision we made, from what to buy at the grocery store to what corporate mergers to pursue to what laws to vote for or against. Mind you, I do not believe that the nation should be run as as theocracy. Everyone here is not a Christian and we cannot legally place Chrisitan values on perons just because "the Bible tells me so." But this is a nation in which the majority of the voters are Christian so what I do believe is that our decisions should reflect that. The persons who profess to be Christians should take their futures and their children's futures seriously enough to talk to God before we go to the polls. Stop voting straight ticket Republican or Democrat. Go through each law and each candidate, do some research and pray on it. It might seem tideous but what do we waste our free time doing? Watching television and shopping. That's why we're in the position we are now, politically and financially. We are uninformed and uninterested. If the president isn't doing a slow jam on Jimmy Kimmel or it doesn't afftect people's civil rights or our dollar, we, as a whole, don't seem to pay it any mind. Why are we thinking with such immediacy? Right now, we're in good shape. We can make due with what we have. The thing is, we have to start thinking smarter about how today's decisions affect tomorrow. That thought process comes with wisdom. Wisdom comes with prayer and/or time. The problem is, our generation and the one before us is so stuck on ourselves that we don't really care about the long-term effects of today's decisions. We say we do but "long-term" in our minds is 20 years. And, the way things are going, the world might not be here in 20 years. But it might. And then what? Then we're $28,000,000,000,000.87 in debt, most of which is owed to China, and we're really in economic slavery. God doesn't want that for us. So let's go to Him about what decisions to make. I'm sure He would speak clearly to us if we did and the majority of the votes would come out on the side of righteousness.
Do you want to be a slave?
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
Do you want to be a slave?
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Strange is Subjective
People are so self centered. We think our ways are right. The only thing about my existence that should be absolutely right anywhere is my faith in Christ. Any cultural norms are subjective. Just as we think other cultures are different, take a step outside of yourself and think about how strange things like clapping must look. We allow our hands to hit one another to show that we enjoy something. Or handshakes. Why do we feel compelled to shake hands when we meet another person? I know why but would someone who has never encountered anyone from the Western world? People, strange is subjective. The only thing that is indisputable is Christ.
Sent from my iPhone
Sent from my iPhone
Friday, April 20, 2012
No Competition
Today I realized something... People make life a competition. Guess what?!? It's not. The goal is to make it to the next day. If you don't, nine times out of ten, it's because God decided you weren't going to see tomorrow (that other one time accounts for murder and suicides). Sure, some people are doing better than other people but no one ever "wins" or "loses" until it's all over. And by that time, we're in the ground so who really cares?
I was listening to this song by Frank Ocean and he was telling his girlfriend to let the top down on the convertible sports car she was driving so that she can make other females mad. Or we argue about whose phone is cooler. People are dying because we won't fight unjust laws and we have time to argue about Androids getting Instagram? People, come on! I am really getting frustrated writing this and thinking about how idiotic America has become. Are we really that petty? I don't have the time to think about making someone else worry about what I'm doing. Honestly, unless you are (or will be) signing my checks, your opinion of me is probably worth about one third of a cent. If you spend a fraction your time worrying what other people are doing when it has no impact on your own future or happiness, you might want to reevaluate your purpose in life.
And I understand that never thinking about anyone else who has no impact on your life is pretty much impossible but don't sit around and feed into their fantasy while your reality is not moving forward at all. And if you are doing well, why would you want to make someone else feel bad about their existence? You are really lame if that is your motivation for getting up in the morning.
And if I am going to compete with you, it is on an intellectual level. But I won't even do that with most people these days because they don't have the capacity or the vocabulary to keep up with me (you have to have one of the two).
The rapper Fabolous said it best: There is no competition.
Sent from my iPhone
I was listening to this song by Frank Ocean and he was telling his girlfriend to let the top down on the convertible sports car she was driving so that she can make other females mad. Or we argue about whose phone is cooler. People are dying because we won't fight unjust laws and we have time to argue about Androids getting Instagram? People, come on! I am really getting frustrated writing this and thinking about how idiotic America has become. Are we really that petty? I don't have the time to think about making someone else worry about what I'm doing. Honestly, unless you are (or will be) signing my checks, your opinion of me is probably worth about one third of a cent. If you spend a fraction your time worrying what other people are doing when it has no impact on your own future or happiness, you might want to reevaluate your purpose in life.
And I understand that never thinking about anyone else who has no impact on your life is pretty much impossible but don't sit around and feed into their fantasy while your reality is not moving forward at all. And if you are doing well, why would you want to make someone else feel bad about their existence? You are really lame if that is your motivation for getting up in the morning.
And if I am going to compete with you, it is on an intellectual level. But I won't even do that with most people these days because they don't have the capacity or the vocabulary to keep up with me (you have to have one of the two).
The rapper Fabolous said it best: There is no competition.
Sent from my iPhone
National Weed Day
Ok, so this is not going to be popular. But I was told by my fifth grade teacher "What is right isn't always popular and what is popular isn't always right." We all do unethical things. We all broadcast things that we shouldn't. It's human nature (especially in this generation) to want to go against the system.
Thing is, there are still real laws out here people. Tweeting or posting Facebook statuses about/alluding to how much marijuana you smoke is the same as someone who steals candy from the corner store every day doing the same. The crime isn't murder or anything but it is a crime whether you agree with it or not. And if you believe so much in your right to smoke marijuana, write your elected officials. But waiting around until it is made legal is pretty much validating the stereotype that potheads are lazy.
But I did not write this post for every pothead in the nation. I really am writing this to the leaders. More specifically, as Du Bois coined the group, I am writing to The Talented Tenth. And, looking at it even more microscopically, I am talking to those of us who are in college and are members of fraternities or sororities. People listen to what we say. Freshmen, who are impressionable, look up to us. These are tomorrow's leaders... if they don't have a record for possessing illegal drugs. As a senior, you might know how to evade the system so that you can break the law and if you do it in the privacy of your own home and aren't putting anyone else at risk, that is your business. But why are we compelled to broadcast our illegal pastimes to everyone else? And all these young people are thinking is "Deryle the Alpha does it and he has three presidencies under his belt and is on this committee and that committee and he is the manager in the student center and he has a great girlfriend and is at all the political events on campus." So if a freshman sees an apparent role model doing all of those positive things on campus and simultaneously tweeting/openly discussing doing illegal things, he might just decide to try to be just like this quasi-successful individual.
I'm not knocking you alls weed habits because I honestly don't know enough to say that it is worse than tobacco or alcohol. What I do have a problem with, as I said before, is it being broadcast. And you might say "I'm not Kappa Alpha Psi/Delta Sigma Theta/etc./etc. I'm just me." Well then denounce your letters because until you do, your actions represent what we stand for. These are not just fraternal organizations, they are businesses. You cannot be fired but your membership can be revoked if you're not doing your job.
Don't agree. That's cool. Comments are appreciated. It's still all love. One of the brothers I am closest with smoked until recently and I never has anything but love for him. All I am saying is think about the fact that you are an Omega/S-G-Rho/Sigma telling people it is ok to break the law.
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
Thing is, there are still real laws out here people. Tweeting or posting Facebook statuses about/alluding to how much marijuana you smoke is the same as someone who steals candy from the corner store every day doing the same. The crime isn't murder or anything but it is a crime whether you agree with it or not. And if you believe so much in your right to smoke marijuana, write your elected officials. But waiting around until it is made legal is pretty much validating the stereotype that potheads are lazy.
But I did not write this post for every pothead in the nation. I really am writing this to the leaders. More specifically, as Du Bois coined the group, I am writing to The Talented Tenth. And, looking at it even more microscopically, I am talking to those of us who are in college and are members of fraternities or sororities. People listen to what we say. Freshmen, who are impressionable, look up to us. These are tomorrow's leaders... if they don't have a record for possessing illegal drugs. As a senior, you might know how to evade the system so that you can break the law and if you do it in the privacy of your own home and aren't putting anyone else at risk, that is your business. But why are we compelled to broadcast our illegal pastimes to everyone else? And all these young people are thinking is "Deryle the Alpha does it and he has three presidencies under his belt and is on this committee and that committee and he is the manager in the student center and he has a great girlfriend and is at all the political events on campus." So if a freshman sees an apparent role model doing all of those positive things on campus and simultaneously tweeting/openly discussing doing illegal things, he might just decide to try to be just like this quasi-successful individual.
I'm not knocking you alls weed habits because I honestly don't know enough to say that it is worse than tobacco or alcohol. What I do have a problem with, as I said before, is it being broadcast. And you might say "I'm not Kappa Alpha Psi/Delta Sigma Theta/etc./etc. I'm just me." Well then denounce your letters because until you do, your actions represent what we stand for. These are not just fraternal organizations, they are businesses. You cannot be fired but your membership can be revoked if you're not doing your job.
Don't agree. That's cool. Comments are appreciated. It's still all love. One of the brothers I am closest with smoked until recently and I never has anything but love for him. All I am saying is think about the fact that you are an Omega/S-G-Rho/Sigma telling people it is ok to break the law.
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
Monday, April 16, 2012
Discipline Produces Character
So often, we think of being disciplined as something that will produce great results in our lives, thus making being disciplined a selfish character trait. It is so much bigger than that. In all actuality, having discipline develops integrity. It develops a sense of necessary greatness even when you know no one else is looking. From getting up by a certain time to going to church on a Sunday you don't feel like going to making your bed with the utmost precision, having discipline is about doing everything to the best of your God-given ability.
Every word I use is intentional, but I want to draw attention to two of my last three words: "God-given." Every positive thing that we do at less than 100% is showing God the utmost disrespect. There are plenty of people who cannot make their beds in the morning or who do not have anyone to love or who are unable to make informed decisions on whom to vote for. But we take these abilities for granted and so we do the bare minimum with them. Do you know that there are people who died so that all of us, black and white, rich and poor, male and female, could vote? But now we just walk into a booth, pick the person who has the coolest name, and walk out. People lost their lives for this and we won't lose a few minutes a day to read the news paper. Come on folks. Have enough discipline to appreciate the blessings we're given. As used to them as we are, there are still people in the world who don't have the same privileges.
And remember that, even when you think no one else can see you Someone else can. No one else will see your bed being made, but God will. No one else will see the fact that you didn't give that old lady the $20 she dropped, but God will. No one will care that you didn't exercise and eat right to stay in good shape but hasn't God already done enough for us in keeping us healthy that he shouldn't have to pick up our slack because we didn't want to take care of ourselves?
Have some integrity. Develop some character. Be disciplined and do everything to the best of your ability. It will carry over from one aspect of your life to another and, before you know it, your entire life will be organized and much more manageable. Your finances will be organized so you won't always be scraping for money at the end of the month. Your relationship will be more purposeful so you won't be making up for slacking on love the past two weeks. Your work week will be more evenly spaced because, instead of leaving the office right at 5:00:01 PM, you stayed that extra ten or fifteen minutes on Monday and Thursday so that you could get everything on your list for the day done. Develop these habits at as soon as possible, because the longer you wait to become disciplined, the more difficult it will be.
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
Every word I use is intentional, but I want to draw attention to two of my last three words: "God-given." Every positive thing that we do at less than 100% is showing God the utmost disrespect. There are plenty of people who cannot make their beds in the morning or who do not have anyone to love or who are unable to make informed decisions on whom to vote for. But we take these abilities for granted and so we do the bare minimum with them. Do you know that there are people who died so that all of us, black and white, rich and poor, male and female, could vote? But now we just walk into a booth, pick the person who has the coolest name, and walk out. People lost their lives for this and we won't lose a few minutes a day to read the news paper. Come on folks. Have enough discipline to appreciate the blessings we're given. As used to them as we are, there are still people in the world who don't have the same privileges.
And remember that, even when you think no one else can see you Someone else can. No one else will see your bed being made, but God will. No one else will see the fact that you didn't give that old lady the $20 she dropped, but God will. No one will care that you didn't exercise and eat right to stay in good shape but hasn't God already done enough for us in keeping us healthy that he shouldn't have to pick up our slack because we didn't want to take care of ourselves?
Have some integrity. Develop some character. Be disciplined and do everything to the best of your ability. It will carry over from one aspect of your life to another and, before you know it, your entire life will be organized and much more manageable. Your finances will be organized so you won't always be scraping for money at the end of the month. Your relationship will be more purposeful so you won't be making up for slacking on love the past two weeks. Your work week will be more evenly spaced because, instead of leaving the office right at 5:00:01 PM, you stayed that extra ten or fifteen minutes on Monday and Thursday so that you could get everything on your list for the day done. Develop these habits at as soon as possible, because the longer you wait to become disciplined, the more difficult it will be.
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
"Think Like a Man" Movie Review
Tonight I had the opportunity to attend a screening of the film "Think Like a Man." I will not lie to you, my girl and I went to see it together but it is one of the few relationship movies that I will not place in the "chick flick" category. I would recommend to my fraternity brothers and other male friends. I haven't read the book but I will say that every couple, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, needs to see the movie. Whether you have major relationship problems or not, it is a great laugh with some great lessons intricately woven in. The acting was great. It was set in LA (a personal plus because I may be thinking about moving there in the future). It was based on a best selling book that I was mad at Steve Harvey for writing but, after seeing the film, I can appreciate it being written. All in all, Desirèe and I had a great time.
And ladies, even if you're single, go with your homegirls for a good time. Guys, if you're off work one day with nothing to do, check it out as a matinee. I bet you'll learn some stuff and you'll laugh too.
I'm no movie critic but I am a thinker and a writer and this movie just makes sense. Invest some time in a few good laughs. You deserve it.
Sent from my iPhone
And ladies, even if you're single, go with your homegirls for a good time. Guys, if you're off work one day with nothing to do, check it out as a matinee. I bet you'll learn some stuff and you'll laugh too.
I'm no movie critic but I am a thinker and a writer and this movie just makes sense. Invest some time in a few good laughs. You deserve it.
Sent from my iPhone
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Health vs. Auto Insurance
So, I am sad to say that I don't know enough about President Obama's proposed healthcare plan to fully agree or disagree with him. So this entire post will be speaking from a basic understanding of the issue. What I don't understand is how people have a problem with the government forcing us to have health insurance but not automobile insurance. Come on people. Do we really value our unnecessary adages more than out well being? I am not a genius but I do know that without a pulse you cannot drive a car.
And if the healthcare plan is found to be unconstitutional, how is forcing car owners to have it not? Ask questions people!!!! Think!!!
I could go on and on about how our values are misplaced but it is Easter Sunday and I really don't want to get upset at how materialistic society is so I will just say this - please think about what we do spend our money on and what we need to spend it on.
Happy Resurrection Day.
And if the healthcare plan is found to be unconstitutional, how is forcing car owners to have it not? Ask questions people!!!! Think!!!
I could go on and on about how our values are misplaced but it is Easter Sunday and I really don't want to get upset at how materialistic society is so I will just say this - please think about what we do spend our money on and what we need to spend it on.
Happy Resurrection Day.
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