the valley of misery and shame

Despair/Hope

Quotes About Men

There were a few nice quotes of the day on my personalized Google homepage today:

"The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it."
- Francois de La Rochefoucauld

"Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and what they ought to be."
- William Hazlitt

Patriotism / Prejudice

So we ended up going last and were cut way short on time and our presentation was wholly inadequate.

(In my Honors seminar we did group presentations about "cultural events". My group attended a performance dealing primarily with the question "What is patriotism?")

So we got up there and the projector was halfway-functional and we got through maybe half of what we spent several hours planning. It was the last ten minutes before Thanksgiving break, so you can imagine how engaged the rest of the class was at this point.

It's ok, though. At least it sparked some good thought and discussion, even if only within our group.

After class the three of us talked about racism and prejudice and how manifestations of these show up in so many places (for example, the presentations that preceded ours).

I'm sure that anything of the sort was completely unintentional and due to ignorance. And I think this is the case with the vast majority of people - racialized ideas and attitudes are present on an other than conscious level and are not usually malicious or intended, but rather inherited from society.

Everyone has prejudices. Overt racists aside, there are basically two groups of people: those who claim to be unprejudiced and pretend there is no real problem, and those who recognize that they are a product of society and do have these prejudices, and who make a conscious and concerted effort to overcome them. We must strive to belong to the latter.

WANTED

Check out this great image Scott made me for my birthday:


The text to the right reads: "WANTED: Daniel "Kool-aid" Mark Greuel in Lourdes, Colon committed crimes of aggravated homicide. He has dark hair, brown eyes, and white skin. HE IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS.", then asks anyone with information to report it via anonymous phone call. Towards the bottom it says, "Let's keep this murderer from killing again! With your help, Swift Justice will be done."

You can also see the original, if you're curious.

Seeking Truth

I was in bed, but could not sleep. I am troubled.

I spent the afternoon reading assignments for my Jesus in History course. It is a challenging course on many levels. Until now, I haven't really felt the effects of this personally, but now I certainly do.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge pointed out, as I posted on another blog recently:

Those who begin by loving Christianity more than truth, proceed to love their sect more than Christianity, and end by loving themselves most of all.

Am I seeking truth, or self validation? That, my friends, is a deeply troubling question to ask yourself.

A large part of teaching others about the Baha'i Faith is challenging them to question their previous assumptions and beliefs. And that's good; it's the only way to get to the truth. But how often do we challenge our own?

Baha'u'llah says:

O My brother! When a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading unto the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cleanse his heart, which is the seat of the revelation of the inner mysteries of God, from the obscuring dust of all acquired knowledge...He must so cleanse his heart that no remnant of either love or hate may linger therein, lest that love blindly incline him to error, or that hate repel him away from the truth.

Wow! Do you know how incredibly difficult that is? I love the Baha'i Faith, I loved the person who introduced me to the Faith, I love being a part of the Baha'i community, I love Baha'is. Am I being blinded? I have acquired knowledge, and interpret things based on it. Is this obscuring dust or revealing light? How am I to know?

What's an interrobang‽

It's pretty much my favorite punctuation mark. It's like a question mark and an exclamation point mixed...bred for its skills in magic.

Día Nacional de Las Pupusas

Tomorrow is the first National Pupusa Day in El Salvador. The pupusa has also been named the Plato Nacional de El Salvador, in DECRETO No. 655 de LA ASAMBLEA LEGISLATIVA DE LA REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR, which is a very amusing document to read, si podés español.

Oh how I wish I could be there to celebrate.

Freedom

Today the US Department of State released the 2005 International Religious Freedom Report

In the Iran section the word "Baha'i" appears 93 times, in sentences like these:

According to law, Baha'i blood is considered "Mobah," meaning it can be spilled with impunity.

In December 2004 and January 2005, nine Baha'is in Yazd were arrested and briefly detained, with their homes searched and some possessions confiscated. On January 14, authorities summoned, questioned, and released another Yazd Baha'i, and four days later on January 18, four individuals came to his home and beat him with batons, inflicting severe injuries to his face, back, and arms. The same individuals, equipped with batons and communication devices, also attacked the home of another Baha'i later that day. On that same day, these same persons went to the home of a third Baha'i and attacked him with batons, causing serious head wounds. This third Baha'i was attacked again on January 25; on January 27 his shop was set on fire.

On February 2 and 3, the Baha'i cemetery in Yazd was destroyed, with cars driven over the graves, tombstones smashed, and the remains of the interred left exposed. Two days later, a gravestone was removed and left in front of a Baha'i's home, along with a threatening letter. The Baha'i community filed a complaint with authorities at the national level, but no action was taken. These events coincided with the launch of a campaign of defamation against the Baha'i Faith in government-controlled media.

We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem us a stirrer-up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment.... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and differences of race be annulled -- what harm is there in this?

-Bahá'u'lláh

Guest Lecture Response

I had better get some bonus points (or at least a smiley face) for this mad alliteration:

"I was glad to see that Prosecutor Skoggin is aware and considerate of the cruel collateral consequences of conviction, and is not disposed to lightly incur this incredibly incongruous incommodity on a merely misguided miscreant."

Bone Thugs Alarm Clock

I didn't do any homework yesterday, and I stayed up really late last night, but it was totally worth it. Why, you ask?

I present to you the Bone Thugs Alarm Clock. Now, instead of waking up to a loud, annoying sound every morning, you can wake up to a pleasant looping of the beginning of 1st Of Tha Month. But that's not all! It will announce to you the current date! (example)

The program itself is quite simple; it's not very beautiful or feature-laden, because 1) my Java skills are rusty and 2) I can't justify spending more time on it. But it works! It has been tested on Mac OS X and Windows XP, and might work on an older version of Windows.

All you have to do is download the zip file, expand it, and double-click "BTAlarmClock.jar".

CLICK HERE to download! (6.6 MB zip)