On Eggs in Rwanda

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And so on...

Chick-fil-Ugh

As usual, when something controversial happens, I can't help but speak my mind. Clearly I haven't learned how to keep quiet around controversy yet. And while I have plenty to say, I want to preface everything you're about to read with two facts. First, I am a Christian, by which I mean I am a Christ-follower. Second, I believe that marriage between two men or two women should be legal and fully vested with the privileges granted to heterosexual marriage by the federal government. I also think Chick-fil-A is delicious, for what it's worth.

Like many of you, I've been watching the news and listening to the dialogue concerning Chick-fil-A president and COO Dan Cathy's views on gay marriage. If no one else is going to say it, I will: this is getting out of control. In the end, your religious views or your stance on the legality of gay marriage or your thoughts on chicken are irrelevant to me. Believe what you choose to believe. To each his own, and so on. Nonetheless, I struggle to understand many of the things being shouted across the vast expanse that lies between the two sides of this issue, and it gives me an insatiable desire to rant. I hope you don't mind.

Concerning Silence

First, a quote.

“Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?” - Kurt Vonnegut

Lately I’ve been having trouble coming up with things to write about. That isn’t to say I haven’t tried. Time and again I’ve started something only to lose interest, forget about it, or sit on it so long that it loses relevance. As someone who fancies himself a writer, that makes for a rather frustrating few months. At the same time, I don’t want to write just for the sake of filling a page. By that I mean this: we are already a culture saturated by text, drowning in a sea of words and ideas which is constantly swallowing our minds, fighting for control of our already minuscule attention spans.

We are not a culture lacking for people with something to say.

One Day Without Logic

I’ve made it clear time and again the disdain I have for TOMS Shoes and their in-kind giving practices. If you want detail on why, please read some of my older pieces here, here and here. Today, though, is a special day as it relates to TOMS.

Each year, one day is set aside by the company for awareness building through an event known as “One Day Without Shoes”. In short, supporters of TOMS and their mission are asked not to wear shoes for a day, in solidarity with impoverished individuals who might not be able to afford shoes. Brilliant marketing, as it makes the brand and the mission that much more relatable.

Brilliant, that is, until you stop and think about it. Does it get much more ironic than for a company focused on ending shoelessness, especially one that speaks out about the health risks of barefoot living, to encourage people to go shoeless for a day?

Well, no. I honestly don’t find this to be ironic at all. Rather, this is exactly the kind of break in logic you would expect from a company and a movement focused more on appearances and popularity than effectiveness and sustainable solutions. This is exactly the type of idea you would anticipate from a group more concerned with raising awareness about a familiar problem than finding real solutions to its underlying causes. The problem is not shoelessness, the problem is poverty. The sooner society and organizations like TOMS recognize this and act accordingly, the better.

And so on...

Morgan Freeman

Today, I feel like Morgan Freeman.

I should probably say that I feel like one of Freeman’s characters, Red. That isn’t to say that I feel like a convict, or that I’m institutionalized, or even that I’m Irish. No, I feel like Red for another reason, one far less exciting but altogether more real.

I guess I just miss my friend.

A Public Service Announcement

In the unlikely event that life has failed to fulfill the dreams you dreamt as a younger man,
And has replaced those dreams with things such as doubt, pain and regret,
We regret to inform you that this unfortunate condition will no longer be deemed acceptable,
But will instead be viewed as a failure which is dragging down humanity at large.

It should be made clear that this condition is not considered fatal,
And will only become chronic if you choose to let it be so.
The Board of Health has noted that there are some well-proven cures to this malady,
And that if you reject the chronic nature of this condition,
Simply following the following prescription will in most cases result in a full recovery.

Peanut Butter Cups

It's amazing how often things in my life begin overlapping and merging together. Some of these combinations seem as though they've belonged together all along. Despite my best efforts to ignore the synergies buried deep down, they are pungent all the same, as though they were always at my fingertips. They are like peanut butter cups, taking individually fantastic ingredients and combining them into something even better, even more enjoyable.