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.

On Starting Over

This is, as I'm sure you've become aware, the last day of 2011. This is not a trivial thing...rather, it is an opportunity to look back at where we have come from, to look forward at where we hope to go, and to consider where we are in this moment. This past year has been nothing like what I expected before the calendar turned. In the past twelve months I have graduated from college, moved to a new city, started a new job. I discovered new passions, gained and lost relationships, and tore a ligament in my knee. Even this blog has changed...I began it as a way to express myself to myself, without any intention of other people reading it. That didn't last long...in 2011, this blog was viewed more than 11,000 times by more than 8,500 different people, one of whom invited me to publish an article with his magazine.

If you had told me a year ago that I would lose my most important relationship or that I would be questioning my calling in life, I would have probably blinked twice and imagined that I would be miserable by the time 2012 rolled around. Thankfully, that isn't the case. And that's the amazing thing about life...no matter what you plan for, you'll always get something different. And even though it's different, it's still good. Maybe even better. I may not have found my soulmate or my dream job in the last year, but I've found new friendships and gained a new home. I have much to learn, but I've learned more than I could have ever imagined in the last year.

A Blessing Machine

In my last post, I mentioned the idea that truth is truth regardless of who says it and why, an idea which is quite powerful and carries some significant implications for how I approach the world. This relates quite strongly to another characteristic of truth which I rediscovered tonight: when you stumble upon truth, whether by design or by accident, it will punch you in the face. By this I mean that when you happen upon truth, you won't be able to miss it or ignore it. Truth has this funny habit of making itself known.

One of the topics I've written on again and again in this space is my consistent frustration with what the word Christianity means in the 21st Century, and with what church has become in this era. I'm sure you've read and heard and witnessed many of the same things that I have...churches condemning the entirety of the gay community in a debate over what the word marriage means, religious leaders acting as though Jesus wants us to vote for one political party over another, and so on. I don't want to bore you with examples. Available by request, I'll say.

A Religion for Losers

I don't often write in this space about God or my faith, at least in a personal way. Not because I am ashamed of it or it doesn't exist, though you might not be able to tell from my recurring criticisms of religion and church and so on. Rather, I choose not to write about the personal aspects of my faith because I know there are many other voices with more and better things to say about who God is and what it means to follow Jesus. That isn't what I'm here to do. I don't want to muddle the conversation by entering it as if I were some kind of expert, when admittedly I am not. All that being said, something came up at my church on Sunday which I feel the need to dive into a little bit.