Tag Archives: priorities

Culture

Breaking Up with Valentine’s Day

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You know that pit in your stomach when you know you have to end a relationship but you are dreading the moment?

Will the other person yell at you, cry incessantly, sit silently without uttering a word . . . .  I suppose if you dated a certain popular songwriter, you’d also have to wonder if she will be penning a song about your relationship in the months to come.  There is also the nagging question: “Am I doing the right thing?”

When I sat across from Valentine (“Val”) a few weeks ago at a quaint little French bistro, I had none of these concerns.  I had outgrown her, and not only did she have a right to hear why, she needed to know why.  The conversation went something like this:
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Christianity, Culture, Politics

Save Saeed – If He Was Your Spouse, Would He Be Worth It?

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My predictions:

  1. This will be the most important thing you read today.
  2. Most of you are not likely to do anything about it.

I’m pretty confident about #1.  I’m really hoping I’m wrong about #2.

Here is my question.  If your spouse was being held in a foreign country, regularly beaten, in horrible conditions, deprived of essential medication, and at constant risk of death due to disease, malnutrition, or murder, would you be sufficiently motivated to advocate for his/her release? What if it was your close friend’s spouse, or a neighbor, or a co-worker?
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Culture

Black Friday

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People are already talking about Black Friday at the office, or as I like to call it, “The Dark Day After The Thankful Day Where We Wait In Long Lines Push People Out Of The Way And Spend Without Conscience, Often Using Money We Either Don’t Have Or Could Better Use, All In An Effort To Try And Synthesize Happiness Instead Of Focusing On The Blessings All Around Us.”

Disclaimer/Explanation:  And yes, I get that it is possible to find some great deals and that there are sometimes good, and even financially sound, reasons for hunting for the Black Friday deals, and I admit that I have definitely taken advantage of such deals, BUT I also think that is often not the case and it is often just an excuse to satisfy our wants. In other words, it often is not – “oh, I’ve been planning on getting a such-and-such and I can get it for 50% off”, but rather, “let’s go out and buy a bunch of crap – after all, it’s on sale!”

The sad reality is that the day AFTER Thanksgiving has–for many–become the most important day of that weekend, at the expense of Thanksgiving and the attitude of gratitude that it is meant to cultivate.   (Similarly to how Christmas has in many ways become more about “what am I gonna get” or even “what am I gonna give” instead of commemorating and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, but that’s a topic for a different post in about a month!)

Disclaimer/Explanation 2:  Yes, I realize the disclaimer/explanation part was longer than the substance of the post.