The American Way...

The Casey Anthony trial came to a conclusion yesterday and I must say I'm shocked at peoples reaction to the verdict.  This is how our legal system works.  Your either guilty or not guilty and in order to be found guilty the prosecution must meet its burden of proof.  They clearly did not in this case.  Hard to convict someone of murder when you don't have a cause of death and very minimal and sketchy forensic evidence that is not even connected to the acquitted.   The system did its job it this situation, if there is any doubt, then there can not be a conviction and clearly there was.  It is here that we are faced with a no win situation, a little girl is dead, a family is in tatters and on the surface justice has not been served.  We have to look deeper though, justice does not always come in a guilty verdict.  While this has been a terrible tragedy from the beginning, we can not forsake the rights the constitution provide just so we can feel better.  Innocent until proven guilty.  A lot of people forgot that during this case, especially the media who unfortunately took many people for the ride with them.  Hopefully this case brought a lot of pundits back to earth and has made everyone much less assuming.

Bin Laden's death a time to celebrate????

These last 48 hours certainly have been interesting. ( may be an understatement). On Sunday night, during Sunday Night Baseball, the game was placed on the back burner for breaking news. Osama Bin Laden had been killed by a US Special Forces operation, after 10 years of eluding capture. For me, there was an initial reaction of shock as after all this time I never expected there to be any resolution in regards to Bin Laden. As I watched chants of USA, USA, USA rise up through out Citizens Bank Ball Park, I’m ashamed to admit the sense of joy I felt in those initial moments .

48 hours after the fact, having taking some time to process the recent events, I have come to a much better understanding of Bin Laden’s death and for me I am now in a better place. After reading an article from Jim Wallis’s Blog, I have returned to a place of rationality and spirituality. While a sense of relieve still remains that a man who perpetrated such violence and hatred through out the wold is gone, I have found that there is no place to celebrate the death of anyone, including our enemies.

After 9/11 there were those who were dancing and celebrating in the streets over what had befallen our country. How is what we are doing now any different? How can we lower ourselves to such a level? I understand why some might celebrate this man’s death. I can see the place they are coming from. However, we must keep our perspective. It can never be ok to celebrate anyone’s death, no matter what the circumstance.

As a practicing Christian, I was reminded this week of a bible verse that helped refocus my thoughts and get me back to thinking on a deeper level. Maybe it will help you as well.
“Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice” – Proverbs 24:17

It is not for us to render judgement, that is left for God and it should only be fit that he render the final judgement.

Link: http://blog.sojo.net/2011/05/02/how-should-we-respond-to-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden/

Adult life...

Remember when you were little, and all you could think about was wanting to grow up and become a "big person"?  Well you know what...now that we have settled into that role,  gotta tell ya, it's not all it's cracked up to be. 

Bills, jobs, car repairs, medical appointments... all of a sudden are lives are full of the things that makes one a " responsible adult".  All necessary of course, but still something has been lost.  Even taking it back to college, we thought life was so stressful then.  Papers to write, exams to study for.  In reality, we had it made.   All we had to do was put in the work, show up to class and then figure out what the social events of the week would be. 

Anyways, just a little vent.  All in all life is pretty good as is. Stay tuned for future posts.  One of which will be after I go SKYDIVING this summer!  Can't wait!

NYC!

Just got back for the NYC/NJ area after a pretty sweet visit with my brother.  We decided very last minute to try and go to the UConn vs Georgetown game at Madison Square Garden.  Needless to say we were successful!  The game was outstanding!  UConn played as close to a complete game as you can get. They were clicking on all cylinders! Kemba Walker especially was feeling it with a game high 28 pts!  It was a total team victory with contributions coming from everybody.  It was great to spend the time watching the Huskies play with my bro and hopefully they keep winning when the face Pitt tomorrow!  

Although the nations election results had quite a republican tone to them last night, CT for the most part, remained in the  Democrats hands.  The Senate races as well as all Congressional District race were taken by the running Democrats.  The Gubernatorial race remains too close to call. 

http://www.wfsb.com/news/25562871/detail.html

Election Aftermath

Today is Wednesday November 3rd and Election is now over.  The end result?  The Republicans have stormed back to take control of the House of Rep. while the Senate remains in the Democrats hands.  Beyond these races, numerous Gubernatorial races have change parties, many shifting from Democrat to Republican candidates.  What this all mean for our great nation in the next two years?  Well, in terms of Congress, I there are two scenarios that could present themselves.  A)  Both parties realize they won't be able to get anything done without compromising with the other and we actually see some form of bipartisanship present itself. B)  We face two years of absolute gridlock between the two parties as legislation that each party tries to push threw never makes it out of Congress and to the President's desk.   It will certainly be interesting to see how all this plays out, I'm not entirely confident that both parties will be able to do what is necessary to put their differences aside and some work done.   I guess we shall see.

Fantastic Weekend!

I have to write about this, there is no getting around it.  Yesterday, down in Pennsylvania, two of my very good friends were married at 1pm.  I was very fortunate to be able to attend this amazing and blessed event.  To witness Geoff and Rebecca start their life journey together, I've come to have a better understanding of how God has come to work in their lives.  These two are truly meant to be together, and it is not by chance, but by God's will.  In some ways I believe I have always had some knowledge an understanding of what this meant, but to see it in action, to see God working through my friends,  I know God is also speaking to me through them saying " follow me and know the love you are witnessing for yourself" A very powerful realization that only added to the joyful events of the evening.  Before the wedding I was writing a letter to Geoff and Rebecca that included some thoughts about their upcoming marriage.  I cited one of favorite bible verses and it again seems to be appropriate here. 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that we who believe in him, shall not parish but have eternal life. 

Something to think about.

Moon Lit Waters

What a fantastic week I have had!  This week I was able to head to Calumet for a few days, a place that I always love returning to!  I spent 6 glorious summers working up on the shore of Lake Ossipee and it always feels good to go back!  Why?  Here is but a sample of what happened this week.  

For me,  I always enjoy the opportunity to see camp friends that I haven't seen in a while.  I really enjoy the fellowship in catching up and hanging out with my camp buddies.  On this visit I was also given the opportunity to run a devotions with a friend of mine,( Ali) who I trained with in 2002, for the CIT's of 2010.  It certainly was one of the highlights, that eight years after my training summer, we were able to come back and contribute to theirs.

Among some of the other highlights: 

Kayaking to the Bear Camp River at 6:30 in the morning.
So peaceful!

Mexican Fiesta with the Crew in honor of Erik Wilcox's Wedding!

Taking in the massive amounts of stars you get to see when you are camp!  Absolutely amazing! 

As always my time at camp ended too soon, but I have come back refreshed and renewed! 

Family Fun!

First blog on word press!  I'll post here and my other blog as well.  Hopefully I'm not getting in over my head!  Anyways I have just returned from a trip up to Georgetown, Massachusetts where I was able to spend a few days visiting some family members that I had not been able to visit in a while.  It was a fantastic time!  Spent some quality time with the cousins out in the pool messing around during the hot afternoon.  Also retreated  down to the " Cave" to enjoy some brews with my uncle and aunts while watching the MLB All Star game.  definitely good times!   I spent my final day enjoying some quality time on the beach riding the waves and then heading to my cousins baseball game  right before heading home.
All in all a fantastic trip, one in which I got to relax with my family and just simply have a good time.  The trip also served to reenforce the importance of family.  You only have one one and you better make the most of the ones you have.

Link to Previous Post...

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/05/20/a-second-graders-challenge-to-michelle-obama-on-immigration/

For your consideration...

http://blog.sojo.net/2010/05/20/a-second-graders-challenge-to-michelle-obama-on-immigration/

late night blog

11:55 P.M and time for another entry...

My thoughts have been all over the place this week...I mean ALL over the place.  I've been thinking about the upcoming summer and how I need to become more involved in, well,  quite frankly, anything.  I really feel like right now a great ball of energy waiting to burst.  I did take a step in that direction tonight my signing up to volunteer for State of Connecticut AG's Richard Blumenthal's campaign for U.S Senator.  I can get behind the issues he supports and look forward to the opportunity to getting him elected!

I've also been thinking a lot about running again and I'm going to do it, certainly at some point this week, perhaps tomorrow if the weather cooperates!  I need to exercise more and though of actually running again is quite exciting!!!   Perhaps I'll buy and Ipod so can listen to some music as run.  

Anyways, overall I've had a very positive thought process this week and it seems to me the world is full of opportunity and now it's time for me to get going and take advantage!  I also realize that this just me dealing with these thoughts but God giving me a perhaps not so subtle nudge in the right direction!

I'm excited to get going!  I've remained stagnant to for far too long!  Game on people!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everybody!  I know I haven't posted in a while, sorry, but here's another one.  

I had the day off from work today!!!  It was very nice to be able to spend the day with my family and be able to go to church which I haven't been able to do in a while because of my job.  During the day as I was relaxing outside enjoying the beautiful weather, I began thinking about what by next step should be.    What have I been thinking about?  Well,  potentially figuring out the right time to move on to another job or perhaps go back to school, perhaps for my Masters in Social Work.  There are certainly options, and I'm enjoying being able to ponder over these choices.  Hopefully when I make up my mind,  I will be able to act soon, so we will see.

That's it for now, short post tonight.  More later!

Oh Moravian...

Moravian College, my alma mater, is a place that I have always had a special place in my heart for.  My experience as a student there was, for the most part, positive.  I continue to assert that the four years I spent at Moravian College were some of the best years of my life both in regards to my education and my social growth.  The experiences gained in and out of the class room were second to none and gave  me full confidence in the institutional choice I made at the end of high school.

With that said,  I have become disappointed with decisions that have been made by the administration as of late.  As a member of the Moravian alumni community it was with dismay that I learned of the decision  by the administration to stop issuing off campus release as well forcing everyone on campus on to buy a meal plan.   I have several issues with these decisions and believe they will hurt, not help the campus community.

The first of these concerns is that student participation amounted to either minimal or no participation.  Now this remains the same type of environment that existed when I was a student from 2004-2008.  Decisions that directly impacted the student body were made by a administrators and if we were lucky a couple of students were thrown in to the mix.   For a college that looks to promote proactive students through their fairly recently established Leadership Center (2004) and through programs like LeaderShape, the message the administration is sending is a very contradicting message.  Moravian apparently feels they need to put up a "front"  perhaps make it seem like we are a school that promotes the above type of qualities.   However, when it comes down to it, you need to practice what you preach, and that's something that hasn't quite lined up at Moravian.

Another part of this that I find troubling, is that with the new rules that have been put in place there has been a major loss of the learning experience at Moravian College.  While clearly there is much to be learned through the academic part of college, including going to class, participating in research, working with groups etc.  There  is another part  that has now been handicapped at Moravian.   What one does when one isn't in class is an important part of the learning process.   Time management, decision making, cooking, just to name a few.  These are some of the out of class room lessons that can be picked up during ones time at college.  While many of the these remain,  the loss of off campus housing has the possibility of handicapping students down the road.  Students no longer will have the opportunity of going through the process of applying for an apartment as well as cooking and cleaning and providing for themselves the things the need to get by.  Bill paying,  electricity, rent, heat, etc. will have to wait until after college.

What it comes down to for me is that students at Moravian, for those who would have chosen are being denied the chance to take on more responsibility, and in several ways challenge themselves even further. To me this is not acceptable.  For those who want to stay on campus great!  Let's not deny those who seek it, to further their experience into adulthood.

This decision continues to puzzle me and I believe must be rectified.

Superbowl!

CONGRATS TO THE SUPERBOWL CHAMPION NEW ORLEANS SAINTS!
The people of New Orleans certainly deserve something to celebrate, and this one heck of a way to do it!

That is all for now.

I'm back...

ok...so I haven't been doing a great job keeping up with this but I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting more regularly, so here it goes.  Time continues to fly by and we have reached the month of February. Incredible!   No idea where the time goes.

On to something that is absolutely outstanding.  The practice of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"  is going to be ending, according to the Obama administration and I think that is absolutely outstanding and  LONG overdue.  In an era where we have long since seen women given the right to vote and seen the Civil Rights movement achieve an incredible level of success,  the practice of " Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is clearly antiquated and outdated and was from the moment of it's implementation.  The exclusion of the Gay and Lesbian community from serving openly in the military has been nothing but a policy of discrimination and it's removal is another historic step forward in the quest for equality for the GLBT community.  I applaud those who pushed for and ultimately helped make this happen.  

Now that I have said something nice...I find myself observing the government ( both Democrats and Republicans alike) and the actions that are being taken by those we ( or at least some of us elected) and wondering...WHAT THE HELL!

I find myself frustrated with the continued bickering between parties,  the failure to some how reach a common ground, to find some shread of human decency and work together for the decency of the citizens of the United States.  However, that apparently appears to be a little to difficult to do.

Don't get me wrong, though, you do sometimes see a brief glimmer of hope, such as in out countries response to the earthquake in Haiti.  Internally however, when it comes to dealing with a domestic agenda, with such  issues as heath care and the economy,  the country is divided.  Blue vs Red,  democrats vs republicans, special interest group vs. special interest group,  everyone competing to advance their own agenda.  All these separate entities worried about their own needs, their vision too short sighted to see beyond themselves and look to the the common good of the United States and it's citizens.

One of my major problems is the lack of viable party alternatives, that have a legitimate chance of succeeding in achieving success in gaining office.  In our capitalist society, where it is now all about the money,  the democrats and republicans certainly as the majority parties, raise the majority of the funds to keep it that way.

More to come, for now, enjoy!

FIrst Post of 2010!

So its been awhile, but I'm back!  Happy New Year!  First blog of the New Year!  Hope everyone is having  a happy and healthy start to 2010, although I know that is not the case for many, which brings me to a topic of major concern for me.

A few days ago, a major earthquake struck the people of Haiti, and hit their capital city especially hard.  The enormous amount of damage and loss of life from this is truly horrifying, and I find it hard to even put it words what I am feeling for those touched by this disaster.  The task at hand is enormous in not only trying to save lives, but to bring in food, water, medical supplies, doctors, nurses, etc to Hatit.  t   I encourage everybody, as I have, to take the time to donate to an organization such as the Red Cross, ELCA, Doctors Without Borders etc.   Give what you can, a simple 5 to 10 dollars can end up turning into amazing things.  The people of Haiti need help, and we must answer.

I still find myself wanting to more, to get my my hands dirty, to get on scene to do something tangible.  How realistic that is?  I don't know, but I have a strong desire go those, to whom it's been described, have less then nothing.  Can you imagine?  Less then nothing.   Haiti, as the nations poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, was in dire circumstances during the best of days.  They now face the worst of days.  This is a time for people around the world to rise up and reach out to the people Haiti, who need it so desperately.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Christmas comes again...

Well Christmas is once again only a week away.  I can't believe how fast the year went.  To me it always seems as if Christmas is coming right around the corner.  Maybe that was in part to the fact that I spent 4 years living in Bethlehem, PA, where Christmas arrived somewhere in Mid October and didn't end until after the first of the New Year.

In the thinking about about the approach of Christmas and the end of 2009.  I realize that this holiday season is an indicator of an entire year, that for me was a year of transition and change.  These changes, I won't classify as positive or negative, because as I sit here typing,  I have begun to see and understand that there is a reason for these changes, even if I don't know what that is. (Yet)  



Really when I talk about changes I'm talking about significant events that have impacted my life in the past year on an emotional and spiritual level.  

This past June,  my one and a half year relationship ended, in what I initially thought was rather sudden.  This took a dramatic emotional toll on me for a long time.  I kept asking myself what if I did this and what if I did that.   Well,  having allowed myself to clear my head,  I have to bring everything back to a spiritual place, to take it to God and leave it in his hands.   I couldn't see that is what was happening when the relationship was ending,  but God's will has become clear albeit a little bit late.( On my part. not God's)  While I struggled through some pain and emotion that I had never felt before,  that to has served a purpose in that I have felt and had the privlage of experiencing love and know that's a place I want to get back to.

There were two other  events that took place this year which contributed to my year of transition.   My continued employment at ASI has extended beyond a year, which to me is full of mixed emotion.  As my original plan to be in PA by this point has fallen to the wayside,  the job itself a possible contributing factor.  However,  in the season where so many are struggling to make ends meet and to find employment I feel blessed to be in the ranks of the employed.  Working in this position, has unfortunately pulled me away from church and for the past year I've not been very good about finding alternative options to quench my spiritual thirst.  I'm praying for the will to discern and choose a way fulfill some of my spiritual need.  

As this Christmas seasons fast approaches I look forward to spending time with family and friends in fellowship.  I hope if your reading this the season finds you well!  Merry Christmas!

some randomness

It's been a few days since I've posted, just a quick few thoughts for consideration.

First let me say how excited I am that college basketball is here.  I'm heading to New York tomorrow night to watch UConn face off vs Kentucky at Madison Square Garden!  Should be a great early test for UConn.  Hopefully they won't play like they did vs Harvard or it could be a long night.

On a different note, Patriots have been struggling the past few weeks.  Just lost a very winnable game to Miami.  Still lead the division, but the door is open for the Jets and Dolphins.  I hope the Pats can finish strong or there may be some early vacation plans for our New England football team.

On a rather serious note, I would urge anyone reading this to read the following article and give it careful consideration.  It is quite disturbing.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/12/08/uganda.anti.gay.bill/index.html