Grass

I still remember how it felt like – that last walk, on that last afternoon.

It was the 13th of November 2008, and my final paper had just ended. I recall the euphoric rush that came with the conclusion of my final examinations, made all the sweeter because my exam schedule had allowed me to end at the earliest possible time. But as I made my way out of school, along the familiar path beside the astro turf, I was struck by a feeling quite strange, all of a sudden.

Something was different. I couldn’t place my finger on what exactly, but I was sure of it. It stirred me enough that I stopped there, along the pavement, and turned around, looking for some new fauna, pruned trees, or something like that to explain this sense of ‘difference’.

But then, it hit me. As I turned around and saw the building where I had spent the past 3 years in; the grounds I had been part of for the last 6, and the happy boarders playing soccer on the turf, it hit me. It felt different because I was done. With the writing of that final word on my English A1 Paper 2 script; the return of that final script into the examiner’s hands, my business with the school was done. From that point on, I was no longer a student, and I no longer belonged.

Yea, I recall the feeling. It resembled sadness. It resembled pain. It hurt.

But I guess that’s life.

Thoughts, people?

This all made a lot of sense, but I still had not made the connection to the word “hate.” Eventually I made the connection when I found this website. The author summed up his reason for creating the site and his dislike of women in one simple sentence: “I hate women because I want their attention and they won’t give me any.” So what a misogynist truly loves is the shallow image of women that exists only in one’s mind and is illustrated in society in such things as pornography or mainstream media that espouses that ideal. The hatred is directed at real women, for not living up to a misogynist’s expectations of women being easy to control and for not providing adequate stimulation for men’s interest.

Po sent me this excerpt awhile back and asked me what I thought. A couple of interesting ideas are brought up here, and in the chance that my readers have comments on this, i put it up. Cheers.

Week 1 of OOC Life

Books of the Week

Lewis, C.S., The Screwtape Letters, (London: HarperOne, 2001)

Sen, Amartya, The Idea of Justice, (London: Allen Lane, 2009)

Zamoyski, Adam, 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March, (London: Harper Perennial, 2005)

The ESV Study Bible, (Illinois: Crossway, 2008)

Snippets of takeaways over the past week or so

1) Christians are not called to live by a ‘higher’ set of morals, nor should they be under pressure/obligation to conduct themselves in a manner ‘better’ than the rest. We have nothing to prove, and in any case these are not for us to judge in (perceived) superiority. Christians have weaknesses, insecurities, and inadequacies like any other human being; the difference lies in that we have God to entrust all these to, and to make up for them. It does us good to be reminded of that daily, and to live with that perspective.

2) God cannot be stereotyped, psychoanalysed, nor ‘figured out’. His responses can never be expected nor preconceived. It does us good, therefore, not to give up retreating into His arms, seeking His consult on matters etc., because He will always provide the best possible solution, the one that best meets our needs at that particular point. He is the Father that loves us, and that love makes him most wonderfully (and graciously) UNpredictable. Honesty, humility and pliability are the only requirements on our part.

3) Hanging around ‘fed’ and ‘healthy’ Christians for too long may actually be detrimental to one’s faith.