June 2007

The Stepford Wives, American Beauty, Desperate Housewives: if we didn’t before, we should all know by now that suburbia isn’t necessarily a moral utopia… or really a utopia of any kind, for that matter.

Yesterday I watched Little Children, a film about a housewife (Kate Winslet) and househusband (Patrick Wilson) who meet at the neighborhood park and begin a poolside friendship while their children swim. The loneliness created by each of their unhappy marriages is palpable, and naturally they begin a torrid affair, finally finding what they feel they’ve been missing, in almost every sense: companionship, understanding, help with the kids, sex.

It’s tragic, but mostly because it’s completely believable. Watching this film, one can’t wonder how many times derivatives of this plot have played out in suburbs across our country.

I’ve been married for four years on June 28. I’ve come to believe that this one relationship is more complex than anything I have, or probably ever will, experience. Feelings, too, are infinitely complicated, and communication and honesty in marriages are, obviously, crucial.

This isn’t a lecture; I don’t have anything figured out. But I do think that, besides being a beautifully shot film, this movie is also a brilliant signal fire.

yeah, who knows what to call us, but i thought this article actually had some pretty good insight…

pass along to all the adults you know.

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/05/28/100033934/

Last week on June 4, CNN aired a very interesting forum on their show The Situation Room. Rev. Jim Wallis organized the event, an in-depth discussion of religion, faith and politics, with three presidential contenders — John Edwards, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

If you’re not familiar with Jim, he’s the author of the best-selling book God’s Politics and the head of Sojourners (www.sojo.net), an organization founded to “articulate the biblical call to social justice, inspiring hope and building a movement to transform individuals, communities, the church, and the world” (taken from the SoJo mission statement).

I highly encourage people of faith to read the transcript from this forum; i must say that it has given me a great deal of hope that we will be making some tremendous strides toward good in our next election.

THE SITUATION ROOM Special Edition: Sojourners Presidential Forum

A couple nights ago, some of my good friends and coworkers attended a post traumatic stress (PTS) informational workshop/presentation for families of war veterans. They went to support the efforts of an amazing man in our community that works to help said vets.

Result: they went in jaded, and came out different.

Nutshell: war changes a person. always, irrevocably, negatively.

I was impacted by their debriefings in a number of ways, but most jarringly with the question: “Why, based on the unquestionable harm done to soldiers by simply participating in combat, isn’t there a response to the war movement that pursues nonviolent means to accomplish change?”

Of course there are groups of people who protest wars, and of course there are countless studies about the effects of war on a person’s humanity (NOTE: read this), but why have i never heard of any correlation between the two?

Perhaps i haven’t been listening. God knows i’m horribly, inexcusably preoccupied with myself most of the time, though i’m trying to become less so.

I guess I’d just like to see a bit more consideration made towards these things… it seems like the responsible response.

OTHER THINGS TO READ:
Brian McLaren: Sorrow Can Make Us Better, Not Bitter
Jim Wallis: ‘No One Deserves a Tragedy’

Mr. John Mayer has written a song called “Belief” that appears on his newest record Continuum. Drink up — there’s some good stuff in here (even better if you listen and read at the same time):

Is there anyone who
Ever remembers changing there mind from
The paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
Ever breaking rank at all
For something someone yelled real loud one time

Everyone believes
In how they think it ought to be
Everyone believes
And they’re not going easily

Belief is a beautiful armor
But makes for the heaviest sword
Like punching under water
You never can hit who you’re trying for

Some need the exhibition
And some have to know they tried
It’s the chemical weapon
For the war that’s raging on inside

Everyone believes
From emptiness to everything
Everyone believes
And no one’s going quietly

We’re never gonna win the world
We’re never gonna stop the war
We’re never gonna beat this
If belief is what we’re fighting for

Is there anyone you can remember
Ever surrender with their life on the line?

What puts a hundred thousand children in the sand
Belief can, belief can
What puts the folded flag inside his mother’s hand
Belief can, belief can

John says some brilliant, poignant things in this song, and makes his point well. But belief is also the thing that often makes life worth living.

Quite obviously, though, belief can make for dangerous gunpowder.

What if we’re just starting at the wrong end, thinking our belief can endlessly justify our actions? Instead, perhaps we should first ponder the action our belief will necessitate?