indiosyncrasies: is individuality overvalued?

Everyone is unique. Everyone is different. Everyone has some sort of quirky thing(s) they do when they’re alone.

At what point does being special, unique, individual, different, etc., become…being the same?

Living in the United States, submersed in a generation that is just barely getting traction on their lives and careers, where everyone loves to talk about how different they are from everybody else and proclaim that as the pinnacle of their individuality, I constantly wonder when this is all just going to come crashing down and be rebuilt. Understand that I in no way want to devalue the importance and value of each and every individual, their story, peculiarities, and existence, but I suspect we have swung too far in the direction of an individualized culture and completely forgotten what binds us together.

Constantly I feel told that our differences are what bind us- we are all different! let us come together because we are all different!- and this has never made sense to me. I grew up in a world where people were, more often than not, persecuted and even killed for their differences. I grew up in circles where those outside of the circles were not welcome if they did not meet certain criteria (weren’t “chill enough,” I guess one could say) they were shunned from the community. I have seen people with shared differences band together in solidarity- an inherently valuable thing- and never seek to bind with other groups of solidarity on the basis of sharing solidarity. They stay individual circles for reasons unknown, though I suspect for fear of difference- “these people don’t really share anything with us except they’re another group that has come together…they’re unlike us, so let’s just stay us.” Our differences bind us together, and stop after we’ve been bound at the elementary level. There is, however, what I see as a third option…

I long for a world where we bind together not for our differences, but for our similarities. Our differences have, for too long, separated and alienated people and people groups, and it is about time we come together because we are all people. Not because we are all the same ethnicity, not because we all play the same sport or have the same hobbies, not because we are from the same geographical location- because we all share the one thing that allows us to be idiosyncratic individuals: being human. Because we are all the same at the foundational level- carbon-based, oxygen breathing, upright-walking bipeds with an emotional capacity (at varying levels) to love and feel remorse. Because we all have two eyes, listen to music, and speak a language, whether it be with mouth or gestures. It is time to stop polarizing ourselves away from each other because we aren’t the same and start uniting because we are.

asking: when the answers aren’t obvious

Recalling much of my earlier years in grade school, I seem to focus on one theme that was prevalent in more years than it was absent- the instructor spurring on the student body, whether that be a classroom or an assembly hall, to ask questions. I don’t want to sound pompous but I was always very [book]smart for my age, at least until I hit high school, so I would always see this as a useless proposition to take advantage of. Not to mention, when these propositions would be made I’d have already understood what was deemed misunderstood by my peers. However, once I began to age, intellectually and physically, I realized that I wouldn’t have the whole world figured out by the time I was eighteen like I had thought (silly, I know…). Ultimately this led me to a position where I would be forced to ask questions.

Unfortunately enough for me, once I had been backed into the corner of asking, I didn’t know exactly how or what to ask. I was very lazy in my high school years and hadn’t done much in the area of training my brain in critical thought, so I only knew to ask surface level questions about surface level issues. Despite thinking it commendable that others were capable of asking deeper questions that I could produce, I had still not been able to develop the skill. However, through all of the reading and discipling that I have been subject to over the last year, I developed the skills necessary, at least at an elementary level, to critically think and question. Especially pertaining to my Christian faith, this has proved to be a vital skill.

One thing that I seem to notice as very prominent among my Christian brothers and sisters, whether they be in my immediate surroundings or my global community, is the sheer lack of desire to question. Though not so absent amongst the more liberal Christians I have met and read, the desire is not prominent enough in what I would deem a healthy way. Sure, some people will encounter a verse, parable, or story of the Bible and ask ‘What does it mean?’ or ‘How does this apply?’ but seldom do you find Christians asking the questions that could potentially undermine historical credibility of events (‘Did this really happen?’, ‘If not, how does it remain important?’) or inquire as to whether or not the passage or story has multiple interpreted meanings (‘Who thinks differently than you?’, ‘What are the counterarguments to this view?’). I find a lot of Christians willing to accept the first seemingly logical deduction of anything pertaining to their belief or its peripheries merely on faith and trust, but without further examination- something I have been guilty of as well. It would be appropriate to add that I consider that further examination of a text, whether personally or corporately, is in itself asking questions as to whether or not the initial conclusion given is legitimate or not, or whether this first conclusion is the most logical and rational to ascribe to.

I feel (opinion alert!) that this is something that needs to be remedied in a big way if people want to have not only sufficient defenses for what they believe (by asking questions about the deepest of issues and having adequate information as a result) but also to be able to stand up to contending and opposing views with healthy respect. Recently I have been involved in such a situation in which I see dogmatism working in a way that destroys community- something I believe to be foundational for any belief system. It is my suspicion that this dogmatism has arisen from a sheer lack of ability to ask even generally critical questions, simply accepting whatever the first answer given, as long as it fits into that specific worldview. I also feel as if this individual had been asking questions along the way to finding the conclusions they have arrived at, they would at least have been forced to think through a few different ways to interpret certain information rather than to simply object to it because it doesn’t fit into their specific system, which I also think would have fostered a respect for opposing interpretations.

Whether or not this questioning is from a worldview that denounces or supports religion, inadequate ability to honestly and critically think through the application of propositions made by contending and supporting views causes a callousness to build up in which the individual, over time, ceases to consider on all levels the implications of their own propositions. They just support what they support because it is familiar and those in an authority of instruction over them might tell them it is so. One example that I feel confident in not having to find a source for- Christians in the U.S. become fervent about getting Intelligent Design or Creationism taught in what is supposed to be a secular public education system without having studied any of the opposing evolutionary views sincerely enough to know exactly what they are opposing (please note that I do not support nor understand the juxtaposition of evolutionary science and the Christian creation story, but I will save that conversation for a more studied post); the other side of this coin is that I find a lot of atheists to be lobbying for the total abolition of religion based on claims that, more often than not, have also not intellectually considered all facets of what exactly it is they are opposing. One point being that both sides, from my point of view, seem to have lost the ability to honestly and sincerely consider the human on the other side of the idea enough to examine and understand the worldview that they are coming from- both are dogmatic about their views and have pitted their opposition against themselves as an enemy in their minds and don’t seem to want to reconcile anything at all(this is especially disappointing to me from the Christian side, seeing as we are to love unconditionally). Another point to be made is that without asking questions about the implications of what you are proposing you risk being unrealistic in your views and supporting an extremism that would be desirable to avoid. Regarding the example given, teaching I.D. or Creation in schools is a fusion of religious teaching with a state institution- something the country is supposed to oppose, though, admittedly, in our current political climate it seems that this is not the case. Total abolition of religion seems not to serve any purpose but to deconstruct that which has been built up for millennia and replacing it with science- all this based on what I believe to be the false dichotomy of religion and science (there is much more to this stance and discussion that I wish not to delve into in this post). Regardless of my views on either of these arguments, I honestly believe that an adequate ability to ask questions and wrestle with possible conclusions would be a good starting point to being respectful and loving in any sort of ideological confrontation.

I admit that most of what I have written here is opinion drawn out of the current intellectual struggles I am going through, but I truly find a great deal of value in the ability to question things. In questioning I have found that I am more satisfied with the conclusions I arrive at after having exhausted all possible other ones. I also find that an inherent respect for other interpretations of issues (whether on a grand or minute scale) begins to grow as a result of this wrestling, possibly because I learn the power behind the idea. And finally, I discover an ability to be able to respect the human behind the idea after having been able to view the world through their lens, even if it were for a very short period of time.

I admit that I don’t always do this, and when I do I don’t really do it well. I have found this room to grow through consideration of other ideas an ever more gratifying experience to explore and hope that maybe at the end of the day I could understand a fraction more about the universe and what I believe about it.

tomorrow: vacation antics begin

We rise to our first day in San Francisco. Seeing as we are two completely goofy people, we spend at least a solid hour being silly- talking in strange voices, making numerous inside jokes, and verbally affirming our love and admiration for one another (something those close to us know all too well, and I have tagged as “cutesy stuff”). Once we get our bearings on the day, we begin the nice and easy process of preparing ourselves to be presentable in a public place- after all, we don’t want to go out looking like we did when we got out of bed!

One unfortunate thing about the duo of us is that we are two highly indecisive people- I always want to be easy and let her have whatever she wants, and she doesn’t like picking- so we spend a good amount of time browsing Yelp for the prime places to eat. It would be appropriate to mention here how invaluable of an asset Yelp is on any vacation. From providing reviews and ratings on all conceivable establishments to hours of operation and directions, Yelp pretty much does it all. After we looked at the multitude of places to eat in such a densely populated metropolis, we decided to drive around and just look around. This brought us to Philz.

Philz was an experience unlike anything I had ever had in my escapades with the liquid provision that is coffee. Philz is a franchised operation, much like any other coffee joint you would visit, but they do “one cup at a time”- pour overs all day. The one we went to was on a very busy main road and was divided into two rooms: one where they did the business of money handling and making coffee and bagels, and the other for hanging out. The main room where they make the coffee had three stations that would be tended by one employee each, and each of these stations housed four individual pour over contraptions. I didn’t take too close of a look at them, but I did notice that they were made of stainless steel. Philz only offers small or large sizes for their coffee and iced coffee, and though their large isn’t 20 oz., the quality of the pour and grind is more than worth it. They had about thirty different blends of coffee, from light to dark, all ground immediately prior to the pour. My eye was caught by a blend that I had seen in Starbucks a few days before we left- Jamaica Blue. Not only did this blend mention my favorite color, it was $30 for a half pound! Philz charges $7 and $10 for their small and large, respectively, and I had to see for myself whether or not this coffee was truly worth the exorbitant price. Ten dollars for a cup of coffee seemed pretty extreme, but I had to- and my oh my was I surprised. That large cup of Jamaica Blue was definitely the best cup of coffee I had ever drank in my life- I may have psychologically set myself up for success, but the richness and balance of flavors notes in that cup of coffee was unlike anything I had ever experienced in any other bean or roast, which included a faint woody note from the barrels that the bean ships in from Jamaica. Melly got a blend called “Sooooo Good” with cream and sugar, and, despite the heinous additives, that was also quite a treat to delight in- surprisingly full bodied for a light roast, with a heavy coffee flavor all the way through the sip. We are most definitely going back tomorrow.

After enjoying our truly gourmet coffees with bagels, we headed over to Golden Gate park, which was a modest two blocks away from the apartment we were staying in. We could have walked, but, thankfully, there was plenty of free parking available all day because it was the weekend. The first path that we walked down led us straight to a flower conservatory. At $5 a ticket for students, Melly and I decided to check it out. Aside from the humidity, it was a very pleasant experience- photographing flowers on my phone and enjoying the beauty of nature and fresh air for about an hour.

They had a special exhibit with what they labeled as ‘botanical rogues and assassins‘- highlighting poisonous plants and humanity’s obliviousness to them. Many of the somewhat deadly plants were very attractive, with bright colors and intricate patterns that would seem to attract even the most elementary specimens.

After exiting the conservatory, we took a short bathroom break and tried to decide what to do next. While we were discussing, there was a mother who seemed to be incredibly angry with her daughter literally yelling at her in the middle of this park’s walkways. Not only was this very awkward for the daughter being yelled at, but it was awkward for us and everyone else who was listening and watching! We had a good laugh about it, as did the kids, and noted that I would mention in this blog 😉 While taking a walk around the large open air around the conservatory, we came across a tunnel that was spewing out some jazz tunes. Walking down the tunnel we discovered a street band of raggedy gentlemen playing dirty, heavily worn instruments and immediately I threw a five into their little donation box- I truly appreciate raw music, straight from the musician to the listener, especially if you can pick up on the true talent that underlies the instruments individually.

We took a short seat after watching the band play a few songs and tried to purchase tickets via Fandango for the new Harry Potter movie. Let me preview this by saying that Melly had bought a deal on Groupon a few weeks back to receive two tickets from Fandango for $5 (online purchases only). After failing through the slow 3G connection we drove back to the apartment to attempt a purchase through my laptop. After literally 90 straight minutes of trying to get these tickets, the servers at Fandango were running so slow that the sessions would time out before the order would go through. Also, Melly discovered upon checking her bank statement online that Fandango decided to charge her (and likely myself) for every single purchase attempt we made- probably a dozen or so in total- and even though the purchase was only $2.00, it is still $10-12 each for absolutely nothing in return. I have effectively begun to foster a certain disliking for Fandango.

This frustrating ordeal spurred in me the hunger I had forgotten about in the process of trying to acquire movie tickets. We decided to go to one of the places Melly’s friend recommended- Sushi Bistro. Unfortunately, this joint was closed and we had to venture elsewhere, which landed us at the Crepe House on Gough. We shared the chicken pesto crepe, which was delicious, and came with surprisingly tasty rosemary home fries, which could have been eaten as a stand alone side. We also shared a standard Nutella crepe with vanilla ice cream, and even though I really wanted to get another one, we resisted and headed on our way down to the Fisherman’s Wharf.

Once we got there, seeing as it was Saturday and San Francisco is always a huge tourist destination, we found the roads to be packed and the parking to be unnecessarily expensive- anywhere from $25-35 dollars just to park for the day! I must commend the lot owners, though, because it is a very lucrative field, given the location. After driving around for who-knows-how-long, we came to a lot that was beyond the bustling entrance to Pier 39, in the back of some surface streets where parking was only $10 (what a pleasant surprise). Aside from being in the middle of nowhere, this parking garage wasn’t too bad and all that far out of the way. We then made our way down to Pier 39 to check out all of the shops and wares, and to take a quick lavatory break. We browsed the stores for quite some time, especially the candy store because I was searching for my favorite chocolate bar- S’mores. The one store that we actually bought anything in was a little trinket store that had some stuff that was handmade/assembled using recycled paper, scarves, and chopsticks (which I bought a pair of!). Once we had exhausted our stay at the pier, the journey to Ghirardelli Square began. Despite being less than a mile away, the number of people we had to fight through and our lack of energy made this journey a tiring one, albeit worth the drain. After walking around the square a bit, we went to the main chocolate shop where Melly bought a container of chocolate malt balls for her mother and I bought a bag of 50 assorted caramel filled chocolate squares, with the full intention that I make brownies infused with said squares. We then got a large soy white chocolate mocha to top off our trip to the square before we embarked on the seemingly endless journey back to the parking garage- which, again, was only 1.1 miles away.

It was time for dinner and we were both starving. Stacy, the roommate that was staying in the other half of the apartment that was lent to us, was having a birthday celebration for herself with a few friends that was pirate themed. I decided to head back to the apartment to put away my laptop (just to be safe- it’s brand new!) and drop off our purchases for the day. Then we headed to Sushi Bistro for a treat I will never forget- Dave’s Legacy. This roll was filled with what I believed was spicy tuna (it isn’t on the menu), along with sweet potato, then flash fried in tempura before being topped with albacore and some other sauces. I cared not to inspect to closely, to be quite honest, because I was starving and after a single taste I couldn’t stop eating it. The other roll we got, called Albacore Dream, was very similar but not flash fried. Everything we ate there was delicious and I would highly recommend a stop by there for anyone in the San Francisco area- it would be well worth your time and money.

By this time you could image how drained we are. In spite of just having eaten, we are both completely drained from all the walking today. After joking around and being silly, we’ve gotten ready for bed, anxious to take on the next and last full day of the trip. We have much planned for tomorrow- so goodnight.

arrival: San Francisco

It has been over a decade since I can remember being here, and all I can remember of my last visit is that I wanted to visit Alcatraz so badly and all of the parents with us didn’t really care to go. Disappointing, I know, but that’s okay because now I can go if I really want to!

Melissa and I arrived here around 10pm and crept into the (1/2) apartment that is so graciously being lent to us free of charge by one of her friends. The drive was nowhere near as bad as it would have been had I not previously driven to Joplin three times. Though, at times, it did get very gusty and there is nothing I hate driving through more than the wind.

Once we had gotten settled in the first thing we did was take care of business- food business, that is. We went to this place literally five blocks away called Uncle Boy’s, a tiny hole-in-the-wall burger joint that sports, like the Yelp reviews noted, a short menu with quality surpassing that of the price. We both got the same burger, except hers contained a veggie patty instead of beef.

On the walk home we decided to stop at the liquor store down the street to get waters. After paying for our waters and Ritter Sport bar, we continued on our walk back to the apartment, noting that that had been “our shortest trip to any place for food!” A quick ninety second stop was all it took to acquire our goods.

It is time to go to bed- we’ve got a long two or so days ahead of us.

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord our souls to keep,
And if we die before we wake,
I pray the Lord our souls to take.

inauguration

I am operating under the assumption that the majority of those who are reading this blog are going to know me or have met me personally at one time or another. I also realize that the majority of those who get past these first few sentences are going to be sincerely curious as to what I have to say about whatever there is to discuss. Many of you will understand the perspective that I am writing from as well as the people and knowledge that have influenced these writings. For those that do not, I would encourage you to take a look at my page that explains a bit about myself.

Much of what I write has the potential to become quite controversial due to the nature of the subjects I will be writing on, which include, but are not limited to, Christian theology, philosophy, science, and living life. I do not intend to stir up peoples’ minds simply to get them to disbelieve what they have brought to the table, nor is my intention to get people to believe all that I say (though, admittedly, I may come off that way at times). My intentions are simply to raise  important and relevant questions for our current generation with the hopes of initiating loving dialogue where we can agree- even to disagree.

I will update as often as possible to give those interested a consistent glimpse into my thoughts as they stand or struggle. With that, I bid you adieu.