It's my mom and dad's 25th anniversary today. CRazy. It seems like yesterday...
What am I saying?!
Happy anniversary mom and dad!
Later guys,
Matt
P.S. Today is also Brad J Ward's 24th birthday. Happy birthday, Brad! It seems like yesterday...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Generation Q
I love that the New York Times is finally offering their Op-Ed columns for free online. I get to read some Thomas Friedman again without paying for a newspaper that I can mostly read for free online!
Anyway, his most recent piece on our generation was great today. Check it out.
Generation Q
"By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 10, 2007
I just spent the past week visiting several colleges — Auburn, the University of Mississippi, Lake Forest and Williams — and I can report that the more I am around this generation of college students, the more I am both baffled and impressed.
I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.
One of the things I feared most after 9/11 — that my daughters would not be able to travel the world with the same carefree attitude my wife and I did at their age — has not come to pass.
Whether it was at Ole Miss or Williams or my alma mater, Brandeis, college students today are not only going abroad to study in record numbers, but they are also going abroad to build homes for the poor in El Salvador in record numbers or volunteering at AIDS clinics in record numbers. Not only has terrorism not deterred them from traveling, they are rolling up their sleeves and diving in deeper than ever.
The Iraq war may be a mess, but I noticed at Auburn and Ole Miss more than a few young men and women proudly wearing their R.O.T.C. uniforms. Many of those not going abroad have channeled their national service impulses into increasingly popular programs at home like “Teach for America,” which has become to this generation what the Peace Corps was to mine.
It’s for all these reasons that I’ve been calling them “Generation Q” — the Quiet Americans, in the best sense of that term, quietly pursuing their idealism, at home and abroad.
But Generation Q may be too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country’s own good. When I think of the huge budget deficit, Social Security deficit and ecological deficit that our generation is leaving this generation, if they are not spitting mad, well, then they’re just not paying attention. And we’ll just keep piling it on them.
There is a good chance that members of Generation Q will spend their entire adult lives digging out from the deficits that we — the “Greediest Generation,” epitomized by George W. Bush — are leaving them.
When I was visiting my daughter at her college, she asked me about a terrifying story that ran in this newspaper on Oct. 2, reporting that the Arctic ice cap was melting “to an extent unparalleled in a century or more” — and that the entire Arctic system appears to be “heading toward a new, more watery state” likely triggered by “human-caused global warming.”
“What happened to that Arctic story, Dad?” my daughter asked me. How could the news media just report one day that the Arctic ice was melting far faster than any models predicted “and then the story just disappeared?” Why weren’t any of the candidates talking about it? Didn’t they understand: this has become the big issue on campuses?
No, they don’t seem to understand. They seem to be too busy raising money or buying votes with subsidies for ethanol farmers in Iowa. The candidates could actually use a good kick in the pants on this point. But where is it going to come from?
Generation Q would be doing itself a favor, and America a favor, if it demanded from every candidate who comes on campus answers to three questions: What is your plan for mitigating climate change? What is your plan for reforming Social Security? What is your plan for dealing with the deficit — so we all won’t be working for China in 20 years?
America needs a jolt of the idealism, activism and outrage (it must be in there) of Generation Q. That’s what twentysomethings are for — to light a fire under the country. But they can’t e-mail it in, and an online petition or a mouse click for carbon neutrality won’t cut it. They have to get organized in a way that will force politicians to pay attention rather than just patronize them.
Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy didn’t change the world by asking people to join their Facebook crusades or to download their platforms. Activism can only be uploaded, the old-fashioned way — by young voters speaking truth to power, face to face, in big numbers, on campuses or the Washington Mall. Virtual politics is just that — virtual.
Maybe that’s why what impressed me most on my brief college swing was actually a statue — the life-size statue of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. Meredith was the first African-American to be admitted to Ole Miss in 1962. The Meredith bronze is posed as if he is striding toward a tall limestone archway, re-enacting his fateful step onto the then-segregated campus — defying a violent, angry mob and protected by the National Guard.
Above the archway, carved into the stone, is the word “Courage.” That is what real activism looks like. There is no substitute."
Later guys,
Matt
Anyway, his most recent piece on our generation was great today. Check it out.
Generation Q
"By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 10, 2007
I just spent the past week visiting several colleges — Auburn, the University of Mississippi, Lake Forest and Williams — and I can report that the more I am around this generation of college students, the more I am both baffled and impressed.
I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be.
One of the things I feared most after 9/11 — that my daughters would not be able to travel the world with the same carefree attitude my wife and I did at their age — has not come to pass.
Whether it was at Ole Miss or Williams or my alma mater, Brandeis, college students today are not only going abroad to study in record numbers, but they are also going abroad to build homes for the poor in El Salvador in record numbers or volunteering at AIDS clinics in record numbers. Not only has terrorism not deterred them from traveling, they are rolling up their sleeves and diving in deeper than ever.
The Iraq war may be a mess, but I noticed at Auburn and Ole Miss more than a few young men and women proudly wearing their R.O.T.C. uniforms. Many of those not going abroad have channeled their national service impulses into increasingly popular programs at home like “Teach for America,” which has become to this generation what the Peace Corps was to mine.
It’s for all these reasons that I’ve been calling them “Generation Q” — the Quiet Americans, in the best sense of that term, quietly pursuing their idealism, at home and abroad.
But Generation Q may be too quiet, too online, for its own good, and for the country’s own good. When I think of the huge budget deficit, Social Security deficit and ecological deficit that our generation is leaving this generation, if they are not spitting mad, well, then they’re just not paying attention. And we’ll just keep piling it on them.
There is a good chance that members of Generation Q will spend their entire adult lives digging out from the deficits that we — the “Greediest Generation,” epitomized by George W. Bush — are leaving them.
When I was visiting my daughter at her college, she asked me about a terrifying story that ran in this newspaper on Oct. 2, reporting that the Arctic ice cap was melting “to an extent unparalleled in a century or more” — and that the entire Arctic system appears to be “heading toward a new, more watery state” likely triggered by “human-caused global warming.”
“What happened to that Arctic story, Dad?” my daughter asked me. How could the news media just report one day that the Arctic ice was melting far faster than any models predicted “and then the story just disappeared?” Why weren’t any of the candidates talking about it? Didn’t they understand: this has become the big issue on campuses?
No, they don’t seem to understand. They seem to be too busy raising money or buying votes with subsidies for ethanol farmers in Iowa. The candidates could actually use a good kick in the pants on this point. But where is it going to come from?
Generation Q would be doing itself a favor, and America a favor, if it demanded from every candidate who comes on campus answers to three questions: What is your plan for mitigating climate change? What is your plan for reforming Social Security? What is your plan for dealing with the deficit — so we all won’t be working for China in 20 years?
America needs a jolt of the idealism, activism and outrage (it must be in there) of Generation Q. That’s what twentysomethings are for — to light a fire under the country. But they can’t e-mail it in, and an online petition or a mouse click for carbon neutrality won’t cut it. They have to get organized in a way that will force politicians to pay attention rather than just patronize them.
Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy didn’t change the world by asking people to join their Facebook crusades or to download their platforms. Activism can only be uploaded, the old-fashioned way — by young voters speaking truth to power, face to face, in big numbers, on campuses or the Washington Mall. Virtual politics is just that — virtual.
Maybe that’s why what impressed me most on my brief college swing was actually a statue — the life-size statue of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. Meredith was the first African-American to be admitted to Ole Miss in 1962. The Meredith bronze is posed as if he is striding toward a tall limestone archway, re-enacting his fateful step onto the then-segregated campus — defying a violent, angry mob and protected by the National Guard.
Above the archway, carved into the stone, is the word “Courage.” That is what real activism looks like. There is no substitute."
Later guys,
Matt
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Thankyou NBC
Let me just tell ya, while we're on the road, I'm loving that The Office is now available on nbc.com in full episodes. It killed me last season that it wasn't, and if we missed it, we couldn't see it without buying it on iTunes. Now, we never have to miss an episode. By the way, Season 4 has been incredible. Incredible.
Later guys,
Matt
Later guys,
Matt
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
My perspective
Well, where do I begin?
Heather and I are on the road. We have been for about 3 days short of a month, not that things were too calm before we got on the road. I don't think things have been calm for us since about February. Actually, the last time we were in one place for a week was April 15th. The last time we were in one place for a month really was February.
I love to put things in perspective like that.
Well, it's obvious that almost everyone has heard of our target country by now. I wish I knew how to talk about the place now that people have so many ideas about it due to the press and blogs and e-mails and Facebook action groups. It's kind of difficult to know how to feel right now.
I've thought and prayed and talked about this country and these people so much at this point. It's really not easy to hear all that people are saying is happening.
We've gotten so many questions and comments about the place and what is going on. "Is it scary there? Will you be safe? Will you be able to go? Do you still want to go? Should you go? You shouldn't go. You can't go. You're crazy. You're brave. You're stupid."
It's sometimes a little frustrating.
Realize that anything you hear from the press in this country is inflated 100 times. It's terribly one-sided. Realize also that you can't trust anything the military says about the situation, because it's deflated 100 times. Basically take the average, and you may be close. We just can't know what has happened. We probably never will. Yes, something terrible has happened. Yes, the people will recover. No, not much will change, most likely.
There are a lot of positive things we can take from this recent round of demonstrations and the government's response. Realize I am not defending the leaders in any way. They have done a terrible job. But actually there has been a positive side. Maybe not positive, maybe non-negative.
The government was not quick to crush the demonstration. They let it grow quite large before the expected actions were taken. Also, the protests were not completely peaceful demonstrations. Nor did they start out to be protests for democracy, as many in the press want us to think. The monks were also somewhat violent. Remember hearing that a number of monks took soldiers hostage and torched their trucks? Honestly, these things are nearly never one-sided. We often only hear the side we want to hear. Our number one desire as Americans is to see democracy and freedom move throughout the world into the less free areas, so that's what the press tells us. It's dramatic. It's heroic. They sell newspapers and people watch more TV.
Maybe it sounds like I am down on the job our press does on reporting news. That's probably because I am.
Yes, we're still going to SE Asia. We don't leave till February, so by then it should have calmed down. No foreigners or Christians have been the target of the military, unless they were acting political and involved in the demonstrations. And honestly, if a foreigner was involved in the demonstration, they might deserve to be kicked out. It really isn't our job to be inside the country stirring up trouble. It's one thing to protest from the outside in support of those inside. It's another to get involved inside and aide in the destabilizing of the situation.
If it is absolutely too dangerous, we won't go in right then. We'll be smart about it.
I've gone back and forth on wondering if it is our job as Christians to push for the destabilization of a country, or to even make it our concern. You know, I remember a while back Pat Robertson called for a dictator to be assassinated, as if the church had a stance on the leaders of a country having a right to be there or not be there.
Maybe I've come to the point with this country that I'd rather not have a thought about this government. Maybe that is the frame of mind I have to have when I'm there, so it's started to become my frame of mind here. I just don't think it's up to us (Heather and I) to have an opinion about it. The fact is, God has placed those leaders in power, whether I understand it or not (Romans 13). That's a whole different post in itself. (And to be honest, this government has not crushed the church or forced it underground. In fact, the church is growing quickly and has the right to in this country!)
Well, maybe this post was more for me than anything. I'm not sure I should have even wrote what I wrote. I'm unsure about how to be political about talking about this type of thing, especially when it's so close to me. I'll save it, and reread it later before posting.
I know one thing. I'm very excited about this country. I've seen God's hand working in it already, and I can't help but be excited about the future of this country. We'll keep reading the news and tempering it as we go along. And we'll see where it takes us. Be praying for this country. But pray for more than what you've been reading about. There's so much more to this place than we're seeing in the press.
Later guys,
Matt
Heather and I are on the road. We have been for about 3 days short of a month, not that things were too calm before we got on the road. I don't think things have been calm for us since about February. Actually, the last time we were in one place for a week was April 15th. The last time we were in one place for a month really was February.
I love to put things in perspective like that.
Well, it's obvious that almost everyone has heard of our target country by now. I wish I knew how to talk about the place now that people have so many ideas about it due to the press and blogs and e-mails and Facebook action groups. It's kind of difficult to know how to feel right now.
I've thought and prayed and talked about this country and these people so much at this point. It's really not easy to hear all that people are saying is happening.
We've gotten so many questions and comments about the place and what is going on. "Is it scary there? Will you be safe? Will you be able to go? Do you still want to go? Should you go? You shouldn't go. You can't go. You're crazy. You're brave. You're stupid."
It's sometimes a little frustrating.
Realize that anything you hear from the press in this country is inflated 100 times. It's terribly one-sided. Realize also that you can't trust anything the military says about the situation, because it's deflated 100 times. Basically take the average, and you may be close. We just can't know what has happened. We probably never will. Yes, something terrible has happened. Yes, the people will recover. No, not much will change, most likely.
There are a lot of positive things we can take from this recent round of demonstrations and the government's response. Realize I am not defending the leaders in any way. They have done a terrible job. But actually there has been a positive side. Maybe not positive, maybe non-negative.
The government was not quick to crush the demonstration. They let it grow quite large before the expected actions were taken. Also, the protests were not completely peaceful demonstrations. Nor did they start out to be protests for democracy, as many in the press want us to think. The monks were also somewhat violent. Remember hearing that a number of monks took soldiers hostage and torched their trucks? Honestly, these things are nearly never one-sided. We often only hear the side we want to hear. Our number one desire as Americans is to see democracy and freedom move throughout the world into the less free areas, so that's what the press tells us. It's dramatic. It's heroic. They sell newspapers and people watch more TV.
Maybe it sounds like I am down on the job our press does on reporting news. That's probably because I am.
Yes, we're still going to SE Asia. We don't leave till February, so by then it should have calmed down. No foreigners or Christians have been the target of the military, unless they were acting political and involved in the demonstrations. And honestly, if a foreigner was involved in the demonstration, they might deserve to be kicked out. It really isn't our job to be inside the country stirring up trouble. It's one thing to protest from the outside in support of those inside. It's another to get involved inside and aide in the destabilizing of the situation.
If it is absolutely too dangerous, we won't go in right then. We'll be smart about it.
I've gone back and forth on wondering if it is our job as Christians to push for the destabilization of a country, or to even make it our concern. You know, I remember a while back Pat Robertson called for a dictator to be assassinated, as if the church had a stance on the leaders of a country having a right to be there or not be there.
Maybe I've come to the point with this country that I'd rather not have a thought about this government. Maybe that is the frame of mind I have to have when I'm there, so it's started to become my frame of mind here. I just don't think it's up to us (Heather and I) to have an opinion about it. The fact is, God has placed those leaders in power, whether I understand it or not (Romans 13). That's a whole different post in itself. (And to be honest, this government has not crushed the church or forced it underground. In fact, the church is growing quickly and has the right to in this country!)
Well, maybe this post was more for me than anything. I'm not sure I should have even wrote what I wrote. I'm unsure about how to be political about talking about this type of thing, especially when it's so close to me. I'll save it, and reread it later before posting.
I know one thing. I'm very excited about this country. I've seen God's hand working in it already, and I can't help but be excited about the future of this country. We'll keep reading the news and tempering it as we go along. And we'll see where it takes us. Be praying for this country. But pray for more than what you've been reading about. There's so much more to this place than we're seeing in the press.
Later guys,
Matt
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