STOP! Are you fed up with politics? Then read no further and skip down to the cute drawing below (which I swear has no political affiliation despite the mention of tea). The least I could do is give you a chance to be spared of my ravings. ;) This was brought on by the things people have chosen to post on their facebook statuses, because that is the only contact I have with like 90% of the people in my life. =P
While many of my friends and family flooded my facebook feed with apocalyptic prophesies about MO'bama for four more years, I happily went about my business (well... I was sad that Ron Paul didn't win, but I'm also sad that I can't shape-shift into a horse, and I'm not going to let that spoil my fun). Honestly people, ya'll act like the poor man is Hitler reincarnated. I'd like to see you run the country! Actually, I take that back... that would be a disaster. ;) Seriously though, just four more years and then we get to have this big crazy party all over again. Brother against brother! Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law! Fathers against sons! O, the humanity!
What is really disappointing to me is to see what bad losers ya'll are. I get about as excited about politics as I do about sports, but people everywhere treat both of those things like God (except when our sports team loses we just hang our heads and sigh, but when our politician loses, we act like it's literally the end of the world). One thing in particular that really gets me going is when church-going, [facebook-proclaimed] Christians act like cornered animals, foaming at the mouth, full of hate and anger, and underneath the anger is nothing but fear (the Dark Side, people, we all know this!!).
Where is your faith? I exhort you, brothers and sisters, to remember who is really in charge. The things men do on earth are all under God's command. Nothing would exist, therefore nothing would come about, if God were not fully involved at every moment. He is not a passive observer. Sustain is a verb, and the Lord sustains everything. He makes the world go 'round. You would not take another breath but by His will and mercy. So... Are you going to accept that God wants Obama in office and has a good reason for it (which He may or may not divulge to us), or are you going to claim you have a better plan than the Almighty's? It is a good and beautiful thing to use your right to vote, but it is blasphemy to lose hope and spread fear and hate when the one you picked was not elected.
I would like to make one more point. Having spent the last few weeks with Conservative households and Liberal households, I would like to give you both some advice: just talk to each other and seek to understand. Stop drawing battle lines and stop making straw men out of each other. You have way more similarities than you think. Better yet, we should all register as independents and forget the damn party system altogether. HAH. That'll be the day.
Ahem... No more politics. Dang, I told myself I wouldn't get worked up on this blog... just happy reports about our happy travels, right? So back to the happy travels.
When Jamie and I weren't lamenting the human condition, we were enjoying ourselves immensely in various coffee shops, in quiet afternoons inside our warm house with rainy weather outside, and in the company of our hosts in Nashville. Yesterday I wrote that we visited the Frothy Monkey, today we walked over to "Portland Brew" (tagline: A Taste of the Northwest) which was better suited to us and our choice of occupations while at coffee shops. It was strange to have the region we're from being used as a brand in a different region, haha! Anyway, we spent about three hours there this morning, studying and drawing. I got a lot of work done on my Art-House Co-Op Sketchbook as well as a few just for fun (like the one above, which I finished off after I got home).
My Uncle Bill took Jamie and I out to Indian food (YUM!!) and then took us on a little tour of the surrounding neighborhoods. He knows a lot about the area... I look forward to the full tour of Nashville! Jamie and I spent the rest of the afternoon still studying and drawing... and we went over to the main house for dinner and conversation with my Great Aunt & Uncle.
Today was a great day. If I could repeat this day over and over again I would (minus the post-election rampage on facebook... though I guess if I did get stuck in an endless loop of this day I would quickly learn to turn off all forms of communication with the outside world). =P
Yay, Nashville! =D
While many of my friends and family flooded my facebook feed with apocalyptic prophesies about MO'bama for four more years, I happily went about my business (well... I was sad that Ron Paul didn't win, but I'm also sad that I can't shape-shift into a horse, and I'm not going to let that spoil my fun). Honestly people, ya'll act like the poor man is Hitler reincarnated. I'd like to see you run the country! Actually, I take that back... that would be a disaster. ;) Seriously though, just four more years and then we get to have this big crazy party all over again. Brother against brother! Mother-in-law against daughter-in-law! Fathers against sons! O, the humanity!
What is really disappointing to me is to see what bad losers ya'll are. I get about as excited about politics as I do about sports, but people everywhere treat both of those things like God (except when our sports team loses we just hang our heads and sigh, but when our politician loses, we act like it's literally the end of the world). One thing in particular that really gets me going is when church-going, [facebook-proclaimed] Christians act like cornered animals, foaming at the mouth, full of hate and anger, and underneath the anger is nothing but fear (the Dark Side, people, we all know this!!).
Where is your faith? I exhort you, brothers and sisters, to remember who is really in charge. The things men do on earth are all under God's command. Nothing would exist, therefore nothing would come about, if God were not fully involved at every moment. He is not a passive observer. Sustain is a verb, and the Lord sustains everything. He makes the world go 'round. You would not take another breath but by His will and mercy. So... Are you going to accept that God wants Obama in office and has a good reason for it (which He may or may not divulge to us), or are you going to claim you have a better plan than the Almighty's? It is a good and beautiful thing to use your right to vote, but it is blasphemy to lose hope and spread fear and hate when the one you picked was not elected.
I would like to make one more point. Having spent the last few weeks with Conservative households and Liberal households, I would like to give you both some advice: just talk to each other and seek to understand. Stop drawing battle lines and stop making straw men out of each other. You have way more similarities than you think. Better yet, we should all register as independents and forget the damn party system altogether. HAH. That'll be the day.
Ahem... No more politics. Dang, I told myself I wouldn't get worked up on this blog... just happy reports about our happy travels, right? So back to the happy travels.
When Jamie and I weren't lamenting the human condition, we were enjoying ourselves immensely in various coffee shops, in quiet afternoons inside our warm house with rainy weather outside, and in the company of our hosts in Nashville. Yesterday I wrote that we visited the Frothy Monkey, today we walked over to "Portland Brew" (tagline: A Taste of the Northwest) which was better suited to us and our choice of occupations while at coffee shops. It was strange to have the region we're from being used as a brand in a different region, haha! Anyway, we spent about three hours there this morning, studying and drawing. I got a lot of work done on my Art-House Co-Op Sketchbook as well as a few just for fun (like the one above, which I finished off after I got home).
My Uncle Bill took Jamie and I out to Indian food (YUM!!) and then took us on a little tour of the surrounding neighborhoods. He knows a lot about the area... I look forward to the full tour of Nashville! Jamie and I spent the rest of the afternoon still studying and drawing... and we went over to the main house for dinner and conversation with my Great Aunt & Uncle.
Today was a great day. If I could repeat this day over and over again I would (minus the post-election rampage on facebook... though I guess if I did get stuck in an endless loop of this day I would quickly learn to turn off all forms of communication with the outside world). =P
Yay, Nashville! =D
