What changed?

After the first 100 days of his presidency, I'm wondering what all Obama changed.  We're still spending our asses off in Iraq, Bin Laden is still on the loose, he isn't attacking our economic crisis with policies that are vastly different than Bush's, and the Mexican border is still unsafe.

Some states can no longer discriminate against homosexuals.  There's a plus, but that happened at the state level, not the federal level.

And racism still exists.

Our Congress is still broken and our representatives unaware of what matters to people outside of Washington.  Fuck, when are things actually going to change?

A Ride Down Memory Trail

No, I'm not trying to win an award for lame post titles, though I have a feeling I might get nominated for one.

After work today, I went for a bike ride with my brother.  It lasted two hours and we went on a trail and a few roads that I feel I spent half my child.  I switched off with my brother between the only two bike I've been on since I got my training wheels off.  Everything was so small.  The epic trail that took me ages to ride however many years ago took me half an hour to do twice.  The massive downhills that used to exhilarate me now disappoint.  The joy of reaching the top of a hill has been lost.

Spending time with my brother and releasing some endorphins was nice, though.

Forgotten

Last summer our city got rocked by an epic flood.  Right after it, there was the expected "outpouring of service" and "display of the goodness of humanity."  I haven't heard jack about it since.

Something Not

At the beginning of the year in an AP class last year, there was a quiet, reserved kid who kept to himself except when it came to class discussions.  By the end of the year, I was convinced he had low self-esteem and was socially awkward but very bright.

This year, I've seen him hanging out with a lot of druggies and skateboarding in front of the school that he is slowly giving up the opportunity to excel in.  He's not a great skateboarder and he still has the same look in his eyes, but I'm willing to bet he smokes pot now and doesn't do well in school anymore.

I only realized today that I could have been him if I didn't have friends pushing me to make smart decisions last fall.

Crossroads

I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now,
Save poor Bob if you please

Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by

Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down

You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin',
Lord, baby I'm sinkin' down

I went to the crossroad, mama, I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad, babe, I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well,
Babe, in my distress

I don't think Robert Johnson can help me much here, but I thought of his song when formulating this post.

I'm currently at a real crossorads with my faith. I really don't know which side to choose. I've learned that its entirely possible for somebody to be a terrible person despite a belief in a higher power, and its entirely possible for a honorable person to lack such beliefs.

Reasons I might become a Christian:

• There is extreme social pressure for me to join a community of faith.
• It seems that Christians generally live better lives than non-believers.
• There will always be somebody for me.  Even after I die, even when I sin, even when I do not return the favor, God will love me.

Reasons I might become an Atheist:

• The rift between science and faith is one that cannot be denied.  I'm sorry, but they just don't mix.
• I don't know what the peers of my future will believe.
• I'm really not sure I've decided that there's a single thing that can be better explained through faith than otherwise.  Its very wishy-washy.
• My personal beliefs don't coincide with what I think God wants me to believe.

So for now, I'm a swing voter.

Pride In My State

Last week, in a supreme court decision I was happy to hear of, my state legalized gay marriage.  I think it is discrimination to bar homosexuals from civil marriage.  God seems to have mixed opinions about homosexuals, so I don't know about gay marriages in churches, but certainly, in a court of law, there is no reason to call gay marriage illegal.  Such relationships cannot biologically produce children, but gays are most certainly capable of being good parents, especially when compared to how disappointing some couples' (or single parents') parenting skills are nowadays.  In all honesty, I think its a bit weird for two members of the same gender to marry, but if two souls are in love, the church shouldn't keep them from marrying in a courthouse.

Dear Conservatives,

Two of the platforms of the RNC include being against abortion and in support of the death penalty.  Doesn't that seem contradictory to you?  If "respect for life" is one of the pillars of conservatism, shouldn't you respect all life?  One of my favorite pieces of pro-life propaganda references how murderers of pregnant women are only charged with taking one life, as if the law doesn't believe a fetus is a human.  I haven't read up on this, but I'm willing to bet a limb or two that killing somebody on death row is still some form of murder.

So you'll fight so vehemently against the government for allowing women to take the lives of the unborn but you're totally cool with the government taking lives of the living?