Weblog

I am amazed at what incredibly foolish things that I'm capable of accomplishing.

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Next time, I'll wear a helmet.

A risk is something that we take when we make a decision and the unfavourable outcome is greatly undesirable. Because of the heavy weight that a risk involves if the negative outcome is substantiated, the other option in a risk is usually very favourable.

Obviously, a risky lifestyle leads to destruction; if you take every risk, you're bound to fail eventually and the consequence can be deprimental. However, the extreme opposite is not a lifestyle to be desired either. Where a risky lifestyle can make a person dead, a person with a complete risk-free lifestyle might as well be dead. Often the fact that any moment can be our last adds a portion of beauty to our lives. There comes a point where we need to evaluate our lives and decide how we need to balance our lives in order to both maintain our lives and make our lives worthwhile.

The following is a letter that I sent to the newspaper here at John Brown University, The Threefold Advocate, that was published on 2006 January 26.

Attending the chapel on 2006 January 16, I was struck by a comment made by a fellow student: “Even though I wasn't directly responsible for a lot of the hideous things that happened in the history of African-American people, I still have some part of responsibility in it because… any of my family could have been part of those who were persecuting them.” I really don't know what to say to that except for the plainly obvious: “No, you're not!”

The student said that she feels responsible because any of her family could have been a part of the persecution. I, however, happen to know that my ancestors were responsible for what happened in history. Looking back through the genealogical records of my family, I have seen the wills of my forefathers which bequeathed “negros” to their children. I was shocked upon knowing this but realised that it was typical in that time period — typical, but not excusable.

History is full of evil. Throughout the past, there have been atrocities of great magnitude. Some of them that come to mind are events that occurred years ago on other continents such as the Spanish Inquisition, the Armenian Genocide and the Nazi Holocaust. Others happened in this very country such as the genocide of the First Nations, the slavery of African Americans and the following segregation. I find these events to be despicable in the highest degree. Even though my ancestry was involved in some of that, I was not. I have never killed, persecuted nor thought of someone to be less of a person simply because their skin, eyes or hair was a certain colour, but my ancestors have. Does that make me responsible? I don't see how it could, and I don't see how it should. That was them; that was not me. Being held responsible for actions committed by other people simply because I am descended from them seems like racism to me.

War is good for three things:

• Video games
• Literature
• Romance

Howard Stern thinks that because he has moved to satellite radio that FM radio is going down. Reading about his first day on satellite radio¹, I've decided to never get Sirius. So, I guess that I must stick with FM. The thing is that I never listened to the radio anyway; I like being able to just put a CD in and listen to what I want to listen to.

1. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/09/howard.stern.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories

Watching a rerun of The Tonight Show, Leno mentioned something worth noting. While not really the best logical argument that a person can make, it was frickin' hilarious.

What's this with people afraid now to mention Christmas? That's Happy Holidays. On Halloween we're fine with Satan and Dracula but Jesus and Santa?