Cherish

The title of today's blog is reflective of the song that popped up on my ipod this morning. As I drove to meet Chelsea for breakfast at Panera, I got fed up with the repetitive radio tunes and decided to put on my ipod. I thought this morning it would be good to do some reflections on recent happenings, since a lot has happened in the past week or so. At first I put on my Christian music playlist; well, I realized quickly I need to do some cleaning out, as much of the music on it doesn't speak to me like it used to. It's nothing about Christian music in general; it's just that I enjoy songs that have words that are unforgettable, that resonate long after the next song comes on. For example, "Our God is An Awesome God" is okay, except for the verses mentioning God with thunder in his footsteps, lightning in his fists, and his wrath poured out on Sodom. Well, first, I like to think of God as a more loving, all-surrounding God, not Zeus sitting high on Mount Olympus, creeping on my every move and striking me down. Not exactly the song with which I want to start my morning.

Needless to say, I changed to the "Easy Music" playlist. One song that came on was "Cherish" by Kool and the Gang. It's an old song, from the 1980s, and probably many of us haven't heard it. It's also seemingly cheesy, at least at first. But as the seagull calls began (signaling the beginning of the song), I remembered something one of my professors once said: "Many times, there are better messages for leading a Christian life, in music that's not 'Christian music'". So out of curiosity, I further listened. The words of the refrain say:

"Cherish the love we have for as long as we both shall live,
Cherish the love
cherish the life
cherish the love."

It is a romantic song, which mentions a walk on the beach and a man wondering about spending eternity with his mate. Cheesy? Probably a bit. But, the lines did resonate today and are very applicable to the past few weeks. For those who didn't know, my parents' storage unit was robbed last week and at first it was a shock. We never expected it, and I've never experienced what it's like to actually be robbed of things of sentimental value. For a few days for me, it was sadness to anger to "why us?" and finally to "I can deal with this." And the dealing with it came from me reflecting on how precious life is. The things that were stolen, though containing sentimental value, were not lives lost. They were photographs of life, they were gifts from loved ones, they were sentiments; but that is all. They were things. Life is not just a thing; it is a precious precious gift. And thank God no one was hurt in this robbery.

There are many more events that are truly devastating; lives are stolen everyday. The tragedy of the 76 lives (many being teenagers!) stolen by an extremist in Oslo, the life of a talented singer stolen by drugs and/or other causes, and just two days ago, the life of an Olympic skier stolen so quickly by a self-inflicted gunshot, are just a few.

With all that has been happening, amongst the recent debt reduction plan disagreements, it is easy to get worried and become discouraged with life and as my mom puts it, "the way the world is going". Well, the way the world is going is not all bad. There are hopeful occurrences everyday; just the way people draw together in times of tragedy is hopeful. I pray that people do learn to draw together to push forward because if we sit and stew in the sadness and the discouragements, we fail to see what we can do to make this a better world. Will there still be sadness and anger and struggles and mistakes and tragedies? Absolutely. But through the mishaps and the pains, we can become closer to our neighbors and the ones we love (which should be everyone!). We can learn to work toward lessening the pains where we can by making our voices heard (don't be afraid to call/send letters to your government representatives!) And we can learn through the trials that we must cherish every moment we have here on Earth, living and working with others who are going through struggles, too.

Guys are pigs?

It's been a little while since I've posted. Here I am at the library again. Another long and quiet night, but no complaints here. I've shelved some books, checked some people's books out, scanned over People magazine, and read a little of a novel I'm currently reading called The Almost Moon. Anyone read The Lovely Bones or seen the movie? Yeah, this book is a little out there, too, but it is interesting. I'll let you know how it is further into it.

This week Matt's participating in the National Jazz Festival here at Shenandoah, so I'm staying in town all week to spend time with him when he's not at school from 7am-10 or later. I decided today while he was away that after my jazzercise class I would do some cleaning. "Some cleaning" turned into an awful lot of cleaning. I decided to truly clean out the refrigerator after I found old food from April and May of this year. I didn't realize how many colors some foods could turn or how much food could be wasted from a certain guy who goes out to eat all the time. Now I'm not bashing Aaron, but today raised a serious question. After all the cleaning out I did, and all the relief I felt when the refrigerator and freezer had been rid of all the old meat, dairy, potatoes (one of the worst), and other vegetables, I wondered: Why is it that only I am concerned about cleanliness of the fridge, among other things? I'll admit, sometimes things do go bad and I have to pitch them before I can use them up. But three trash bags full of food having to go bad and still no desire to clean up even a little bit? That's wrong.

One of Aaron's friends, Larry, came over and I vented to him about the ecosystem in our fridge, and sometimes in our house, and he said, "Rachel, that's a guy for you. It's in their nature. All guys are like that." Really? Being a guy gives you the excuse of being a pig? I don't agree. My boyfriend isn't like that. Many guys I know aren't like that. So what is it? Is it hereditary? I'd like some research if anyone can provide some good, reliable and valid research. Because to me, being a guy does not give you the right nor the power to be a pig and get away with it. Pigs (you know, the farm animals?) are pigs...they have the power to be themselves. Human beings, male or female, do not.