Archive for March 2007
March 27, 2007
The Vapor of Life
5:36 pm | College | Culture | Stories | Comments: 13
I was in three different worlds yesterday. The day began like most any other, with me working at the old folks’ home. I can’t understand what it’s like to be 80 years old. That’s nearly four times my own age. Four times the knowledge, four times the life experiences, four times the struggles. In any other situation, that would get you respect; in America, it lands you in an old folks’ home, where you can be conveniently avoided by the up-and-coming generation that is choosing to learn by trial and error the lessons which most of the people around you learned 40 years ago.
After work I headed out to my humble alma mater, Grand Valley State University, stepping through what seemed like ages of time into the world of the college campus. Sitting on the back porch of the student union in the summery breeze, looking out across the green lawn with its small pond, I was surrounded by youth and beauty that was seemingly blissfully ignorant of the finite nature of life. As I sipped my drink I felt the sudden urge to do my homework, at which moment I realized with a satisfying smile that there was no homework. Instead I pulled out two sheets of music and read them, the strains of Verdi’s “The Force of Destiny” echoing in my head. Bahm, Bahm, Bahm! repeated. Then come the strings: Doodelly-doo, doodelly-doo, doodle-edoooodee DOOdoo. I listened with my eyes until the foul-mouthed pack of sorority chicks to my left got rambunctious due to the arrival of a guitar-toting fratty. I gave them my best “Foolish students, don’t mess with an Alumnus” look and headed for my car.
On the way home I drove through the world of Division and Wealthy, in the Grand Rapids ghetto. This was another world in which I have had no experience. Due to the lot that God has given me by no choice of my own, I have never personally experienced poverty. I’ve been around it, to be sure; dirt-eating poverty of the most squalid kind. People who live in poverty don’t care about getting a college degree. They also don’t really care where they’ll be when they’re 80. They would truly understand what the Bible means when it says, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
By the time I got home I was wondering about my own world. What defines it, what’s good about it, what’s bad about it. The age-old questions popped up: where am I going in this life, what should I be doing, what does it all mean? No, the answer isn’t 42. As a Christian, I’m comforted by knowing that the answers to all those questions have been written down and preserved miraculously over thousands of years. It was really too much to think about at the end of a long day, so I just furrowed my brow slightly, put on my running shoes, and took off down the shaded sidewalks of Heritage Hill.
March 24, 2007
Percussion Update
10:59 pm | Music | Pictures | Comments: 8
Much excitement this past St. Patrick’s Day as my band Fennec Fox played its first show, exactly one year to the day after I began learning drumset. It was great fun. Another way to describe it would be a great learning experience. In other music-related news, I’ve added a new voice to my drumset as well as a new cymbal. Let the good times roll!
Here we are at Dillenbeck’s at the beginning of the show. Sadly, because certain people were way at the back and we didn’t hear their request at the end, we did not manage to play Freebird.
Yes folks, this is a cowbell.
The Paiste Signature 19” Full Crash.
March 23, 2007
What Makes Her So Important?
5:54 pm | Poetry | Comments: 0
What makes a woman so important?
She’s just another stranger walking by,
just another passenger on the fly.
Yet my head will always turn
And I do not know why.
And what makes a woman so important
That her attention men would kill to get?
Life’s boat always seems to capsize
When I turn my head and realize
That our eyes have met.
And what makes a woman so important
That nothing tempts me more?
The greatest wars my mind has fought
To gain control of urge and thought
Were fought to guard that door.
And what’s been said about a woman
That’s not been said before?
And will I ever truly know
What makes her matter so?
I’ll no longer ask, but wonder evermore.
- James w. Lanning
March 20, 2007
My Screen is Controlling Me
8:27 am | Weblogging | Comments: 5
I wanted to post something really great today. You know, one of those posts that are simultaneously funny, wise, and relfective about the true nature of life. But I’ve got nothing. It’s times like these that I go back to some of the best advice about weblogging ever written, a collection of posts by none other than the legendary webrogger J. Dub.
Which of course brings me to the post No Excuses. At the time I was tired of people who would claim to run weblogs but never post - and by never I mean six or seven months would go by with not so much as a line from a song being posted. Most are just lazy, but some actually suffer from “Brogger’s Block”. I think the best advice from my post is about haikus.
Stop posting; get dressed.
A Haiku cannot save you;
You are late for work.
March 14, 2007
Sinners in the Military
6:14 pm | Culture | News | War | Comments: 2
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Peter Pace, USMC, recently got himself into trouble by stating his personal belief about homosexuality - specifically, that it’s immoral. The statement was made in connection with the long-time debate about United States’ policy for handling homosexuality in its ranks. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is still widely supported by top military brass, and won’t be going anywhere any time soon. It’s also nice that Gen. Pace didn’t apologize for his remarks, but rather clarified that his own personal belief was not relevant to the debate at hand. I instantly like him more than the Pope and other supposedly principled people that have made true statements then in the face of opposition backed down from them in cowardly fashion.
Here’s what I think about homosexuals in the military. You can’t make the morality argument against them, because there’s also a large amount of fornicators and adulterers in the military and nobody seems to have a problem with that. The more meaningful argument made against them is the impact that open homosexuality has on morale, good order, readiness and unit cohesion. Civvies like you and me have a very difficult time understanding what this impact may or may not be, and I will take the word of military professionals who almost unanimously agree that the impact is negative on all these things.
There are lots of people spouting all kinds of nonsense about this issue. A great example would be Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), who says, “The idea that the sexual orientation of any American has relevance to his or her patriotism or ability to fight in the Armed Forces is wrong-headed and harmful to our nation’s security.” This is a laughable argument, paying no attention to any relevant facts in the case, such as the ones I’ve mentioned above. There are many patriotic people that have no business in the military, and who are by various means excluded from military service. The security of the nation is fine; homosexuals make up a tiny fraction of the service-eligible demographic in this country; there’s no danger of running out of volunteers because gays are disallowed from serving. If these folks truly are patriotic, there are innumerable other ways in which to chip in for the good of the country rather than trying to shoe-horn their way into the armed forces.
March 9, 2007
Accepting It
3:02 am | Religion | Comments: 7
Every once in a while I’ll run across something that reminds me of a person who I thought really did me or my family or somebody else close to me a bad turn in life. My gut reaction to this always used to be a mild form of hatred. Not the out-and-out fiery condemnation style of hatred, but more of a despising, degrading, and vindictive version. We all have these experiences in life.
My reaction to this for a few years now has been to catch myself in the act of hatred and tell myself I’m taking the easy path. It’s so easy to spew out all the problems you perceive in somebody, all the crap they did to you, how low and pathetic they are as people. The more difficult thing to do is to love them as fellow sinners struggling with sin, the way Jesus did. Jesus had a perfect right to despise the publicans and sinners, and yet he sought them out to teach and save them. So I tell myself not to give in to the hate, that’s for slackers. I instead decide to accept the challenge of loving somebody inspite of everything, for Jesus’ sake. In addition to fulfilling one’s calling as a Christian, this also is a great stress-reducer.
March 7, 2007
Stop Talking about Snowboarding
1:35 am | My Life | Sport | Comments: 13
Let it be known that I am planning a snowboarding trip for March 24th. Late in the season? Yes. I personally am hoping that Michigan doesn’t melt everything on me before then; I walk by faith, not by sight. I’m really looking forward to this and you’re all invited, just get in touch with me sometime before the 24th. Hoping to go to Caberfae, but if the majority of folks are feeling lazy and cheap we will go to Bittersweet.
The issue of health insurance has been raised. In a discussion this evening we decided that you can injure yourself just as readily walking to your car as you can while snowboarding so there’s no need for alarm should you be lacking in the health insurance department. So just stick with me and everything will be alright.
