a plea for disagreement

Okay, so I was reading a blog today, and I came accross an extremely (I think I use that word too much) disturbing GIF.


It was about gay rights (which is not our topic today), yadda yadda yadda, and ended with these two panels. Yes, that is Josh Hutcherson, AKA Peeta in the Hunger Games movies, but whatever.....AVENGERS. (Just had to get that out there)






Does that disturb you? I am seriously creeped out.


And futhermore, we're not gonna let anybody say anything bad about anyone.


WHAT?


It's almost like living in a dystopian novel, where no one is allowed to say anything bad about anyone else. They already label "hate crimes" in some countries. And in the early 19th century "libel" (or saying anything about the ruling party) was a crime.
I believe that disagreement helps shape us. for as C.S. Lewis says, "You are a soul. You have a body." Not the other way round.

Proverbs 24:6 ~ "For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellers there is safety." (i.e, not just one accepted view) 

How will we know the truth if we can't test it against untruth (rather irrelevant in a post-modern society sadly)? In America we still have the Constitutional right to say whatever we want, however loony it may be. If you want to say that you think gay marriage, abortion, or government interference is wrong, you should certainly be able to say so, without it being labeled as a "hate crime" or what-have-you. Conversely, the opposite views can say what they want. The truth is still there. Everything is biased one way or another.

I mean, hate IS wrong, but it only hurts the person hating, so unless it leads to unlawful acts, whose business of it is if you hate something?

It is only when people sit, think, and argue that the true course of action can be determined. Like Socrates. Like Jesus pitting His truth against the Pharisees and Jewish leaders. WHY do we believe a certain thing about a certain issue? 

The type of thinking that the estimable Josh displays leads to a creepy Orwellian society, where no one thinks but merely receives (e.g. public schools) and everyone doesn't care anyway because we're all distracted  by the endless predigested entertainment through our televisions, computers, iPads, iPods........

True thing, that.

Truly disturbing.

And I'm aware this really wasn't one of my most logical or best written posts, but bear with me, okay?

My dad got to come home from the hospital today, so we are all happy about that. Please keep praying for his recuperation. :-)

TTFN, ta-ta for now, if I may quote Tigger.

~ Diana


P.S. AVENGERS. See what I meant about endless entertainment? Still, May 4th IS coming.

16 before 16: small goals

These lists seem to be all the rage in the   blogging world. For once, I'll hop onto the bandwagon and make one, completely ignoring the fact that my last birthday was over 4 months ago. Because I'm cool like that.

my list: 

1. Learn to drive a car.

2. Learn to shoot a gun.

YEAH!

3. Finish Algebra 1. Yuck.

3. Write a novel. 

4. Buy something from ModCloth. I love their clothes.  2/12

5. Go to Glacier National Park in Montana, and/or hike (part of) the Appalachian trail.

 two photos of Glacier Nat'l Park in Montana.

6. Get a job.

7. Learn to shear sheep! (or groom dogs)

{via}

8. Be an artist.  Do something drastic.

The Magpie by Claude Monet.

9. Witness the birth of an animal. 

10. Do a real finished painting or drawing and frame it.

11. Improve my relationship with God: stop resisting and let Him be in charge, rather than me.

12. Read an at least 600 page book.

13. Decide if I want to be a veterinarian or not.

14. Make a baked Alaska. And have it turn out right!

{via}

15. Make macarons.

{via}

16.  Stay out really late and identify constellations.

{via}    This is a close-up of Orion.

Oh yes, and I'm finally reading The Hunger Games. Pretty good so far, well-written, although part of me wonders why they don't have any guns, for Pete's sake...

I'll do a review once I finish reading it.


Adios....

unexciting update

So I went ahead and changed the layout. Don't worry, I'm leaving the poll up so you can still vote  on your favorite header. I enjoy designing them, but always struggle with getting Blogger with cooperate and not make the post titles a dumb color..... *teenage eye roll* I'm a novice at this.

But not this type of novice!

Any thoughts on blog designing? Do you like the newest format? Is it too busy? I don't blog for my readers, or for money (how I wish), but I'm open to suggestions and advice!





School started today.  I read a-bunch-of-stuff. I have to ease into math and science slowly. *insert another eyeroll*


“Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;
Wait the great teacher Death, and God adore.
What future bliss He gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be, blest.
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

—	Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

“That we should establish ourselves in a sense of GOD’s Presence, by continually conversing with Him. That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation, to think of trifles and fooleries.”

—

Brother Lawrence And I helped stack wood.  Exciting, I know.  <---- I resisted the urge to write "third eyeroll" there.Sorry, for a lame, unexciting post......next time, I will be blogging about {CENSORED}. Ya'll (I'm not really Southern, sorry) should go check out my little sister's blog, a puppy's bone. She writes about our Lab's various escapades. With photos, even. :) *radio voice* And so, blog readers, I leave you, but not without a GIF of Yoda, in all his The Empire Strikes Back glory, and a neat WW2 poster. Yoda is so awesome. Luke: eh....not so much.

Lol!

dear boys: a link up

(Okay so this is a blog link-up thing where you write a letter to...boys?!?! I'm going to try this anyway, even if I'm late to the party)

Dear teenage boys,

we're not beautiful (warning: long post!)

I feel compelled to debunk the saying that we're all beautiful, at least on the inside. "Be yourself." (True, you should be "yourself", but sometimes it is more important to the do the right thing.) 

What-EVER. *insert snarky teenager voice*

We aren't beautiful....

gender roles + SNOW!

Time for a serious post. You may not agree with me over this, but then you don't have to....but please, keep it civil if you comment.




* * * * * * * * * * * * 


The original "gender roles" were thus: men took care of women who had the children.
Today, we in America live in a very advanced, civilized society. It is considered permissible for both sexes to many things which would have been frowned upon two hundred years ago. For example, women are lawyers and politicians, both jobs which were traditionally left to the men.


Is this a bad thing? As long as we keep in mind the original model, and don't adopt a personal "I can do whatever I want and hang the consequences!", I don't think it usually is. An exception when women are encouraged to do things they really aren't able to, as affirmative action in government jobs does: create *diversity* and limit efficiency (wait, we're talking about the government...) because those women simply aren't right for the jobs, and got in not because of their grades but because of their sex or color of their skin.


However, speaking from a Biblical as well as practical worldview, some vocations simply are best left to men. Military combat is a prime example. 
The time-honored model is for the men to fight, and the women to stay at home and take care of the kids, and keep the country going so that the men have something to fight for. This makes sense from a purely biological sense because males are *usually* physically stronger, and are better at keeping an army together. Also, when you introduce women into a male-dominated institution, it can be distracting = less organized fighting = less effective = we lose.


So one can conclude that America today has made a dangerous innovation on a model that has been working more of less for thousands of years. Only time will tell what the long-lasting effects will be, but the short-term effects have seriously endangered the welfare of what used to be world's greatest military.


Another time-honored institution in which the male/female roles have worked together with great results is the family: by which I mean a father, a mother, and varying amount of offspring. Sometimes this gets messed up, and the child(ren) are left with either only a mother, only a father, a step-mother or father, or neither. In each case it is a sad situation, but not really hopeless, as the children can still thrive and grow up to be happy, useful members of society. :)


But a truly ominous situation, another one of those 'dangerous innovations' that well-meaning people introduce upon thousands of years of various ups and downs is the public acceptance of same-sex marriage. 


This issue really isn't about feelings, love, or because we just don't "like" gay people, but because this is making a perversion normal. Being "gay" is a choice (must be or else it would have been bred out of the genetic line); or at least a problem you can fight against. This may sound idealistic, but we always have to fight against something that's tempting us, be it large or small.
All I am saying is that if as a society, and in the public schools, we accept this as a norm, then we will end up with a distorted society, and blurring of gender roles. (which are pretty messed up already)


(As a Christian, I'd like to say that God has a plan for everyone, and what might be right for one person isn't always right for another. [It's called "conscience"])


But on a larger scale, if we continue to blur or switch gender roles, we will be less efficient as a country, and may become non-existent eventually, because we won't know who we are!


 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 




Whew!!! After numerous distractions I finally finished writing. 
And its SNOWING. *sigh* Winter is coming, folks. It sure looks pretty though.

photo credit

Does anyone want to take me skiing? Please? I'm terrible at it, but it sure is fun!
The chickens and sheeples were very much confused by the snow. Honey the Lab loved it!

photo credit

 

photo credit

my  edited photo!

Auf weidersehn. I can't decide if I like this font better than this one. Talk about stupid decisions....

o blogger where hast thou been?

Never fear, mine honorable and glorious readers, your truly hath returned!


~  ~ ~  ~  ~ ~  ~


I have been ruminating about several things during the past two days or so.
I am considering starting a classical music newsletter, to encourage young people to enjoy classical music. I don't know if I will though...


Speaking of which, I was listening to the Planets by Holst, which was a pretty neat piece of music. You can download them for free here. I like Jupiter the best, and Neptune because it sounds so sci-fi-ish. (if I may coin a word!)


Oh and I read War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells last Saturday! Scary, but I do like a good antiquated sci-fi novel. Much better than antiquated (think 1950s) sci-fi movies. 


I am working on this song right now. "O sleep" from the opera Semele by Handel. (Semele was one of Zeus's lovers in Greek mythology, who ended up as a cinder, and was the mother of Bacchus, aka Dionysius, the god of wine. Not whine)

goodbye! This was an incredibly unimpressive post.

In honor of those who perished on 9/11 ten years ago.





 painting by Jasper Johns ~ weird rustic aesthetic, but cool idea.  






A Sunday-inspired hymn, to calm in the midst of all this devastation, from

 Elizabeth P. Prentiss

More Love to Thee by 

More love to thee, O Christ, more love to thee! 
 Hear thou the prayer I make on bended knee. 
 This is my earnest plea: More love, O Christ, to thee; 
 more love to thee, more love to thee! 

Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest; 
 now thee alone I seek, give what is best. 
 This all my prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to thee; 
 more love to thee, more love to thee! 

Let sorrow do its work, come grief and pain; 
 sweet are thy messengers, sweet their refrain, 
 when they can sing with me: More love, O Christ, to thee; 
 more love to thee, more love to thee! 

Then shall my latest breath whisper thy praise; 
 this be the parting cry my heart shall raise; 
 this still its prayer shall be: More love, O Christ, to thee; 
 more love to thee, more love to thee! 

.....And to top everything off, a photo of my very svelte and attractive young 

goat!

(He didn't want me taking a picture of his face)

Hmm, I seem to suffer from the same universal delusions which harbor much of the female portion of humanity: pretending animals can talk. Ah well, a harmless oddity. Added to my other oddities, however, this takes the cake. The goat says hi.

Quid agis!

educational grouchiness

Fall is so mournful, yet so exquisitely beautiful for a short time. It always makes me feel poetic, in a pseudo-meaningful, rather aimless manner. I always feel rather tragic around the first weeks of September, because it means schoolwork, coldness, and pumpkins and mums, which aren't as showy, delicious and attractive as their summer counterparts: berries, peaches, and petunias. 
Wait. I do like apples! 


I was researching the Montessori and the Waldorf systems of education today for no legitimate reason other than I wanted to know what they were about. (I must admit I had been complaining before about the-honored-and-respected-may-she-live-forever Charlotte Mason, whose modern curriculum Ambleside Online we (meaning my honored-and-respected-may-she-live-forever female parent) use as our main schooling.


(Side note: Must I drop the fascinating and patronizing manner of using as long as possible words in every sentence, making it harder for my honored-and-respected-may-they-live-forever blog patrons to read? 


Most young female people, and indeed most males as well, write in a more Plain English, Spartan and sometimes sloppily romantic style. Nay; they can improve their vocabulary if they choose, and after all, you/they are under no obligations to read it at all. Go read something else instead--Facebook!!! Go on Facebook! Whatever!!!!)


....Returning to the obviously non-absorbing subject of education methods, I must say sometimes the starry-eyed idealism (yes, I am aware that sounds like I'm an old crank) of these individuals gets on my* frequently-easily irritated nerves. All three education methods I mentioned were written by unmarried people who produced no scions**, hence the starry-eyed-ness.


But ANYWAY, I am quickly tiring of writing from this seemingly dry and unappealing subject. No one my age ever knows what I'm talking about anyway.


*unfortunately.
**Look it up. ;)




So, saith the little (rapidly dying) optimistic portion of my brain, why don't we find a pretty picture to look at? (Actually, the optimistic portion of my brain pronounced it "pwetty pictew" but I shall over look that slur) 



SMACK to the annoying optimistic brain cells.


Now lets go look for a pretty picture and an encouraging quotation!




You have no idea what a poor opinion I have of myself and how little I deserve it. 
W.S. Gilbert 


(Not encouraging enough. Simply a bald testament to man's sickly pride.)




Nah, enough for tonight. Farewell, fellow travelers upon this carbon-based sphere!

That was weird.........

Talk about weird....I don't like POTC, but this was funny. 

Okay, moving on to more serious subjects, I don't feel good. 

food for thought

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest -
For Brutus is an honourable man;
So are they all, all honourable men -
Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:
Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that on the Lupercal
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me."

~William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar