Thank God, Jesus Wasn't A Republican.

One of the most influential moments in human history took place about two-thousand years ago when a young man named Jesus of Nazareth gave a sermon on a mountainside. He would later be arrested, suffer, die and be buried because of the beliefs he would summarize on that mountainside. Jesus was not political but he scared politicians. Jesus was not a clergyman but he exhausted the clergy.

Some four hundred years later Jesus's teachings would substantially slow the amount of executions in the Roman state, provide basic necessities for those unable to provide for themselves, and be-rid the age old Roman stigma of those that matter and those that do not. In the eyes of the new Christians everyone mattered.

Unfortunately America is regressing back to the days when there were the ones that mattered and the ones that did not. It is now, as it was then, that those that do not matter not only appear to be but are expendable. Albeit, death in a battlefield or death because you detract from a health insurers bottom line. No longer is power won with steel, as it was in Jesus's era, but now it is won with money. So hopefully, soon, someone will teach us that humanity is more important than the shekel.

Abraham Lincoln, Introspective Journeys, and A Desire to Get Away.

Today, even after all of my collegiate American History courses I learned that Abraham Lincoln was more than likely assassinated because his final public address, which called for black suffrage. After a war which split a nation in two, the emancipation of hundreds of thousands of slaves, and the signing of the of the 13th amendment a man, John Wilkes Booth, decides that black suffrage is going to far.

That made me think a lot about the human story and our ability to write our own story. I believe the impact we have in this world is determined by our belief in our ability to oversee that change. I think one of Obama's faults in office thus far was his almost visible loss of confidence. To me, it does not appear, that he believes in the idea that he can overcome the tremendous obstacles presented by both the American public and the American legislature. The same "swagger" (a word I don't especially care for) that made Obama so charismatic during his campaign for the Presidency has since deviated into a sort of ominous concern. He is obviously aware of the problems that await this country in the coming decades and wants to address the issues immediatey but I think he realized it is difficult to adjust the status quo. Inertia is a powerful force, or so they say. But, I digress.

All of this is really, to a certain extent, about a recent contest that swept the cyber-world LiveoffGroupon. The idea of the contest plays to both my immense restlessness and avid sense of adventure. It forced me to think about the path my life has taken thus far, and the people that influenced that. Not only the people but each individual action, each decision. My eyes are so very thirsty for something new.

I will leave you with one of my favorite quotes of all time. From the former Supreme Court Justice William Orville Douglas: “I learned that the richness of life is found in adventure…It develops self-reliance and independence. Life then teems with excitement. There is stagnation only in security.”

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