Loving is Living

Have you ever heard the phrase, ‘I don’t expect anything so I won’t be disappointed,’? What are expecting from our life? What are our standards of what we can accept and what we won’t? Through the eighteen short years of experience I have had in this world I have discovered that knowing what your standards are and why they are is so very important. From ensuring that you become the best version of yourself, to making sure that you don’t end up in a friendship that lowers your standards. This post is all about what standards we hold ourselves to, what standards we hold the people around us to, and ultimately how that affects and shapes our lives. I will look examine this through education and through relationships. I believe in high standards that remain reasonable. What standards do we hold for ourselves? The Eurostat online publication recently provided statistics on the quality of life in the European Union. Their data publication, specifically examining the affects our persona...

Have you ever noticed how a little boy will stand and act and talk just like his dad? Ever noticed how people talk like and dress like the people they admire? Having younger siblings taught me to realize the influence we have over others. This last year of competing in speech and debate I have thought constantly about what kind of precedent I am setting... Realizing that there is always someone watching and always someone listening. We are always told growing up that we can change our world, but I realize now how wrong that statement is. The fact is, we are changing our world, the question is not will we change it, the question is how are we changing it? Something we don’t think much about is how we are talking. Now I am not saying y’all go around talking trash and cussing people out in front of young and impressionable people. But when was the last time you looked around and took note of the ages of the people around you while you were talking about things like death, or depress...

We always have those day or moments when our worlds just seems to crash around us. Where our past hurts resurface, or when that one song plays, or when we see that one person, and we fight back the tears. Inevitably, it happens at the worst time too, when we are out an about, hanging out with friends, the list goes on. I don’t know, maybe I am the only guy that has this happen to them, but as a guy it is TEN TIMES WORSE!!! That being said, this post is for both males and females (I try not to be too sexist XP). When we hurt we inherently try to hide, we try to act like we are fine, we try to ignore the pain and run from it hoping it will stop haunting you. Unfortunately, that is one of the worst ways to handle pain. I guess a better title of this blog post would be ‘dancing in the rain’, but honestly, sometimes you can’t dance. We are told to find joy in all sufferings, but sometimes all we can do is push through and not give up. When you lose someone you love, when your relati...

"Where once was light, Now darkness falls. Where once was love, Love is no more. Don't say goodbye… Don't say I didn't try... These tears we cry are falling rain… For all the lies you told us… The hurt, the blame! And we will weep to be so alone… We are lost! We can never go home… So in the end, I will be what I will be. No loyal friend was ever there for me… Now we say goodbye… We say you didn't try... These tears you cry have come too late… Take back the lies the hurt, the blame! And you will weep when you face the end alone… You are lost! You can never go home… You are lost! You can never go home…" - Gollum's song  by  Emiliana Torrini       Growing up I has what I now call the Gollum mindset. Gollum, formerly Sméagol, was respectable, had friends, he was one of the people. Then, he made a mistake, a horrid mistake at that, but he let that define the rest of his life. Everything he ever did from that point on was majorly, if not completel...

      On December 14, 2014, Jordanian pilot Moaf Al-Kasasbeh (Moo-off All Kah-saus-bay) was captured by ISIS when his plane went down in ISIS territory, in February 2015 he was murdered by them. As I watched the video that was released of Kasasbeh’s death on YouTube, I was deeply disturbed. They doused him in gasoline and put him in a cage, he was forced to watch the trail of flames come closer and closer to his cage until it got there and he was lit up as a human torch, skin visibly melting off of him. It was dark, it was evil, how could mankind do this to another? I thought. Make no mistake, there is evil in this world, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria is a major part of it. Terrorism is rampant in America and across the globe, but how should we respond to it? As a people, as followers of Christ, how do we deal with terrorism?       ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, also known as IS, ISI, ISIL, and Daesh, split off from the extremist group k...

Hey Y'all! For those of you who know me, you'll know I am passionate about quite a few subjects, both social, political, and moral. For the past 10 or so years of my life I have been able to share various opinions and positions through competing in speech and debate. From Chinese labor camps, to loneliness, even to the corporate income tax, I have been able to share what I believe and why with hundreds if not thousands of people through the years. I am so incredibly blessed by this time i have had, but alas! Like all good things, this too shall end. My season in high school speech and debate is ending, and this next season of my life is starting up. Through a conversation I had with a parent who was impacted by my speech at this past tournament I have decided to start a blog! This won't be a "This is what I ate for lunch and this is the corny meme I just saw" kind of blog. In this blog I hope to share my beliefs, discuss topics both big and small, and at some...