The People Problem

Recently, I picked up a novel by the vlogbrother/nerdfighter/author John Green, a person who I am convinced knows more about people than his self-refuting claims would suggest. The novel, Paper Towns, is a story about a boy who spends his whole life in a crush with a girl, only to find out that he doesn't know her at all. This boy (Quentin Jacobsen) is therefore confused when she (Margo Roth Spiegelman) runs away for apparently no reason. He is so obsessed with finding her and convincing her to fall in love with him that he starts a search that leads from Walt Whitman's Song for Myself to several abandoned subdivisions outside of Orlando. Eventually, the search leads him to understand that he has been viewing other people as "paper people", or objects with only two dimensions. He learns that we need to view people as we view ourselves--trying to, as Whitman said, become the person. But since we can't actually become the person, we need to ask the person questions to figure out what's going on.

To put it kind of flatly, this novel changed my perspective on people. Individuals who I originally dismissed as crazy, creepers, idiots, or jerks are now being reassessed. I am, to use a colloquial term, "floored" by this new discovery. To my surprise, thinking of people as people and not as static objects that always do what you tell them is actually a really interesting way of going about life. Time consuming, but interesting.

A quote from a movie trailer that I once saw: "I like stereotyping. It's more efficient." Personally, I find it kind of sickening to think that we constrain people to one particular group or path in life because it's more convenient to us. The whole point of being a gentleman is to be in an inconvenient situation for someone important to you. I would argue that that's the whole point of love, but then again, I suck at love, so don't take my advice.

But about that point of love...if you argue against that? I'd say becoming mortal for 30 years, memorizing the Torah, being rejected by your own people to the point of being crucified, and being betrayed from several of your closest followers would be a great inconvenience to some people. Jesus made a huge point of being inconvenienced for us, and why? Because He loves us.

I dunno. Like I said, I kinda suck at the whole relationships thing. So if you take my advice, don't be surprised if you end up a loner like me. Not that you'd take my advice anyway, since anyone reading this would probably know me well enough to understand that in advance.

Here's to a life of making our comfort zones other peoples',

--JesusFreak

A Man of No Repute

There are three types of men in this world: those that are envied, those that are ignored, and those that are despised. Thankfully, fortune has blessed me enough that I belong in the second tier. Wishful thinking should not be mine, yet every now and again I catch myself wondering, "What if? What if I was the star football player, the laid-back guitar player, the rapid-fire joke machine? What if I had some of that strange charm that other guys seem to have that allows them to attract women easily?"

"We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal..."

Yeah, right. That's never been true.

The unwritten law of high school seems to be thus: "If you play a sport, are liked by girls, make funny jokes, and have lots of friends, you're the most important person ever."

I'd say that if you put yourself in ridicule's way to help people, do your best (even if you don't succeed), compliment people when they're feeling down, laugh at others jokes (even when they're not funny), love God and align your life with that of Christ's (even if it's not what your "friends" like), then you're a hundred times more important than the aforementioned person.

But what irritates me the most is when people are either of these two personalities and they puff themselves up and pretend they're better than everyone else. In my opinion (be it as worthless as it is), the most important unwritten commandment that Jesus made to men was to be a humble servant to everyone. Notice that wherever Jesus went, He treated people with respect. Even the men that beat Him cruelly and stuck him on a cross, to them He showed no hostility. When faced with Pontus Pilate, the man who would condemn Him to death, He didn't treat him any different than He treated the people that He met on the roads. He was the epitome of chivalry, both to women and to men, a type of outlook that is lost on guys today.

If you are a guy, and you're reading this, then stop being a guy. Start being a man. A "guy" is a term for a person who thinks of himself as nothing special, just another person. A "man" is someone who is God's special creation, cherished and delighted in by the Maker. If you think of yourself as "nothing special", then you're going to start treating other people the same way. But if you think of yourself as a man made by God, then you have a responsibility before Him to give others the respect He gives you daily.

It shall eternally remain my pleasant duty to stand ready as your willing servant,

--JesusFreak

The Dreamer's Battle Cry

Are we limited in this world?


Yes.


But by what are we limited?

Is it the time-honoured traditions of our forefathers?
The pressure of our peers?
If so, then what are we afraid of?


What do we have to lose?


Tradition is a convenience. Pressure is a shield from discomfort. Fear is a weapon, wielded by the enemy.


And with what shall we fight back?


As men are wont to be, I have always been deeply interested in the art of war. The idea of saving my "damsel in distress" has always struck a chord in my heart, emboldening me for a while, until reality again sinks in and I am once more reduced to myself. But, time and time again, the old dreams of earning a girl's adoration comes back to me, and I think deeply about whether or not I would have the courage to face her enemies for her, a duty that all men must meet. 


I am very interested in this prospect of becoming the knight in shining armor for the lady of my dreams. But today, as my philosophical mind wandered, I presented myself with a new question: would I be willing to face the ultimate Enemy? If I were faced with the challenge, would I have the will to fight the devil himself? An audacious task, I am sure. But did not James quoth thus in James 4:7? "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."


Resist the devil, and he will flee from you...It seems too easy...The thought comes to my mind that either the devil isn't as strong as we think him to be, or his very presence inspires defeat in the hearts of man. 


What about you, my comrades-in-arms reading this? Would you be willing to step up to the plate, so to speak, to send the devil running? If the honour and dignity of your lady was at stake, would you bite the proverbial bullet and spit in Death's eye?


Such a question is one we need ask ourselves more often...


"Love is like unto a rose. To behold it is to witness beauty; to pluck it invites injury."
                                                                                                 --Anonymous


To forever remain thy servant under our Lord is the divine challenge to which I shall apply myself,


--JesusFreak

Such is the Meaning of Life...

Many, I am sure, are familiar with the old adage, "Life is like so and so," and then the speaker proceeds to explain the similarities between the subject and the meanings and/or characteristics of life, thus explaining their viewpoint. I find this rather inaccurate, since life is not limited to the interpretations of man; rather, the interpretations of man are shaped by the essence of life.

My opinion on life is thus: life is constantly out to get you. It has a mind of its own; it teases you, breaks you, leads you on, then just when you think it's on your side, it betrays you again and again. Life is a poltergeist, a mischievous and devious gremlin spawned of the darkest pits of this world, and its secret desire is to turn you into Satan's robotic minion. Life is a game, and if you play by the rules, you lose, an idea which has brought forth the popular philosopher's joke of proclaiming to someone, "You lost the Game."

A certain book that I read when I was young and more ignorant than I currently am dealt with this concept of playing by the rules. The book series was a knockoff of James Bond, where the teenage hero is placed time and time again in a "no-win scenario" while his innocent girlfriend is being held captive by the main villain. Every time, despite the insurmountable odds, the hero manages to escape the plots of his evil nemesis and rescue his damsel from distress, most times within an inch of both their lives. In this particular book, our brazen, Bond-esque teen agent is caught in an exact replica of a computer game, exact but for the obvious fact that he has no extra lives to spare. After realizing the fact that the game was a program, and not completely applicable to the laws of physics and human ingenuity, he resolves himself to not play by the rules (example: instead of running through the corridor of flying javelins, he chooses to ball up his socks and throw them down the hallway, setting off the motion sensors and enabling his escape).

The significance of this story to me is this: there is a stereotype for everyone in the world. Every person is categorized as part of certain groups, depending upon their existence. For example, a person who enjoys playing Zelda games and talking about Star Trek is classified as a "nerd". A person who loves playing sports is turned into a "jock". This irks me, of course, because I find it repulsive to think that because of my interests and dislikes I am limited. 

My best illustration for this would be our AP English class' recent assignment: to read Pride and Prejudice. I won't spoil the plot of the book, but I will mention that the entire book deals with people and their relationships with other people. That's why I like Darcy in that book, by the way: because (at first, at least) his  opinions and attitude aren't affected by the way others think about them, a virtue that is lost in current society.

Anywho, in Pride and Prejudice, the language used is very artistic, taking a long and thorough reading to fully understand the humor and satire behind each phrase. The part where my aforementioned stereotype spiel comes in that one of the girls in the class, as we were walking out, said the following: "Oh, Kyle! It must be pure torture for you to read this!"

As I thought about this throughout the day, I began to realize two things:

1. I dislike reading Jane Austen (to an extent)
2. What I dislike even more than reading Jane Austen is when people tell me that because I'm a high school sophomore guy, I have to dislike reading Jane Austen. 

This event reconditioned my mind and made me realize a third thing: I want to fight this preconceived notion that a sophomore guy has to be a backwards, pig-ignorant, unimaginative, garbage-phillic Philistine. Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean I'm a brute. 

In my opinion, life is a game where rules are placed upon you that restrict your path based on things that you can't change. In short, it's a no-win scenario. And to quote James Tiberius Kirk, "I don't believe in no-win scenarios." 

My goal in life is to be a man of Christ who can retain his dignity in such a world as this, where individuality is simultaneously promoted and frowned upon. Speaking of which, George Orwell's predictions of "doublethink" becoming prevalent in society? ...heaven forbid that I would ever be classified as a conspiracy theorist, but I think this is hitting too close to the mark for comfort.

As always, I remain your humble servant,

--JesusFreak