Rory Christopher's blog thinger

As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I can't claim I know each person's destiny. Many christians (protestants mainly) would claim they do know this because they have particularly keen insight into what the Bible says or the hearts of their fellow man. Humans have such a short amount of time to understand the experience they are having on this earth; I believe (and this is me here, not any sect or church) that an atheist may believe in God if said atheist were to meet God. And, if said atheist was not always introduced to a God who's followers killed members of other faiths, burned books, pissed on corpses, insulted homosexuals, or violated the religious sensibilities others. Because of this, God would not reject or judge said atheist, but rather, reward the person for having a heart toward truth and kindness: the source of which is the creator of all things! perhaps the atheist is reserving his heart for Christ, remaining chaste, but the people presenting Jesus to him have d...

I have never been told to hate the junkie on the street To judge her value by her smell or filth or bare feet. And if I could choose whether she should live or die, The choice is clear, I would choose life. As for the bigot full of malice and anger I still have not been told to hate him either. And if I could choose whether he should live or die, The choice is clear; for him, I choose life. Being so young, I have not been told to be enraged At the killer living in his cage. Though the jury, judge, and law think he should die, The choice is clear; for him, I choose life. And the mother who chooses: “a baby is too much” For her reputation, comfort, career, and such. Or the Doctor helping her deal with the strife, I still don’t hate either; for them, I choose life. Or preachers and politicians condemning all of the above I don’t know how to hate them, my first instinct is love. He shouts and distorts each circumstance, saying they deserve to disappear, be locked aw...

Ottawa : Today there is a new attitude in the Canadian Capitol as the people chant: “Yes We Can,” and “Oui, nous pouvons.” “We wish to show unity with our new leader,” said Dominique Peridot , a Hot-dog vendor at a rally in downtown Ottawa on Saturday. “Yes we can finally be free. Yes we can use real money, not that fake funny-money we’ve been peddling all this time. Yes we can! Yes we can!” The US Government took over the Canadian Capitol on Wednesday as a result of a bet President Obama won against Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper . According to Canadian Press Secretary Sara MacIntyre , President Obama was depressed last month and drunk dialed Prime Minister Harper, lamenting that the Republicans were going to take over the House of Representatives in the upcoming election. Prime Minister Harper tried to console him by wagering the entire Canadian government; he believed the Republicans were “old news,” he said in a phone interview on Friday, “If it wasn’t for all the Absint...

I have been unemployed for three long and pretty dull and really disheartening months. The reality is I have been looking for jobs nonstop and I have applied over and over to every vague and non-compelling job description you all post week after week. Each time I find a post worth my time, I submit a great looking résumé –customized for each job description– accompanied by a genuine and mildly witty cover letter tailored as specifically as possible to the listing. Seriously folks, I am doing a pretty good job applying quickly after you post the position, with no errors, and to your specifics. Don’t think I am simply submitting a generic résumé, without regard to who you are and who you’re looking for. If you reveal who you are, I research your company and I even come in person to introduce myself (unless the ad says not to); but, I am almost always turned away with the directive, “go ahead and submit your CV online.” This letter is to let you know that this sucks; you can do better. ...

I am not a scientist or philosopher. I have not exhausted the depths of scientific discovery or waded into the philosophical postulations of all the “why”s and “how”s of existence and nature and purpose. Nor am I an artist –not in any traditional sense– but I do have a sense of what is communicated in arte. Even bad arta; an expression of one’s self, being, perception, and experience. One of my favorite artists is Bob Dylan. He confuses me and I have discovered why confusion is admirable. He doesn't communicate an answer or direct interpretation of life; but rather, the confusion we all feel about war and love, beauty and pain. Dylan, in many ways, combined a strange string of sounds and words that give a substantive realization to the pain that nurtures the human heart. Beauty is not found in an evasion of life, but rather an embrace of it. Recently, I had been given a bit more struggle than I cared to accept; but, as I was denied any control over my life and accepted th...

Permissiveness, often confused with compassion or tolerance, is really a distorted version of liberality, which deserves a particular suffix, -ism. Permissivenessism is controversial while being an obviously popular attribute to our social ethos since it is in most forms of contemporary entertainment. The controversy is not around its existence, but rather, its intensity. From the time just after the civil war, we have had what is called a “cultural revolution,” that developed into a “sexual” revolution; this turning over and upheaval of the social norms raised hell in an inconsistent, but “moral,” society. The revolution brought idioms like, “if it feels good, do it,” and “it’s all good.” The mentality motivating an “it’s all good,” attitude is what sums up the permissiveness of our ethos. Permissivenessism is well demonstrated in the television show, Friends. Friends is funny, sexually savvy, clever, and, most of all, young. The characters are not well established and imma...

...Americans have many fine qualities. A capacity to see ourselves as others see us is not high among them. Imagine a world that never knew Ronald Reagan, where Europe had opted out of the Cold War after Moscow installed those SS-20 missiles east of the Elbe. And Europe had abandoned NATO, told us to go home and become subservient to Moscow. How would we have reacted if Moscow had brought Western Europe into the Warsaw Pact, established bases in Mexico and Panama, put missile defense radars and rockets in Cuba, and joined with China to build pipelines to transfer Mexican and Venezuelan oil to Pacific ports for shipment to Asia? And cut us out? If there were Russian and Chinese advisers training Latin American armies, the way we are in the former Soviet republics, how...