wise words…

“There is no peace without hope.  No hope without liberty.  No liberty without integrity.  No integrity without virtue.  No virtue without enlightenment.  No enlightenment without truth.”  ~Glenn Beck

Remember this as you go throughout your day.  Make TRUTH your main goal!

Blessings,
Em

p.s. Remember: Character matters!

My Return

I took a break from blogging…a very lengthy one…and now that I feel ready to return, I am finding it hard to do so. One of the reasons I stopped blogging was because I scared myself.  When I first began my journey with blogging, it was a fun adventure that I went on with myself.  None of my family or friends knew that I blogged.  The people who left comments were strangers to me.  I learned from these strangers and had a wonderful time of examining myself and my beliefs. 

Then I took the next step.  The plunge. 

I began to “advertise” my blog a bit more.  Nothing extravagant, but I included it on a job application that asked for website experience, I posted my blog on facebook, I admitted to friends that I had one (if the subject came up).  It still was a very small number of people who knew about my blog and I certainly didn’t create a “following” of any kind.  I didn’t want one!  That wasn’t my purpose.  I had just grown tired of “hiding” it.

There was something disconserting, however, about people I run into throughout my day commenting to me about  my blog.  It only took a couple of comments–some good, some not–for me to get nervous.  I went back and re-read old posts and realized I was now allowing people in my life to see a side of me that I had always sheltered from them.   

I then became concerned that I was starting to sound like some “know-it-all” smart-alec.  I am very aware that, as a young college student, I do not have all the answers.  I am at the point in my life where I am seeking knowledge from other people and learning from their ways.  I am refining my beliefs and altering them.  What I claimed to believe in this blog two years ago may not be something I still agree with today!  Life changes, I change.  

And so I stopped blogging.  

It was quite convenient, actually.  I needed the time to focus on school and college this past semester.  The break has been good for other reasons, as well.  I feel like a new person.  I have new priorities, new concerns and new goals.  Some of those shifts have ocurred in the pages of this blog, but many didn’t come to full bloom until after I had stopped. 

However it happened, I have finally come to the place where I am ready for people–anyone, even my close friends–to see the real me.  I’m ready to once again take down my guard and give a sincere picture of my life and my values.  I do not know how often I’ll be blogging.  It is not my priority, and it will have to happen in between my life.  I have a new goal to just live life to the fullest.  Live my values, not preach them.  Live my goals, not just dream them.  Live my love, not just say the words. 

Here is a song that has ministered to me lately.  It sums up where I am right now.  May it bless you, as well!

Love,
Em

should I really be honest?

I had to write this paper for my Women’s Studies class.  It’s one of those “required” classes that I would have preferred not to take, but oh well.  It’s supposed to be about what I believe feminism is.  Am I crazy to turn this in to a liberal, feminist teacher???  I’m kinda nervouse.

Feminism

                What is feminism?  Feminism is defined as an organized movement advocating the equality of women and men (dictionary.com).  On the surface, this sounds wonderful.  However, what a movement claims and what it does are not always the same thing.  You ask if I’m a feminist.  My answer would be “no”.  It’s not that I don’t believe women are equal to men.  They are.  Absolutely.  But women are different than men.  This is crucial.  I believe in celebrating our differences and I do not see this happening within the feminist movement. 

                What I see happening in society today is this:  little girls dress up like princesses, running after their daddies for approval.  They long to be told that they are beautiful.  They want to live a fairy tale life-including the part where the damsel in distress is rescued by Prince Charming.  These girls then grow up in our “politically correct” culture and before you know it, that little girl has vanished.  Instead we see “tough”, embittered females who refuse to so much as let a man open the door for them!  What happened?  The little girl was told that her dream was wrong.  She was made to dream something else.  Now her dreams consist of the pro-choice movement, calling every woman “Ms.”, referring to “history” as “herstory”, turning the God of any religion into a woman instead of a man, and many other female-complimentary acts.  Denying the men in our lives a role as leader, lover, friend, confidante and any other role they could fall into is not fair to them.  Are we looking for equality or female dominance? 

                You ask for specific people I view as feminists.  Well, there are many in Hollywood, but to be honest, I don’t give them any credit.  I will never judge anything by how Hollywood portrays it.  Instead, I get my information from people I run into everyday.  They are the ones who can show me what feminism is.  This happens daily when at college.  They are people who I have the utmost respect for, just disagree with.  My friends, my classmates, my coworkers.  Many consider themselves “feminists.”  I also get my information from places such as the women’s center on campus.  I recall reading posters of theirs, with “confessions” from different women in their classes.  The board was filled with horrendous deeds.  One of the many being: I have cheated on every boyfriend I’ve had.  I had to ask myself:  why is that something to be proud of?

                I am proud to be a woman.  And as a woman I will always push for respect, responsibility, love, generosity and kindness as well as equality.

Truth Seeker

Why is it so difficult to be honest? 

I am in the middle of doing a research project on bias in the news media.  Although I knew about it before starting, I’m seriously APPALLED at what I’m uncovering.  Not outlandish lies from one side verses another, but reading the same story that points guilt at opposite people.

Example: I’m now reading two articles on America’s mortgage crisis.  One article blames Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on a majority of democrats in Congress and dishonest journalists who refused to speak up for the truth which they knew.  My other article blames it all on a majority of Republicans.  Both quote figures and names and sound well-researched and legit. 

But they can’t be. 

Maybe this means, for this particular topic, that BOTH democrats and republicans are at fault.  But then those articles should have come to such a conclusion.  They are bias.  They are lying.

And I’m annoyed. 

I’ve been considering going into the news-field.  I’m an English major now, but my school has a dual English-Mass Communications program that many of my friends take.  This research project, though with disappointing results, has been fun and exciting.  Maybe I need to step into the journalism field. At the very least, I’m going to start talking about truth here more (just to warn you).

It’s time to bring honesty back to America.