One Nation With Liberty and Justice for All

Ever since I was a little girl, I've been taught that I am lucky to be a citizen of the United States. I've been taught that people from all over the world try to come to the US because it is such a great place to live. I've been taught that we have a country to be proud of.

And I've been taught that there is one reason behind this... that is our freedom. Our freedom is guaranteed to us by the Constitution. Our Constitution protects the freedom of all US citizens.

I have been taught throughout my life that I should take pride in my country. I have done this by pledging allegiance to our country, and I must admit that I have even had tears in my eyes on several occasions while reciting this pledge. I have always respected our flag, a symbol of our country and our freedoms. I dutifully learned about the workings of our government, and I have taken part in most of the elections that have taken place since I turned 18 (although I have missed voting on some local issues due to moving and not being prepared). Not only do I vote in those elections, I vote responsibly by learning about the issues and making informed decisions.

I love our country, and I believe that I am lucky to have been born here. However, I don't love what our country is becoming. I don't want to be considered a terrorist for trying to uphold the Constitution. I don't want the government to record and/or listen in on my telephone calls or the calls of any other citizen, at least not without due process of the law and a proper warrant. I don't want to fear our government.

I hope that steps will be taken to restore our government to the state that was created to ensure a balanced system of governance. I hope that our leaders (current and future) will act in the best interest of all the people of the United States (not just the rich, the powerful, and the corporate). I hope that I can be a proud citizen of our country once again.

I hope that this isn't too much to hope for.

Silly Stuff

Something humorous hapened to me today, and Han Saem/Katie convinced me to blog about it...

Ethan and I were walking out to the car and joking around with each other. He playfully said something mean to me so I pushed him and he stepped off the sidewalk and into the yard. Right about that time I saw that there was a sucker in our yard. I pointed it out to Ethan, "Hey, look, there's a sucker in our yard!"

"Haha, very funny joke."

I had to explain to him that I meant there really was a sucker laying in our yard. Hilarity ensued.

I had a discussion with my best friend today about her dating. However, because of our views, the discussion was a little more about morality and how people can relate to each other. Luckily, we can disagree without being mad at each other.

I used to be a Christian. Over the past few years my beliefs have changed. The nagging questions that I'd always ignored (supposedly by ignoring them I was having more faith) slowly poked at me more and more. I recently stopped believing, not only in God, but that there is a god. There's still a little tickle there that says it's possible, but it's a possibility rather than a belief. Both of my two best friends are still Christians. I don't hope to change their beliefs, but I do hope to enlighten them and hopefully cause them both to think a little more. I hope that they'll do the same for me.

So, the discussion was a little bit about that I think she shouldn't necessarily rule out non-Christians for dating. My main point centered around morality. A person can be moral with or without religion. In fact, she may even have a tendency to meet non-Christians whose morals line up more closely with hers than do the Christians that she meets. I think that her morals are similar to mine, and I obviously abide by these morals without a guiding force.

Our biggest disagreement is that she wants a husband who would be following God's advice. Obviously, someone who doesn't believe in God is not going to pray in order to make decisions. This doesn't mean that they won't thoughtfully consider things, weighing how it will affect their own life, other people's lives, and society and the environment. I fear that some people are too quick to pray, and make their decisions without considering these things. But, as it pertains to her, she wants someone that she feels would be following God. Since that isn't possible with someone who doesn't believe in God, she won't date someone who is not a Christian.

Obviously our discussion didn't lead to an agreement, but I do think that I made her think. People tend to think that their morals are strictly derived from their religion. However, a religions morals change throughout time, just as society's morals change. Religion and society generally have slightly differing morals (just as individuals within those groups do) but both of them change similarly over time. This says to me that religion is a place for people to strengthen their morals, but it is not a place that dictates their morals.

It's good to have friends that you can peacefully disagree with.

Haru!

The other night we had a wonderful downpour of spring rain. I'm not the biggest fan of rain, but I do love spring and I love the way spring rain smells in Oregon. Since I've been out of the state for a few years, I had forgotten how great it is. As I was driving home after my workout, I rolled the window a little for some cool air. I suddenly noticed this scent that I couldn't get enough of. Almost unrecognizable at first, it hit me that it was the air full of rain. I rolled my window the rest of the way down, and I would have stuck my head right out if I hadn't been driving!




(Haru is spring in Japanese)

First Post!

Wow... the past four months went by way too quickly. A third of the year is already over, and I'm just now making my first post.

Update on the resolutions: I haven't lost any weight yet, but I did recently join a gym, and I am actually attending, yay! I think that if I keep up the workouts, and continue eating healthy, I might actually get somewhere. I want to try to do it without being on an actual diet, so that I won't end up gaining the weight back, but we'll see how it goes.

I did ride my bike to work once, and I have ridden it around our neighborhood some. It's a great idea, but I haven't been quite trusting of the weather yet. A few more weeks and I should be able to pull this one off once a week.

I've made it through 8 books so far, and I think I still have plenty of time for 19 more. Besides, I usually read more during the summer than other times of the year.

I still plan on writing nengajo and celebrating Los Dias de Los Muertos, so expect to hear about those two traditions later this year!

And finally, hiragana. This is one that I am making actual progress on. I know the majority of the characters, and I'm even able to write some of them. I've found myself with the obsession of having to read any hiragana I lay my eyes on. Unfortunately, I don't always know the words that I'm reading, so it's really just sounding things out. But it's still fun!

Learning hiragana was helped by two things. The first was that I bought a Japanese children's book and tried to read it. I haven't made it through the book because I'm such a slow reader in hiragana, and because I need help with all the conjugations of the words. The second thing helping me is that we've been getting tutored in Japanese by a Korean couple that we know. They lived in Japan for several years, and actually speak much better Japanese than they do English. Teaching us is an exercise in English for them, and great Japanese practice for us. When we are working together, Mrs. Park makes me write in hiragana, so I've been forced to put it into practice... which is just what I needed!