Graceville: Poetry, wanderlust, and a Christian's reading of life

Says who #21

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Sunday night... the universe is quiet again. Every working man and woman goes to bed mildly disturbed by the rumination on life's mystery.

Says who #20 《說我說的第20章》

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sun, 02 May 2010 02:58:00 +0000

緣份是生命裡的旋轉門
錯愛是暫時性的夜盲症
感情是兩顆心的進化論
相處是了解後的不可能

Men are really from Mars

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:57:00 +0000

I'm going to let all you ladies in on an age-old secret about men. Are you ready?...

MEN DON'T CRY.

There. Shocking isn't it? To think that all this time you've been suspecting that men were just acting tough. All your life you've actually been indoctrinated by all these subtle lies about men having tear glands like you do. While women might be the epitome of God's creation, men were actually emotion-free creatures plucked off the red soils of Mars and domesticated on the blue planet just so that women could get the answer they deserve every time they ask men, "Do you love me?".

Now I don't want to hear this argument that men have a whole different set of emotional triggers that move them to tears than women do. I'm telling you we don't cry. We can't. And we were never shown how. Some tried but none ever succeeded. Men cannot relate on an emotional level at all. We don't even see the point.

Not convinced?

Thought you've seen a guy who cried at the end of a Clint Eastwood flick? Or a bloke stealthily wipe away a pool gathering at the corner of his eye when he's fixed a sandwich press?

You're so naive. We do that to maintain the illusion women have been keep up so well for themselves. It's funny to us that you think you have us all figured out. But if you do catch a man crying for real, please call our local support number and quote this guy's make and model along with a detailed description of his defects. He will be returned to factory within 48 hours and pounded back to the grounds as he deserves to be. We promise the next one will be better.

By the way, I think you know what's a standard men's answer to women's tireless question. Yes, you guessed it... "Define love."

My way or the tollway?

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:25:00 +0000

I went to CityLink yesterday to pay a toll. The man who served me happened to wear a condescending attitude and would rather give a lecture on tollway jurisdiction than assist customers with relevant information and send them on their way.

The plot thickens when he was to be embarrassed later when his colleague next to him delivered exactly the thing he said earlier couldn't be done.

Now here's where the real twist happens and makes the story well worth telling. As I later thought I was being gracious to downplay his embarrassment by not making a scene or not asking for his name so that I could later address him in the letter of complain he would remember the rest of his sorry life, another thought hit me like a lightning bolt: I shouldn't have at least let the opportunity slip by to commend the lady who assisted me with what I needed to get done.

When we are inconvenienced we feel justified to complain, don't we? But how often do we let people know when they've actually done a good job? Not often enough.

Says who #19

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 06:04:00 +0000

          DR. WILBUR LARCH
Goodnight, you princes of Maine, you
kings of New England.


(The Cider House Rules, 1999)

"Pequeño Soldado" (Little Soldier)

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:42:00 +0000

Pequeño soldado, my true north,
You orient my world and set it forth;
Whenever my hope is gone,
I think of you and march on!

Pequeño soldado, my guiding light,
You taught me love and how to fight;
To me you know just what to say,
You never have too little to give away.

Pequeño soldado, my inspiration,
You're spoken of from nation to nation;
Who would've thought that a little boy
Could wield power so lightly from joy?

Pequeño soldado, you will be known
For freeing hearts when you have grown;
For now your skills you will refine
By practising them on freeing mine!

I've since realized that in Spanish most adjectives come after the nouns, so I've actually come across as saying "Soldier Little"... though there was in fact a "Stuart Little"! Ay ay ay... the joys of learning a foreign language.

A birthday letter

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:11:00 +0000

Just when I thought Maycol's last letter was awesome, I received another one from him today written in October, the month of his tenth birthday.

"I write you this time to tell you that I was so utterly happy to receive the present you sent me..."

And guess what he got from me for his birthday? A tee shirt and underwear! "They look very nice and I loved them."

I want to commend Compassion and the local church partners at Maycol's project for helping to select his birthday presents every year and they always credit the sponsor for their wonderful gift ideas. They really know how to bridge the gaps of geographical distance between sponsor and child and postal restrictions by encouraging the children to write to their sponsors and tell them what gifts they receive.

This isn't said often enough but the little things that Compassion does mean the whole world to both sponsor and child. Compassion, insisting on doing what they do all these years in Jesus' name, is the glue that securely seals the friendship between Maycol and I.

This time Maycol sent me "mucho cariño y un gran abrazo"... a lot of affection and a huge hug. Every time this boy hugs and kisses me with his words it's just as though I'm being hugged and kissed for real. Thank you, Compassion!

"Nuestra Amistad", un poema por Maycol y TS

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 12:38:00 +0000

Finally worked out the Spanish translation of "Our Friendship". This goes out in the mail to Maycol tomorrow:

Nuestra amistad es como un cuento
Que lei solo escuchas pero
No lo vez asi es contigo;
Solo te veo en fotos y leo lo
Que me cuentas pero no te veo en verdad.

Nuestra amistad es como el sol sobre mí
Ilumina mi mundo y
Calienta mi corazón; Cuando veo
La puesta del sol es porque pido el sol
Para enviar mi amor a su salida del sol.

A thousand kisses from Colombia

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:37:00 +0000

Got mail today from Maicol dated September 09. There is an obvious delay lately in the supply chain of Compassion's mail centre, possibly due to rearrangement of manpower in the wake of the earthquakes in Haiti. But holding Maicol's latest letter in my hands beats any delay I had to endure.

This boy is really something else. I'd summarise his letter here but I thought you should read it in his own words, or rather as close to his Español as possible:

Querido Mr. ------, (Dear Mr. ------,)

I am so happy to write you again. I have a thousand things to tell you for you have asked me a lot of questions in your letters. I thank you for your beautiful letters. I had fun reading them and I loved the pictures of the zoo. What was your favourite animal? How old are your parents? They look young in the pictures and so do you.

I want you to know that in Colombia we celebrate el mes del amor y la amistad... the month of love and friendship in September. It is very lovely to see everything decorated with hearts and in schools they play secret friend. Have you ever played secret friend? What I like about my country is that it has diverse landscapes and weathers. My favourite drink is soda. I like it because of the gas and my favourite food is fried fish.

I also want to tell you that thank God my brother Andres is doing well. Lately I have read an interesting book called Damas y Caballeros... "Ladies and Gentlemen", which talks about a theatre where they represent warrior princes. I like reading history books. As for the ranch you asked me about I guess it is the project's farm and it is doing well. We have many roosters and chickens that grow up quickly.

Finally I want you to know you are always in my prayers. Now I ask God to bless your parents and that we get to meet in Colombia soon. I also ask you to help me pray that I do well in school. I say goodbye with a thousand kisses. Dios te bendiga y gracias por tu cariño... God bless you and thank you for your affection.

Sincerely,

Maycol Barón

I don't know about you but everything about what he said gets under my skin in the good way. Maybe I'm just like a parent who never tires of speaking about his children while the listeners try very hard to hide their boredom out of sheer politeness.

I love the fact that he enjoys reading. And history books! Honestly just how many kids love history?

It breaks my heart that he's looking forward to the two of us meeting as much as I do. And nothing gives me more joy than him committing it to prayers. I can't think of anything else that draws me closer to him more than when we're both praying for the same thing.

The question plagues me everyday: Who am I to deserve this boy's love and thousand kisses?

Through the silver screen darkly

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 06:50:00 +0000

Though movies, or any narrative storytelling, seek to portray life, they differ from life thus: In movies, the bad guys are easily far more believable and intriguing in their badness than the good guys are in their goodness. Unlike the good guys who need to be in one way or another coerced into taking the side of good, bad guys are bad because they just are.*

Like the antagonists in our own experiences, we love to hate them and hate to love them. But in movies we're also glad that they are there standing between the good guy, supposedly an onscreen proxy of ourselves, and what he wants. This almost never happens in life. Good movies take care of that under two hours and open up a window to an instant insight we desire but rarely encounter in life. It is in this inversion of reality, by rationalizing the human experience through fiction, that stories are, and must be, told.

* You might take exception to the theory and refer to stories like Hannibal Rising, where a sort of origin story is told of the bad guy. But for all intents and purposed of the author(s) Hannibal Lecter is the "good guy" in that he is the sympathetic character through, more or less, whose point of view this particular story is told, therefore rendering the bad guy theory inapplicable to him in this instance.

Says who #18

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 05:17:00 +0000

          LT. COL. FRANK SLADE
Hoo-ah!


(Scent of a Woman, 1992)

Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:25:00 +0000

Can you imagine a world without children? Soon you might not have to...

From the Demographic Winter website:

"Demographic Winter: The Decline of the Human Family is a short film that seeks to reawaken society to the importance of the stable, intact family, and engender a discussion and greater focus in the media, in academia, in the halls of policy makers, in religious circles, in the committees of civil society and in households around the world. Our hope is that all of these circles will bring to bear on the problems facing the family the tremendous contributions each can uniquely make. In this way, we hope to avert the storm that is now most surely coming on."

“These things are vitally important; they need to be talked about.” -Dr. Gary Becker, Nobel Prize for Economics 1992 (In regards to topics discussed in Demographic Winter)

“It’s happening in rich and poor countries... throughout the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, North & South... under all forms of government, birthrates are plummeting throughout the world.” -Phillip Longman, New America Foundation; author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It

“The old policies have unwittingly destroyed the family and with it the social fabric. Rather than development, we have almost lost the only effective vehicle to development: the family.” -Christine de Vollmer, President of Latin-American Alliance for the Family

“Sadly, many Western elites are blind tothe social scientific evidence... showing that a strong and healthy marriage culture is vital to the social economic, and psychological welfare of our society’smost vulnerable members, children.” -W. Bradford Wilcox Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia; lead author of Why Marriage Matters

WARNING: This film will change the way you look at economics and children. Its underlining message is very politically incorrect but I share this with you because I'm convinced: The burden of the world will be on our children... unless we all do something about it.

Live long and procreate, people!

Says who #17

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:45:00 +0000

          DRAGLINE
Why you got to go and say fifty
eggs for? Why not thirty-five
or thirty-nine?


          LUKE
I thought it was a nice round
number.


(Cool Hand Luke, 1967)

"God Thence"

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 13:25:00 +0000

He flies at the Supreme Command,
Not stopping to think or doubt,
Into the direction where
God's sleeve stretches out
—God's merciful hand.

They descend with lightnings
Submerged under the stratus,
Whose flapping motion unravels
Unevenly dispensed justice
—God's silver wings.

She rises to the occasion
Trailing a blood-dirtied gown,
Telling a grand story of battle
For the everlasting crown
—God's inexorable passion!

Says who #16

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 11:31:00 +0000

Life is a string of lessons we either reluctantly learn from or miss entirely. But only a Lifegiver can salvage what's lost and give meaning to pain. Our life is not our own inasmuch as we weren't there when it was conceived. What we lose in this life wasn't ours to own in the first place. Be glad it was once there at all.

Says who #15

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:11:00 +0000

          PHILLIP
It's puny!

          BUTCH
Hell no Phillip. Good size for
a boy your age.

(A Perfect World, 1993)

Says who #14

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:19:00 +0000

The pursuit of passion in any subject is like the filling of pollen into every cranny of the honeycomb—it's a lifetime of labour from joy!

"The Ghost of Bampfylde"

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:25:00 +0000

The ghost of Bampfylde is who I am,
By the clear, swift creeks I roam.
My loved ones lived south of the dam,
My story in the hearth of home.

The attics of boyhood hid secrets
Only the brave dared to know;
No thrills satiate the palates
Of hijacked pubescence for show!

Before boys grew up a crisis struck,
From which men were keenly made:
Damn rascals turned from shooting ducks
To chasing after girls with braids!

Without any training love debuted,
Hormones started a new trend;
But quickly came a news most skewed
Of heartbreak beyond any mend.

No-one ever told those teenaged boys
That with joy sorrow must come,
And sorrow marched without a noise
To the beats of a dead man's drum.

In their old age all these men wondered
About things they could have done.
In their rues they deeply suffered,
But none knew why, not even one.

If only they could see what we ghosts see
From beyond the graves that enslave man:
Death does not end a lifelong esprit,
Oh but a heart unbridled surely can!

So with regards to the matter of life
This is what a spirit has to say:
To end the wars of your inner strife,
Honour your love—and forgive now—today!

Haiku: Smuggled Love

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:53:00 +0000

like a smuggled torpedo
smoked in spain
my pain is no longer local

Haiku: London when he cries

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:52:00 +0000

sorry letter
c'mon, bruised pride
new air
disappearing world
rushed breakfast in
a different city

Two minds of @JeffSchweitzer

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Schweitzer calls the gap between Christianity and science an "unbridgeable gulf", yet his theorizing of primeval times subverts his own opinion:

"Traits that we view as moral are deeply embedded in the human psyche. Honesty, fidelity, trustworthiness, kindness to others, and reciprocity are primeval characteristics that helped our ancestors survive. In a world of dangerous predators, early man could thrive only in cooperative groups. Good behavior strengthened the tribal bonds that were essential to survival. What we now call morality is really a suite of behaviors favored by natural selection in an animal weak alone but strong in numbers. Morality is a biological necessity and a consequence of human development, not a gift from God." (from Two Americas: Rationalists and Arationalists)

How convenient for Schweitzer to deploy his criticism of theists to dovetail his own faith in the undocumented human evolution of morality! Nowhere in his argument were the evidence and arguments of the best from the other side (say, Michael Behe's irreducible complexity) reasoned against or even mentioned. If this is all his article amounts to—a gross double standard in his own reasoning—at least I now know not to take Jeff Schweitzer's layman's ramblings seriously.

Haiku: The Carnival Prince

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:00:00 +0000

fairy floss machine
tired midnight in empty carnival
the clown transfigured

Haiku: Dark enclosed

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:39:00 +0000

dark enclosed
concrete garden
no way out
of a song

Says who #13

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 07:01:00 +0000

It never ceases to amaze that people often go out of their way to state their particular worldview that all worldview are basically the same. How self-defeating! But if you hear them carefully they are actually saying "all beliefs are wrong EXCEPT MINE!", which makes them guilty of the same alleged hypocrisy that they accuse others of. A true neutralist never speaks a single word for or against. Probe; don't parrot.

"Season"

noreply@blogger.com (Tin Soldier) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:43:00 +0000

You supplanted morning with a kiss:
Like a rain that never ceased;
I can't forget, to say the least,
A love as sweet as this.

You poured me wine from the dew,
And loved me in a season—
Still I can't supply a reason
For the season that is you.