Unedited thoughts, No proof reading or spell check

Actually I think that's how most blogs are.

Yesterday after the Rwanda video I chatted with Carrie a little about the video and I asked her how she liked Hotel Rwanda. They said they really liked it and what not and then I asked her what she was going to do about it? Or what's she going to do about the Congo, where 5.4 million have died in the last 10 years? What's she going to do about Sudan, or Uganda? But really, what can we actually do?

I think one big thing we can do is give our time and money to causes we believe in. There are some really good organizations out there like HELP International. That's why I went with to Uganda last year and it changed my life. Ya know, I really think trying to feel the pains of others really helps you. We live in a very competitive self-serving world. It really is hard to feel the plight of others when there's so many external forces convincing you to focus on yourself. It's kind of funny, I've been really trying to reconcile my desire to help others and conservatism. Here's the thing, there are sterotypical conservatives out there (such as my hero, Rush Limbaugh) who are portrayed in the media as selfish, rich individuals who don't care about the poor. I think this is a media thing, jealous of Rush's power to convince and argue conservatism. I really can't stand the media, I think I almost hate the media. It's not just the liberal media news sources, but I'm talking about this Hollywood culture of distorting good, moral, American values. It's kind of hard for me to put my finger on it, but in the media's eyes, America is the worst country in the world. They try to distort our history and do stories on everything bad we do. I agree that there are flaws and things we've done and do that are embarrassing, but what about all the good we do? Why is it that these stories are always on the last page of the newspaper? Well, sex, violence, and dispute sell, that's unfortunate. What was one of the main reasons al-Qaeda attacked us? They don't want our culture to infect their culture. What do they think our culture is? They think Western values are what Hollywood and the media portrays. There's so much truth to this, ask girls that have been to the Middle East if they were ever frisked. A lot of times they are, ya know why? Because they think all American girls are like the Hollywood girls. Gosh, it really bothers me. Before my mission Glenn Beck did something on how much he can't stand Hollywood and then told a story of a woman in Russia who was trying to get a hold of al-Qaeda and convince them to not do attacks on DC, but on Hollywood. Beck was being funny about this so he polled his listeners and asked them, "What should we do about this? Give her the chair, stone her, lock her away for 15 years, or pat her on the back and say, hey, I think you're on to something?" He then went off and said that we should sell Hollywood and San Francisco to China and that we would even build gold walls around the cities to please everyone there. That was funny. Let's see, where was I going with this? Well, the point is, is that America is the greatest, most selfless nation in the world's history. Proof? Did we ask for any land when we liberated Europe? Only enough land to bury our dead. Did we take over Japan's resources and impose our way of life on them? No, we wrote them a constitution, yes, but we gave them democracy and helped them build up their economy. America is the most giving country in the world, as far as dollars, time, and blood.

Ok, so back to that reconciliation thing I was talking about. The media and liberals tell us conservatives that we don't care about the poor. Completely false, in fact the opposite can be made. What's the best example of taking liberalism to the extreme? Communist Russia. Not the best example of the goodness of socialism when the end result is the death of millions citizens, mostly the poor. My point is not to rag on liberalism, but to defend conservatism, helping people help themselves is the best way to go. That is conservatism.

I'm taking a poli sci capstone class which requires us to do a big research project on a topic. Here's what I'm researching: The socialization of violence, and specifically corporal punishment in the classroom, contributes to political violence. In Uganda we did the teacher training thing where we talked to teachers about why they shouldn't beat students and such. I've been wanting to start a NGO and focus on this teacher training aspect of it because teachers really believe that beating students is the only way to disciplnie them. What I'm trying to do with my project is link this socialization of violence with political violence. Hopefully it'll be really convincing and then I can use it in my NGO.

Anyway, I'm really just thinking and writing right now. Kind of disconnected thoughts, but that's the way I think sometimes. I just really want to help people, I want to go back to Uganda. I want to see the world, and see how other people live. One person can change the world, one person at a time, one idea at a time. Baby steps. The motivations have to be in the right place, and sometimes I struggle with that, I think everyone does. It's just part of who we are, but I think that's part of the coming to Christ process and submitting your will to His. It's just tough figuring out what His will for you actually is...I hope to find it soon hopefully and then do it 110%.