This is the World

     There is a quote that I love, it says, "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid" - Frederick Buechner
      At no time is this more true. In the wake of this monstrous act, the nation as a whole is trying to put the pieces of our lives back together. I cannot even imagine what those closest to this tragedy are feeling and my heart is rent in two for them. My prayers and thoughts are still with them and I pray that God will be with them in this awful time. This is the world. Terrible, horrifying things happen everyday, and it is tragedies like this that cause us to lose hope. What many of us forget is that there is still beauty in the world, it is so hard to see after a maniac takes the lives of our most innocent, but my friends it is there.
     We shouldn't be afraid to go to school, or to send our children to school. I read something on Facebook the other day that touched me to my very core. The father of one of the victims of the 1999 Columbine massacre was asked to address a subcommittee of Congress following this horrifying event. What he said was neither what they expected him to say nor was it received well. I just want to share with you a portion of what this man said.

     "Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc...What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence...No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our hearts"

     We have taken God out of our classrooms and we still wonder why horrific things happen. Morgan Freeman made the point that we, in an unintentional way, glorify these madmen by plastering their faces all over our news broadcasts and papers. They have become household names when we all but ignore the identities of their victims. We have sensationalized violence and murder and gore. Freeman says that these sickos who otherwise would have offed themselves in their basements see our news and begin to dream of ways to top them and to be remembered as the biggest monster the world has ever seen. 

     There is a darkness that has descended upon our nation, and it is hard to see the light, to see the beauty to see the happiness when a psycho decides to take the lives of children, and not to trivialize this but there is a quote from One Tree Hill that states this idea beautifully. In a voice over the character Lucas Scott says, "Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty, this hatred. How did it find us, did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us that we now send our children into the world like we send young men to war, hoping for their safe return but knowing that some will be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name?"

     It's hard to see the light through the darkness but it is there. This is one of the most wonderful times of the year. Peace on Earth, Good Will toward men after all. 

In case I don't say it enough:

I love you all, and thanks for bearing with me through out my random musings on this blog.

Much love.

-L

Take a Deep Breath...It Gets Better

      I love the U. It's no secret, everyone who knows me even remotely knows that about me. It is truly the GREATEST school in Utah. That being said however, I do not love finals week at my beloved school. It sucks a big hairy hobo toe. But I am free at last! FREE AT LAST. Pretty sure this week felt like the week from hell and I just wanted it to be all over with, so naturally it felt like it was going slower than molasses, but like everything else in this world, it too came to an end, and I couldn't be more grateful.

     Honestly I am just so excited to get into my new major. I truly feel like I finally figured out what I want to do with my life and I don't want to waste another second (or any more money) to get started! For those of you blogstalkers out there that don't know I changed my major from the social and behavioral sciences over to communications. While I still have the strong desire to help people I feel that I would excel in the communications. What I really want to do with this degree is specialize in athletic PR and go on to work for a collegiate program or in the NFL (with my Baltimore Ravens perhaps? Hey a girl can dream can't she?). I don't think that I have ever been more excited for a semester to start than I am for this coming semester. I mean I need this break....more than anything else my brain needs to recharge itself; but I can't wait to get into these classes this Spring. I finally feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be and that is the best feeling anyone can ever have. It took me a little bit, but this is it, this is what I want to do when I grow up.

     And since it has been a minute since I have last blogged I wish that I could say that my life has had many crazy and wild adventures...but unfortunately it really hasn't. Being a student is sometimes the dullest thing a person can do. All we do, after all, is go to class, do our homework and study our lives away....fascinating right? Yeah not really. But such is life. My second favorite collegiate sport started back up though! Basketball season is back! And even better those runnin Utes are already having a better season than they have had in a long while. I'm excited for the direction that this team is taking, they really do look like an entirely different team from what they were last year and that is awesome. They are no where near what they used to be, but in them I'm seeing the potential for them to build back up. Overall they're a promising young team and I wish them all the best in their coming season. GO UTES!

     I apologize for the randomness of this post, I didn't really have a direction that I wanted to take when I sat down to write it, I had just realized that I hadn't blogged in awhile and I didn't want you all to think that I had died or something. In other news: CHRISTMAS IS IN 12 DAYS! Time to break out the Christmas movies and the fudge and the carols! I love this time of year, I love the smells, the food and even the terribly cheesy movies on Lifetime and Hallmark because they all make up Christmas when everyone is a little nicer to their fellow man and people are just happier. Peace on earth, good will to men after all.

     And to close out this rather random post (I'm gonna blame it on finals...my brain is fried a little bit) I want to share a quote that I found that describes me and my life to a perfect T. A quote that I think every 20 year old needs to read

"Your 20's are your 'selfish' years. It's a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all aspects of you. Tinker with sh*t, travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground."

-Kyoko Excamilla

This quote really hit home for me. It's OK to be selfish right now, it's OK to not share yourself with anyone else, it's OK to look out for number 1 before anyone else. After all your 20's are when you are discovering who you really are. It's a quote that has really slapped my life back into perspective, and I'm really glad that I found it.

Lots of love!

-L