Now You Crave Recognition but the Keys to the City Went Missin'

For those of you who read the comment on yesterday's post, you noticed that there is no an extra treat on my Blog. Yes, that's right folks, Coleman Greer Griffith will be posting his thoughts and ideas free of charge in the comment section of my blog each day. Cole is currently throwing his hat, or should I say mitre, in the ring for the honor of succeeding Pope Benedict XIV in the papacy. I think everyone will thoroughly enjoy Cole's musings, and if you don't, I take no responsibility for them whatsoever.

Current Listening: "Before These Crowded Streets"--Dave Matthews Band

At the SA Retreat during my sophomore year, Randy Harris came and spoke to us about learning how to deal with the inherent highs and lows that exist in holding office in a democratic system. He titled his message "How to Deal with Jerks without getting Jerked Around." The point that I have always remembered from that talk was the idea that the more that you know who you are, the less that people's criticisms and attacks bother you.

I don't think he was trying to advocate a stubborn adherence to ideas that are obviously incorrect simply to hold yourself in high regard, but he did seem to advocate the position that once you learn that your personal worth and identity is not tied up in your ideas and accomplishments, the more at peace you will be if people try to attack those ideas and accomplishments.

Why do I write about this? I know that there will never be this self-actualizing level where I am completely at peace with whatever people say about me, but by placing myself in a vulnerable position by running for office, I think I have learned to look inside myself, decide what I truly believe in, and feel secure in my self and my positions. This journey towards an understanding of self will never be truly complete, but it is always nice to see progress.

It's a Long Road We've Been Walking On

I love the days when I just run against the darkness. There is no one to run with, pass, or chase but myself. I run faster because I know I can. I run faster because some pain is good. I run faster because anything less would be a cheapening of God's gift of youth.

Current Listening: "Rubber Soul" by The Beatles.

One of my favorite portions of running is the solitary aspect of training. It teaches me to steel my mind in the face of stiff headwind, to press on through miles that no one else is counting, and to remember that each footstep can teach me something. The question is: Am I listening?

This Love is Like a Drop in the Ocean

I always use music lyrics as my post titles each day, but I rarely if ever write about music. It might be because music is so subjective and emotionally charged. If I were to assert that a certain piece of music, song, or band was somehow better than another it is very difficult to actually prove that. Even if you were comparing The Beatles and Nickleback, there is really no way to objectively prove that The Beatles are better, although I'm sure that some way is coming soon to prove that Nickleback or Smashmouth is the worst band of all time, but I digress.

With all of that said, I was sitting here listening to U2 this morning and I came to the conclusion that there may never be a band as big as U2 ever again. With the way that music has become so fragmented and the shelf-life of artists and bands grow ever shorter, the 25 year run of U2 is one that will not be easily replicated. "The Joshua Tree" was one of the greatest albums of all times and arguably the best album of the entire decade of the 1980's. They have easily been the biggest band of the last 25 years, with huge contributions by Nirvana and Pearl Jam noted. They have become so big that they are almost a self-contradicting mass. Bono is constantly on the news pushing initiatives related to world hunger and poverty, but a ticket to a U2 show is going to run somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 on the latest tour. I don't understand how they reconcile that, but then again, I cannot step inside someone else's head and analyze their motives.

U2 has been one of the defining bands for almost 3 different generations. So much in music has changed since their debut in 1980. They have been pumping out quality music through the rise of rap, the evolution of the the Indie movement, and the phenomenon of grunge rock. I don't call myself a music critic or historian, but I do know that one day it will not be too much of a stretch to walk into my child's room and hear U2 coming from their speakers. That is if they ever hear anything other than Phish.....

Hey, Look at Me, Causing a Catastrophe

At the end of his writing entitled Harijan, Mohandas Ghandi wrote the following passage:

"Indeed the sum total of the experience of mankind is that men somehow or other live on. From which fact I infer that it is the law of love that rules mankind....and yet the tragedy of it is that the so-called civilized men and nations conduct themselves as if the basis of society was violence. It gives me ineffable joy to make experiments proving that love is the supreme and only law in life."

Many would read these words of Ghandi and only see some idealistic vision of flower-children who only desire peace, love, and happiness, but Ghandi saw that the best of mankind could be found in this devotion to the needs and goods of others. Jesus talked about the same thing when he was asked about the greatest commands found in the body of scripture. I am not sure if this idea of love is so revolutionary because it is in contrast to our nature as humans to selfishly seek our own self interest or because it is really how we were meant to live all along, and we find this immense sense of joy and danger in becoming who we were always meant to be.

Current Listening: "Welcoming Home the Astronauts" by Flickerstick.

I finished reading "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston today. The story of his survival is incredible, and the account of his struggle against powerful internal voices in the midst of what could have potentially could have been a situation where he simply accepted his fate and died in the canyon, but he constantly took care to prepare for rescue. Eventually he did the unthinkable in amputating his own arm, and he only arrived at that point because of the work that he did in not allowing himself to lose hope during his entrapment.

Today, I began "You Shall Know Our Velocity!" by Dave Eggers. I was a huge fan of "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", so my expectations are pretty high.

One of my favorite parts about writing on this blog has been the variety of topics that I have written on in this space. Sometimes I will go on long stretches writing about personal experiences and thoughts, but other times I will focus on issues that affect us globally. Sometimes I have no idea what I am going to write until I sit down each day, but I trust and believe that the words that appear on the screen are there for a reason. I hope this blog/journal has been a blessing for those of you who read it, I know it has been for me. I look forward to the time each day when I can write, and I am very glad that I will be able to continue through the summer. May you be blessed today.

But the Wind Went and Pulled Me Into Your Hurricane

Yesterday in my Maymester class on leadership we read historical perspectives on leadership from writers such as Tolstoy, Plato, Aristotle, and Machiavelli, but the writers who intrigued me the most were the two writers from Eastern backgrounds, Lao-Tzu and Ghandi. I have never read anything on Ghandi before, but his writing was incredibly powerful. I will probably devote my post tomorrow to writing on Ghandi and Lao-Tzu, but today the internship I will have this summer is on my mind.

One of the greatest parts of my internship so far has been the opportunity to spend time with Colonel Jim Holemans. After Mr. Holemans retired from the U.S. Air Force, he was hired by ACU as Dr. Money's Executive Assistant. If you want to get in touch with Dr. Money or if you would like some his time then Mr. Holemans is the man you want to contact. He and I have been talking these past few days about what I would like to attempt to accomplish in the next year and I already know that he will do whatever he can to help me build contacts and relationships among the administrators at ACU.

Today, Mr. Holemans and I went to visit Dr. John Stevens. Dr. Stevens was the 8th President of ACU. He served the ACU community from 1969-1981 in that capacity, but he is still on campus nearly every day. If you look over to the stage left during chapel, you will see him sitting there in the front row near the scooter he now uses to get around campus. He still goes to the Bean every few days just so he can be around students. Some times when people lean over to me in Chapel and ask "Who is that guy?", I get excited because I get to tell them about a man who has given so much of his life to make ACU what it is today. Dr. Stevens was the author of a book about the history of ACU called "No Ordinary University" which I would recommend to anyone interested in the events that have transpired to bring ACU to its centennial year. He is one of the quiet giants among us, and it was an honor to meet him today.

Even If You Cannot Hear My Voice, I'll Be Right Beside You Dear

Sometimes the days when you don't feel the best turn out to be the most fun. Tonight, a bunch of us went out to play Putt-Putt, and I came to the conclusion that this game could make the most rational and calm person snap when the ball doesn't go into the clown's mouth or through the Windmill. On the outside,I think we all looked at Happy Gilmore like a psycho when he went postal on that clown, but deep down all of us know that we have been forced to those depths of anger by a simple game like miniature golf.

Current Listening: "Let's Bottle Bohemia" by The Thrills.

I know this is not anything deep or profound, and I'm sorry. So sue me. At least there is always tomorrow.

People Talking Without Speaking, People Hearing Without Listening

The Maymester concept of having class from 8-12 and then coming home to take a nap in the afternoon might just be what I need for school in the future. If I only take Maymesters from here on out until I graduate I will probably be here for a bit longer than my parents would like, but hey, at least it would be fun. That counts for something, right?

Current Listening: "Final Straw" by Snow Patrol.

The class that I am taking during Maymester is called Public Service Seminar, which is a bit misleading. A more accurate name would be "A Study in Leadership." That sounds nebulous and vague as well, but it is much closer to what the course is concerned with in terms of content than public service.

After finishing "We Wish to Inform You..." by Philip Gourevitch (which by the way was phenomenonal), I started "Between a Rock and a Hard Place" by Aron Ralston. Ralston is famous for his amazing story of survival and courage as he escaped from entrapment in a Utah canyon by cutting off the lower portion of his right arm, and then hiking and rappelling down the canyon until he found other hikers.

The main lesson that many learned from Ralston was a negative one. As a solo hiker, who was no stranger to risk taking in very dangerous places, Ralston failed to leave an intinerary with someone would be able to notfiy park authorities if he did not arrive at certain points on his journey in reasonable times. As I took my solo trip to Big Bend over Spring Break this year, the story of Aron Ralston hung heavy in my mother's mind as she made sure to remind me over and over that I needed to provide a detailed trip intinerary to the park staff and to give my parents a number where they could contact the Park Rangers if I did not call home at the designated day of my departure.

As I hiked, I would occasionally entertain thoughts of how I would survive in the backcountry if I broke my ankle or I was attacked by some crazy animal of the desert Southwest. Those thoughts were few and far between. I gained solace and peace of mind from the fact that I did what I could to provide a plan of rescue in the event of a mishap. One of the great crimes of our modern society has been the desire to eliminate all risk. One of the greatest things about going out in the wilderness, especially alone, is the innate knowledge that you are vulnerable and each of your actions matter a great deal. Each sense is heightened and life is infinitely more enjoyable. So many times I find myself sleep walking through days where I feel no risk to myself. Some people would say that this is a good thing, but to me it just feels like a waste of the only life that I have to live.

Making Islands Where No Islands Should Go

I am sure that I probably do not need to apologize for not posting anything in over a week, since this site probably does not sustain anyone's livelihood, but I realize that I sometimes become frustrated when people whose blogs I enjoy reading do not post in a while, so I guess that serves as a long non-apology/apology.

Current Listening: "Welcoming Home the Astronauts" by Flickerstick.

Moving on, it was really good to go home this past weekend. Because the past semester was so busy, I had not been able to go home since January. There is always something very comforting about driving through Dallas and entering into East Texas. Each time that I return it seems that the trees have grown another ten feet. Whenever I am ready to get back on the road each time, it becomes a little bit easier to leave home and head back to Abilene. As the relationships I have formed in Abilene grow stronger, I feel safer there. Don't get me wrong, it is not as if I felt incredibly uncomfortable in Abilene at any time, but I still remember looking out of the bathroom window on Mabee 2nd North as my parents drove away on the day they dropped me off before Welcome Week and wondering how all of this was going to work out.

3/4ths of the way through all I can say about college is that it has been beyond my wildest expectations. The friendships, learning experiences, and hard lessons have not been anything that I expected, but even better than that, it has been what I have needed. It is so difficult to look back and imagine what my life would have been like if I had pledged Gamma Sigs, or if I had never worked at Trek, or become involved in S.A. I guess sitting and wondering about what might have been could be seen as futile, but the value that I find is in knowing that where I am is a path of discovery that I am incredibly thankful for each day.

P.S. I have no idea who this "anonymous" poster is who keeps leaving comments, but in order to make the game a little more fun, how about leaving some type of clues so I can figure out who you are. Deal??

We'll Both Forget the Breeze

Have you ever been running and arrived at a point where you believe that if you could, you would just run forever and nothing would feel better in the entire world?

Have you ever been at a baseball game and contemplated how fathers and sons, brothers, wives and husbands, and brothers and sisters interact?

Have you ever listened to music so powerful that the notes no longer hold any importance, but the emotion flows out so thick that you can feel it?

Have you ever looked in someone's eyes and felt completely safe?

Have you ever been angry about the "right" things?

Have you ever felt that your life, despite everything that gets thrown your way, is incredibly blessed?

Have you ever?