yup

Today is my 23rd birthday.

44%

So I saw this on my friend Ashley's blog and was surprised at how much I've done - and at all the things I definitely could've done and haven't.

Bold what you have done:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I know that my blog is filled with a lot of criticisms, but I love the world and being alive in it. There is so much to see and know, and though I have no idea why having done any of the things in bold above could possibly be important, they just are. I don't know ultimately why it is important that anyone acheive anything, but I do know that people are proud of themselves when they do.

At first after doing this I thought "I've only done 44% of these things." (Immediately I always go to the very Virgoan place of needing to efficiently complete lists and tasks.) Then I thought, well hang on April, you know there are tons of things you have done that aren't even on this list.

No matter what percentage of items you have completed on any given list, you have always lived 100% of your life. Cool.

Lying, Stealing, Blasphemy OH MY!

Several months ago I was sitting outside a theatre waiting to head into rehearsal. A young woman (W) about my own age approached me (A) and we had a very interesting exchage:

W: Do you mind if I ask you a question?

A: (knowing this was going somewhere fishy) Sure.

W: Are you a good person?

A: Yes, I would say so.

W: Ok, so let me ask you a few questions to see if you are a good person in the eyes of God.

A: (uh-oh) umm..

W: Have you ever told a lie?

A: Yes.

W: What do we call a person who lies?

A: Human.

W: (a little dumbfounded) Oh well, umm, not exactly. We have a word to describe someone who lies.

A: I think the word you're looking for is "liar," but I don't think things are quite so black and white.

W: Have you ever stolen anything?

A: Yes.

W: What do we call a person who steals?

A: A thief.

W: Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?

A: Yes.

W: We call this blasphemy.

A: Right.

W: So by your own admission you are a lying, thieving, blasphemer.

A: (a little baffled by her gall) Well that's a very limited view of a person.

W: God doesn't want you to be a sinner, he wants to forgive you. Here is a pamphlet of our church group...

A: You know, I think it is really great that you believe enough in something to go out and try and tell other people about it. That takes a lot of courage and dedication. A lot of people are really lost and have no beliefs at all. But I don't feel lost, and I think we are going to have to agree to disagree on our religious beliefs.

W: Well thank you for your time. I'll keep you in my prayers.

A: How kind of you.

She went on to try and convert more heathens and I went to rehearsal where I lied about my identity, stole the words of someone else, and committed blasphemy at least against Chekhov if not God too.

---------------------------------------------------

It is impossible to open a newspaper or turn on a news program and not see something about the plans for the Muslim Community Center in the works two blocks from Ground Zero. To make my opinion perfectly clear: I find opposition to these plans to be ridiculous, narrow-sighted, and down-right prejudiced.


Why must we always view any other culture (or subculture as it were) as an assault to our "American-ness?" Why is something different always viewed as an aggressor and have to be offensive to us? Is it not possible to view this is a gesture of peace and unity after a horrible event? To me it would be a vastly progressive and beautiful statement to have them build this community center closeby to prove their peaceful intent. Let's get one thing perfectly clear: Muslims did not commit the horrible crimes of 9/11, terrorists did. Are all Christians members of the Nazi Party or the KKK? Exactly.

This "guilty by association" attitude toward Muslims has got to stop; it is tired, outdated, stale, and nothing beneficial is growing from it. Yes, it has been my experience that many Muslim people find Islam superior to other beliefs and do everything in their power to educate others on their faith. Yes, it has been my experience that for many Muslims dedicated worship is the main reason to exist. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Islamic states have not taken violent action in order to propegate their own beliefs, but does anybody remember that little event in history called "The Crusades?"

I know that many people, including people in my own family, would read this post and call me "Un-American." I would like to remind these people of a little holiday we invented called Thanksgiving. This is when we celebrate two specific events: the escape from leaders which would not allow religious freedom, and the feast in which we solidified friendship with the native people of America. We all know how things went down after that, but none-the-less we gather each year to celebrate our gratitude for acceptance, tolerance, and the value of friends both new and old.

We have all, as individuals and nations, been guilty of hatred and judgment of others. But I cannot believe that perpetuating it is the way to win anything. Perhaps my peer in the hallway only saw a "lying, theiving blasphemer" when she looked at me. Maybe I am those things, but that's not ALL I am, and I refuse to assume others are ever ALL I see them for.

If we could just accept our own ignorance we might finally get somewhere.

Closing the Gap

I've had a really hard time focusing on my blog writing the past week or two. I have a few entries started, but I keep getting distracted by other topics and losing my train of thought.

What I want more than anything else is to see the world. Reading about the events in all these other places is not enough for me. I want to experience them, I want to have a frame of reference, my own personal context for things. For instance, there are many articles in the news right now about Ramadan as Muslims around the world eagerly look to the moon for the cue to begin what will be the holiest month of this year for them. Having experienced a community while it is fasting gives me a completely different perspective on these articles. I can smell the ocean breeze as it blows from the Atlantic onto Rabat beach, hear the call to prayer, see the empty daytime streets lined with locked shop doors, and taste the delicious feast had each night to celebrate the breaking of that day's fasting.

I think my imagination is lazy. I don't want to have to use it to suppose what other places are like - I want to know, firsthand. I want to describe with complete certainty the things that exist in faraway places, thus closing the gap between here and there. Nowhere really is a "faraway place," and I think that once this is realized, one has no choice but to gain a profound understanding of how badly this world needs us to accept one another.

I'm getting itchy. I need to travel.
Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket on the way home.