|
| You commanded me to UPDATE so UPDATE i shall. Thank you for my ode Courtney! Love ya Amy
an ode to a friend
Amy: I'd love to add more of you to my pictures, but you arn't here to be in my pictures (though here you are and here and here and here and here and...) But I think that just means you should come here, and I'll take pictures. So I write you an ode instead
My Ode for Amy Craig
My amazing friend, you've beenSince the summer whence we metAt a camp in a small townI had no idea what I'd get I met you when I was afraidOf spiders and dirt and fishYou made fun of me in love (I think)For a better friend I could not wish You share my love for Gilmore Girlsand we laugh together muchWe talk about life oftenIt is my heart you touch We still talk on the phoneThough you live so far wayAbout troubles and stories, so funnyAnd memories started in May The laughter here is prolificOn Luke Danes and mud princessesAnd talk about cougars at nighttimeFor we've lived through crazy messes To me you are older and wiserFrom my comfort zone you bid me leapAnd because you are so amazingOur friendship will I always keep You've read my really long papersAnd told me when they suckThen back at you I do poke funLike that time we wrestled in the muck I will see you again post-Christmas When back to camp we goSo about right here I think I'll stopAnd leave poem writing up to Poe
So that was really corny, and probably the dumbest poemish thing I've ever written, and the lamest. But hey, I think the fact that I put it on the internet for all to pass judgement on me and my abilities is worth more than some picture ever could be.
Love you friend! (AND UPDATE YOUR XANGA SOMETIME SILLY) | | |
| I want my first entry to be from a friend so Rach thanks for my opening page. Amy
I love my floor. i love camping. i love. :)
i'm going to participate in the cardboard boat competition on Sept. 30th- i'm entering with Annie. our boat is going to be called the Calvin Student Yacht and we are the Calvin College Yacht club...unless you have a better name...:)
i wrote this paper for canoeing...it rocks i think, here it is...Annalise, here's to you... :)
Sometimes it’s easy to wonder why God ever entrusted such a beautiful and wonderful world to humans. He layered down the Ozone to protect us and we strip it off from the bottom up; He crafted all kinds of animals in an intricate web to sustain each other and we cut their part of the web off until there is an entire species forever gone; He formed rolling hills, lush jungles and rich forests into the land so we flatten, mow, and chop it to bits and then we build a metropolis on it. As the band Counting Crows put it, why do we "pave paradise to put up a parking lot?"
In a film called The Gods Must Be Crazy, the narrator addresses this issue. He talks about a tribe of indigenous people that live in an African desert and sustain their life by forming and adapting their habits to their environment. The difference, the narrator says, between these amazing people and those in cities and suburbs is that the tribe adapted to the environment while we made our environment adapt to us. Call me crazy, but I think we’re backwards and that the tribe is right. Call me crazy, but I think that when Genesis says that God told Adam and Eve to "fill the earth and subdue it," He didn’t mean zap it of all it’s beauty and resources by not caring for it. Call me crazy, but I’ve been convicted by the question, who are humans to think that our buildings are better than His trees?
Once convicted by that question or anything that makes Christians aware of the devastation we are causing, how far should our repentance take us on the trail back toward "shalom", toward the beauty and perfectness that the earth once enjoyed? It should take us to today, to this hour, right down to this very moment. It should effect our daily lives from the point of conviction to the Day of Redemption.
What does a commitment of working towards redemption look like? Such a commitment looks like the three R’s. Found on Calvin College’s CUPPS mugs, they are Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. Let’s break down exactly what each of those R’s entails on macro and micro levesl and then I’ll give an examples of how I have tried to implement them in my life.
Reducing means monitoring and reducing what we consume. On a macro level, that means not making useless extra packaging for products, or not making things in bulk so that there will be a million extra red sweaters that are thrown out. On a micro (you) level, that means using a low-flow showerhead, putting a brick in your toilet tank, not buying new clothes or cell phones all the time, not taking more than you will eat or throwing away good food. In my life, I have only bought what I will eat, turned off lights and electic appliances when I’m not using them, and try not to buy possessions that I don’t need.
Reusing means not throwing once-used materials out right away. On a macro level, it means not tearing down one bank or restaurant on a corner to build a new one that looks identical, or not manufacturing one-time-use disposable everything (toilet bowl cleaners, paper towels, napkins, make-up compacts, cameras, etc.). On a micro level it means using the front and back of paper, using a plastic cup instead of a paper one, or rinsing and cleaning plastic utensils for several meals. For me, it means buying my clothes from second-hand stores like Good Will and Salvation Army or using my CUPPS mug to get a drink at a coffee-house rather than a Styrofoam cup.
Recycling means taking used materials and sending them for re-processing into good-as-new materials. On a macro-level this means having a city-water system that filters it’s water for re-use or having a corporation that manufactures products in recycled and recyclable containers. On a micro level, it means recycling your cans, bottles, cardboard. batteries and paper, and having a recyclables receptacle at your home. For me, this meant using the recycling receptacles placed on campus and in the dormitories for paper, cardboard, cans and bottles and sorting them correctly.
We need to know how to put another "R" on... that "R" stands for "reigns"...reigns on our minds. We need to steer our minds toward caring. About the choices we make as consumers and also in our responsibilities as created intelligent beings. God gave us a beautiful earth. He also gave us the sophistication and wisdom to build on it and develop amazing technologies. We just have to use that wisdom in caring for His gifts by being good stewards of our minds, materials and the living things in our world and daily lives.
| | |
|
|
