this ever changing world in which we live in

Had to start with a Paul McCartney quote. How else to start anything on the right foot?

So my mom, in a bout of her usual Internet paranoia, decided to go to this site and look up registered sex offenders in our neighborhood. Pretty scary, to say the least. Looking at the pictures of the offenders, it makes you shudder; you can see in their eyes and face that something just isn't right. Something has snapped inside and these people have become consumed with horrific, evil desires to do things that are far below humanity.

I've read statistics, I've seen bits of the MSNBC "To Catch a Predator", I've spoken with our resident expert on crime, Dr. Durkin....but I can't make up my mind as to the level of fear I should hold. Clearly there are lots of twisted people willing to do horrible things out there. That can't be denied. (The question of "Why does God allow this stuff to exist in this world?" is one for another day...)

But how much can you worry, or rather, how much can you turn a blind eye? To one extreme, you can totally shut your eyes. You can pretend this kind of evil doesn't exist, turn up the happy music, and live in denial. To the other extreme, you can see yourself as a warrior, always having to be on guard, always fighting to protect yourself from the worst kind of evil, being overly cautious and paranoid, and never going outside alone for fear of what might happen.

Shit happens in this world, no matter how prepared or "aware" you are of it. Tragic accidents, violent crime...these things happen to people who fear it and to people who don't expect it. May God grant that none of us ever are faced with the horrible kind of evil these offenders represent.

You can't prevent awful things from happening, but you might also be able to take steps to avoid them. But what steps are too far? Let's return to our two extremes: You could never get in a car for fear of crashing, never talk to new people for fear they might be a psycho killer (fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa), never enjoy a nice solitary walk outside for fear of being attacked...or you could blindly assume everyone you see is safe and that "nothing will ever happen to me". Two extremes. Where is the balance?

The problem with a "moderate" stance, as with anything in the middle, is that there's no clearly defined answer. I guess one just has to try their damndest to be cautious without being paranoid, be outgoing without being unaware of potential danger. I also think we have an instinct, a way of picking up "vibes" from people. Brian Wilson sang about "good vibrations", and we can also pick up bad ones; that uneasy feeling you get seeing a picture of a rapist tells you something on a primal level, that on some subconscious level something is not right. This instinct can be a useful thing. Oh yeah, and you should probably ask God for guidance too, of course. He knows. Everything.

Thoughts?

Philosophy, Superbowl, Theatre, Courtesy Vans....

Wow, that title is a mouthful. I basically wanted to do seperate blog entries for each item, but I've been really busy (and my soul will be consumed by Twelth Night for the next week) so I'm gonna write a little bit about each item. But first....some heavy stuff.

-Today I ordered Padrones' breadsticks with Marinara sauce. Delicious. I did the usual thing of dipping in the sauce before each bite...and then I took a bite of plain bread by itself. I was struck by the warmth of the dough, its softness, the grease on my fingers....I realized that although the sauce adds something, there's also a benefit to isolating a specific small thing and appreciating it as it is. It should be like that with all of life. We tend to fill up with so many different obligations and activities, creating a crazy "mix" of "flavors"...but do we ever appreciate the small things? How much do we fail to appreciate even the things we hate like walking in the wind or climbing out of bed? Let the web of implications unfold....

-Speaking of the web of implications, I've been working with BJ and Greg from the famous Enough for our performance of Shakespeare's 12th Night. We're basically performing the original Shakespeare, but in a 1960s setting with a backing band, and some sweet new original 60s style songs by Jon Negus. He's actually flown to ONU to help us with the material. It's been really busy but it's also a blast. When I was in our first long rehearsal on Saturday, I remembered why I love the theatre. People hanging out and wisecracking and doing whatever they can to survive extensive rehearsals. It's always a great time. Now if only I could act...

-Ah, the Superbowl. What can be said? I didn't get to see much of the game because of the aforementioned rehearsal. I'm a Bears fan, but I knew realistically the Colts would dominate them. Great defense or not, Grossman's inconsistency was gonna be the death of Da Bears eventually. Oh well. We made it to the Big Game, for the first time in a while, and now we're prepped to go again next year! The only bad part is now I have to hear the Colts get sucked off by the press (and their fans) this whole week.

-One thing our school did re: the Superbowl that made me smile was our cafeteria menu. They had two lines, Bears (Chicago-style chili dogs) vs. Colts (country chicken + mashed potatoes). I also got a fuzzy feeling today when I read our school was offering courtesy vans that you could call to take you from your dorm to class, avoiding the freezing wind. Our school is so heartwarmingly nice sometimes. I love this place.

If music be the food of love, play on!

Peace and God bless,
Nick Fed