The Beauty of Authenticity

I have to get up and go back to school tomorrow.

It's late. I'm tired. I miss home already.

This past week, I've done a lot of doing. Soaking up every ray of sunshine, every color that paints the Colorado sky, and every shadow that passes across the mountains. Oh, those mountains. I don't know if I will ever stop dropping my jaw when I turn my head to look in their direction. Ever.

Well, certainly this past week has been full of also soaking up things regarding politics...and it has been interesting, entertaining, and frustrating all at the same time. Late night reading and researching, Conservative "happy hours," and a few [somewhat] healthy debates with many who hold different viewpoints. I have this idea that somehow I will be part of a revolution, something that is much bigger than myself, but getting there seems to be the part I am having trouble with. Like any normal college senior, I see the finish line and on one hand I cannot wait, while on the other I have no idea really what is going to happen next. Sure, I want to take prerequisite classes for grad school, but my passions are shifting in a very violent way and it makes me question whether or not athletic training is the direction I will actually end up going. But, as with every other direction my life has taken so far, I go until God tells me to stop. His guidance has never lead me astray. But that is a whole other story in itself, one that I have shared with some of you already, while some have yet to hear. It seems I have some unfinished business in Lincoln before I leave in December.

I continue to be exposed to issues regarding government, public policy, and even social values...and I can't seem to compartmentalize them enough to layout what to do about it all. Although I understand that many people seem to lean more liberal, often for reasons they do not even know themselves, I still can't believe some of the things I'm hearing...and some of the things people are doing. And it seems that even if I shake them, in one ear and out the other it goes. Maybe it is the shaking that is the problem. I don't well discern when and when not to pick the battle. I've always been a talker. Since pre-school I have gotten in trouble for talking out of turn in class. My silly Market Research professor has deducted one point from my participation score this semester for talking out of turn. Now, I could defend myself and say that he is pretty ridiculous, but the point is, I always seem to be talking. Which is why I've been working on doing a little more listening, and a lot more reading while I'm on my own.

But don't forget, I am not one to back down. My convictions are not things that I say because I think they sound good, or because they are popular. They are held deep within me, unshaken by anything on the exterior.

As I learn to pick my battles, I am choosing to educate myself on every aspect of this never-ending whirlwind of controversy. If I had known this was going to happen, I would've without a doubt had my major be Political Science, and then pursued a Law degree (which I proclaimed to my parents that I would when I was 9 years old). At that age, I told them I wanted to be in the United States Supreme Court. No joke. Maybe its not too late....

But for now, I hope you will educate yourself too. I think it is time for people to figure out why they say things and why they believe them. At the end of the day, all we really have is our integrity.

As Glenn Beck has been saying on a very regular basis,
"Say what you mean, and mean what you say."

And I would add to that:

Know why.