mediocre is ok

something i've realised lately is that our culture is obsessed with excellence. But something I'm realising is that it's okay to be average. trying to be the best etc. means one must pursue a goal, strive, make sacrifices. however this approach to life, means we can often end up flagelating < i can't spell, but i'm okay with that) ourselves, hurting our dearest and nearest, pushing ourselves beyond our limits physically and emotionally and livng with constant stress.

instead i think it might be better to be more realistic about ourselves and our skills. realise we can only offer the world so much and be happy with that. instead of upskilling, up selling, moving up, why don't we just sit back, do the bare minimum, leave work when the horn blows at 5, and have a cuppa with our wife, son, aunty etc.

as i write this i have a picture of barack obama staring at me. here's a man who smokes like a chimmney, during his political career ( before his presidential campaign began) he only saw family on the weekends, he's renowned for slaving over and over speeches late into night and for weeks on end, tirelessly working in his community, doing more door knocking, visitations that most politicans. sure he may have made history. but he also has a wife and two kids who probably see very little of their dad. he has a substance addiction which will probably kill him before he's 70, or at least renders him incredibly unhealthy and he will skirt the fine line between exhibiting a christian faith without losing supporters from gay community and those with unwanted children in their stomachs etc. in some ways you could say he's sold his soul so the rest of us could feel better about race relations and world politics.

is all that worth it. is he the ultimate example of excellence or a sad example of our culture's mis-guided priorities.

maybe we should strive to be normal, average or even mediocre people, who have no special talents, abilities, no particular goals, or ambitions to change anyone's life, other than being a good son, husband, father and reliable tax-payer for our government. anything more than that and we are merely playing god or living to please some falsified ego. not that what i think counts, but this is merely a view i've come to hold.

good times in taho...

it's been an interesting few weeks in my life and in the news.

a man has been recently convicted of assaulting a child.

Not under section 59 - but under pre-existing legislation. Yet people are standing up for him.

We have a woman running for a seat in Mt Albert hoping south Aucklanders don't use turn offs when driving over ( or maybe under) mt albert.

The warriors have lost 5 games in 6 weeks.

And we're moving house.

it's in mt roskill. It's with 4 others . that's all i can really say right now.

who knows what might happen. i was hoping for an incarnational thing - but who knows - it may yet happen.

in other news - i'm off to do the shopping with my wife. that's always fun

a marathon

i meet an amazing woman today who once weighed 155 kg. she has slowly worked her weight down to 122kg and is planning to do a marathon at the end of the year.

what is awesome - is that she isn't doing this to lose weight. But she sees the training and overcoming of the marathon distance as a metaphor for her life. she is a single mum, running her own business, and overcoming the grief of a lost parent.

the run gives her the psychological strength to overcome these hurdles.

overcome - i've over used this word. but it certainly sums up this woman.

i guess the one thing i learnt from her - is that we must challenge ourselves.

it's like nixon says. the worst kind of people are those living in an early retirement, playing too much golf, drinking too much, talking too much and thinking too little.

life is about struggle - and we must embrace the struggle and seek out the challenge in order to become better humans.

nixon maybe remembered as one of america's greatest failures but at least he entered the battle and tried to make the best decision in front of him at the time.

twitter/facebook/blog

it fascinates me how we tell people what we're doing on facebook or twitter when it's obvious we are clearly not doing that thing since we are on twitter/ facebook

easter is coming

the headline has no relevance to my post.

As i was driving to work this morning the bbc correspondent for rome was speaking on the radio. He was saying how the italian govt had responded so quickly to the recent tragedy. He said this was unusual for thir political leaders, even if it was only a token measure.

And it made me think: when china had their tragedy. the chinese premier and his cohorts were also very quick to the scene.

and again with australia's fires. kevin rudd was relatively quick to show his concern. even though his statement seemed a bit odd at the time.

and it made me think - one of the positive things the bush presidency taught us - was how important it is for presidents, premiers and prime ministers to show their care in the face of tragedy.

GW's lack of presence or action after hurricane katrina strikes me as one of the greastest acts of cruelty by an american leader in the last 50 years. it was so symbolic of his presidency. and i think it also was a real turning point in his popularity. anyway - that's not for me to decide. but i think other world leaders must have noted this and they seem to be making an effort to make their presence felt in these grave situations.

can you spot jo and i?

movement?

i played 7 games of 12 minute soccer today. I probably ran between 10 and 20 km over that time. And my legs are feeling it.

Movement is an interesting thing. We have 10 - 12 seconds in our most explosive energy system. After we use that up - we have another 10 minutes in the next energy system ( i think) and then the last energy system works for ages depending on how fit we are.

However the first system provides very explosive energy.

whereas the next two are less explosive.

that is how it is with political movements too i think.

below is a way to start a political/ social movement.

Step 1: Know Your Movement
Step 2: Get Educated
Step 3: Make it popular
Step 4: Rally the troops
Step 5: Set up communication
Step 6: Get Noticed
Step 7: Take it easy

once that movement is up and running - endurace is really what's needed.

but the up and running stage is the exciting intense time. After that - the non sexy stuff of doing the hard yards is what is required.

i'd like to start a movement.

my problem is choosing an issue. there are so many. and also getting over the part of doing it in the public eye. I'm scared of becoming a celebrity coz it'll go to my head.

that's the thing that's been on mind this week. Hugh Evan came to nz. some people who saw him - said he was hot, some said he was eccentric. Some said he was a bit nerdy.

all said he was real intelligent and down to earth and clearly doing awesome stuff.

how does he get where he is. He started the make povery history movement in australia. I had a friend in NZ who was at the fore front of the movement here. But she's got no speaking tour. what is the difference between the two. Both equally smart, cool and yet one is mentored by bono and desmond tutu. And the other lives with homeless people in london.

i guess all these questions all point to my own question. which is embarassing - but why don't i have a speaking tour? hmmm. anyway. movements come and go - and i guess the relationships around us are the most important things to build into and that's all i've got energy for right now so i'll focus on that for now.

i've been sitting here all day

jo has gone down south to visit her parents. and i had to work so i've stayed here. it's our first weekend away from each other as a married couple. it's quite strange.

but i've had a particularly strange day.

i've spent the day renovating this blog - something that i've been meaning to do for three years. and uploading photos which i've been meaning to do for three weeks.

so i have a nice sense of achievement. it's funny having nothing to do. it's quite nice really. no where to go. just hanging out. with my thoughts. not that i've had any great momementous thoughts. but it's nice to have the space to allow them to come forth

anyway - i've well and truly moved into the 21st century. my blog is now twittered, flickered, and facebooked up. but i can imagine in three months i'll probably lose interest with it all.

the best thing about blogging is actually being able to connect with others and share thoughts, ideas, photos. and that's what got me back into blogging.

wanting to find out what people are thinking about mission, life, politics. it's very fascinating and interesting to get a feel for what one section of society are into.

that's enought ramblings for tonight.

ciao

new monasticism?

what is- this?

i understand what it might look like. christians all living in poor areas trying to do life together. but how did it come about , and how does it work?

i guess this is nothing really that new. people have been doing this stuff for a while. but i wonder what makes this particularly unique. i wonder how hard out one needs to be to actually do it. does it mean working part time in mcds so you have more time to devote to it. does it mean never seeing your parents, does it mean not seeing your mates very much. probably. does it also mean, getting really burnt out, having no retirement plans, maybe no long term plans whatsoever, and being open to being totally left friendless, penniless, and safeless in a horrible dangerous place. having no money for your nails to get done, or a nice haircut, maybe even for a pair of newish shoes. perhaps it means not doing fun sports, or seeing those fun mates you used to see alot of coz they'll judge you for being so simple in your dress and lifestyle. it could be real scary, and is probably quite hard.

but i guess that's what jesus had to do. so n.m. must be like that.

i don't put photos on this anymore

i guess it's coz i'm tired of being entertaining - or at least trying to be - in my newspaper. so this is a dry, turgid account of my hum drum life.

angry prophetic movements. can a prophet be mad and still be like jesus. i feel this anger sometimes. it's kinda self-righteous - coz i'm not perfect. but i get angry at our culture, at the culture around me. and i want to do something stupid like tell people that they are being stupid. but then i know it will just come across as angry, self-righteous wanna-be propheticism. so maybe i won't

books

i don't have time to read - sadly. but yet i feel like i need to find a good book. something which challenges me and re-shapes my thoughts for the year. i've started this year in a funk of sorts - in terms of goals, mission and purpose. it seems unusual to have 12 months before me, and no real desire or need to achieve anything. except just be, and be nice, and be happy. so maybe if i read something really good - it'd motivate me to set some goals. coz at the moment i'm quite happy not having any goals for my year. is that bad?

so there you have it. a rather dry turgid account.