Well, that was interesting…
I have a problem with Groundhog Day Resolution Reviews. Looking back at each month and re-evaluating my goals, I’ve felt very disconnected from them. It’s almost as if they weren’t my goals. I look at them each month, and they seem so foreign. I think it may be because I haven’t turned these goals into impactful, measurable goals. I don’t really look at the goals on a daily or weekly basis. It’s pretty anti-GTD, honestly. What this means is that each month I review my goals and they feel like they are always less than satisfying.
This month, though, I just flat out haven’t done anything. With good reason…
There’s interesting quote by John Waters, the independent filmmaker, about how we should all get out more:
“If you’re traveling, you can’t be racist,” Waters says. “You can’t be homophobic. I think the only way you can be racist or homophobic is if you never leave the neighborhood you were born in, and you hang around with stupid people. So I’ve always thought that someone who was really racist should be sentenced to travel, but that’s not very practical.”
Saint Augustine echoes a similar sentiment:
The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.”
(Thanks to Mimi for the quote).
I think its interesting to see those people who have never left their home town and how their view of everything becomes smaller and smaller. As youth, my friends and I all vowed we’d leave our little hometown and do something with our lives. Today, none of us still live there. I think we’re all better for it.
Another article I read called 9/11 is over was about how Americans are living within the shadow of 9/11. We’ve been taking on the fear given to us by the government instead of reaching out to the world and show them what Americans are all about. I think we’ve lost our sense of adventure and openness. From the article:
Before 9/11, the world thought America’s slogan was: “Where anything is possible for anybody.” But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: “Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints.”
All of this has weighed on my mind lately, especially as our family uproots to move two states away. We’re giving our kids the opportunity to see something new, and to understand that people are people everywhere. We’re all image bearers, and our differences show a unique piece of our Creator.
Thanks to Coding Horror for the links via Twitter.