What This Blog is All About
I'm a bit nervous about starting a blog. It seems a bit self-important, a bit exhibitionist to think that people would want to read my thoughts and ideas about economics, war and peace, community development, or whatever. Especially considering my "credentials" are about as impressive as Darko Millic's first season for the Pistons. But hey, you never know what might interest whom.
This is who I am. I am a 27 year European-American man, married with a baby on the way. My girl and I work for Mennonite Central Committee in Alta Verapaz Guatemala in a resettlement community of Kekchi Mayan farmers. (more on that one day). I am an evangelical Christian and have never voted Republican. I am a die-hard NY Knickerboker fan, and a die hard anti- Boston Red Sox fan. (long story, ask me about it if you're interested). My declaration of independence is a declaration of free thought that I hope to always folow, whether in a blog or in my daily life. Here goes
Article One: I believe that all human beings are created in the image of God and therefore matter. Any public policy, economic system or social system that does not take the dignity of each individual into account is bunk.
Article Two: As a corollary to article one I believe that the value of each man, woman or child is intrinsic and has nothing to do with their economic, political or social status. As the Mighty Mos Def says, each human is valuble because they are created by God, "not because they gotta a whole lot of money or because someone think they sexy."
Article Three: Rolling along the same theme, I believe that Big Business and Big Government, unless subject to the strong checks of an organized citizenry can not act in the best interests of human dignity. The current dominant system of rich-people market capitalism and "democracy" promotes human dignity for the few, not the many as it should.
Article Four: I declare myself to be pro-life in every way. I am pro the life of a fetus, pro the life of the malnourished infant, pro the life of the undereducated inner city youth, pro the life of the condemned criminal and pro the life of the foreigner.
Article Five: Moses and Jesus and Buddha and a whole heck of a lot of other really profound people agree that killing is wrong. War is killing on a mass scale. Therefore war is wrong.
Article Six: Because of the words of Christ as recorded in the Gospels, I am committed to creating a world of justice and peace by empowering people to improve their comunities together.
Article Seven: I believe that God created the whole world and that anytime we rape that creation for our own short term gain, we are causing Him great pain and committing a great evil.
Article Eight: The greatest flaw of the current rich people market capitalism is that is totalitarian as much as Stalin, Mao or Pol Pot. It assumes that they highest value of people is what they consume and the highest value of the creation is what it can produce.
Article Nine: Free trade, as it is currently structured, promotes the "Third World-ization" of the Global Economy, with a large, underpaid laboring class, a small extremely wealthy owner class, and not much in between.
So that's that. Hope you find it interesting and that I'll be able to get to an internet café often enough out here to actually add content.
Peace and love to all readers.