Create The Noise. Change Your World.

Welcome to the first edition of tales of everyday inspiration.

I have been inserting my articles into several blog carnivals and thought it would be good for me to add one to Altnoise.

Many of you might want to ask, “What is a blog carnival?” In simple terms, it is a collection of articles from several different blogs that all have the same theme. They are arranged together so that it is easier for a reader to find similar blogs.

an online magazine of sorts.

 This carnival is about personal stories of inspiration - hence the title, “Tales of Everyday Inspiration”. There were dozens of submissions and many of them very excellent articles. A few of them I had a hard time weeding out, but they didn’t fit the theme.

I used to be self-righteous.

      I’m not now… I don’t think.

Have you ever noticed in the number of topics that you are an expert?

Last week, I was in a conversation with several other individuals and they began talking about the idea of faith. I looked around and knew that I’ve investigated this topic more than anyone else in the room. I know what the scholars think. I knew what was right.

I’m an expert.

I chose to listen.

A few years ago, I would consciously consider myself on a higher field than others because I thought I knew it all. I’m not a spoiled and self-centered premadonna. I’m just human. 

 Do you see the world as an opportunity to succeed or as an opportunity to build?

[photo by: Muddy Funkster]

Albert Foong from Urbanmonk.net and I have started emailing each other and discussing different topics in personal growth. We actually started it from the beginning with the intention of placing it on our blogs. We decided to keep the topic simple for the first rounds of conversation and first tackle the relationship between selfishness and sacrifice.

Albert Foong - The Urban Monk

Albert is the creative voice on Urbanmonk.net. He writes deep articles on personal growth. Going beyond the typical “If you follow my advice then you will feel happy”, and diving into the psychological, philosophical and spiritual realities behind issues such as compassion and aloneness.

We all know that it is important to help improve our global community by giving to those in need. Many times, we will give a young lady in a white shirt an umbrella to walk across the street in the pouring rain. Other times, we give our extra Egg Mcmuffin to the homeless man standing outside the McDonalds. We don’t mind being charitable in this fashion. It is easy.

What about the rest of the time? 

When Charity is in need of your money?

 In the first examples, we weren’t worried about the one in need of help taking advantage of us. We had complete control, and we didn’t lose anything of major value. Money is different. We’ve all heard the stories of fraud and horrible money management when it comes to charity organizations. Who Should we trust?

Have you ever had an argument with someone where it seemed like you were fighting about two different things? My wife and I have had those. Our communication just breaks down. I have certain beliefs about issues and know exactly what I want to communicate, but my wife doesn’t listen. She has a totally different point that she wants to make. She isn’t even on the same page as me. Why doesn’t she see things my way?

Communication Breakdown

One of the main culprits in our failure to communicate is our misuse of comparisons. I am generally proud about being a good dad and I will usually feel comfortable saying that I am a good husband. Many times, my wife disagrees. I do alot of things she believes is not being a responsible husband. I lose track of time and forget to do some of the things she asks. Therefore, we end up having an argument, and problems with communication ensue.

This morning I was tempted. I missed the first class of the day because I was trying to finish the homework. It didn’t seem like it would be hard to finish so instead of doing it last night, I put it off until this morning. I had more.. important.. things to do.

 The morning started out great. I got up early, took a shower, got the boys dressed and had plenty of time to do the simple homework. I found it wasn’t so simple. An hour after the class started I was still trying to finish the first part.

We all desire to do more. There really aren’t many people who walks through life and chooses not to improve society.  We might not want to be Mother Theresa, but we would like to see a better tomorrow than was today. It is a virtue that we are naturally born with. It might be a flaw that evolution hasn’t corrected yet, but right now we want to make the world a better place.

The problem is that there are so many damn people problems in the world. What can we actually do? I’m not a superhero who can stop the genocide in Darfur. I’m not a millionaire who can help out the bankrupt amusement park owner who turned our city around. I can’t even stop time to help guide a lost stranger to his destination. I want to do something, but I dont have the time/resources/initative/skills/power/influence/income/ability/charisma/personality/../../.. to do what is required to affectively change the world.

Forgive and then forget, what a load of manuer. I say this to myself everytime I think about it. Whoever came up with this phrase never had to truly forgive someone. I’ve heard from some that it came from the Bible. No, this is a load of crap. It is just a pathetic attempt at validating the dumb idea. Jesus never said forgive and then forget. He told us to forgive. He knew that it is impossible to truly forget and thats why it is so painful to truly forgive.

I Forgave You

I have more sympathy for a murderer than a self-centered parent.

It was about noon when my wife and I pulled through McDonald’s to get lunch for our two boys.

They were moody. They were hungry.

Erica and I had missed breakfast that morning as it was a rush just to get out of the door.

We were starving.

Sacrifice At McDonald’s

 As we pulled up to order, we counted our cash. There was seven dollars and some change. Our check cards were worthless. We didn’t have anything in our accounts. Its impossible for four hungry people to eat off seven dollars at McDonald’s. The boys got happy meals; we shared a dollar chicken sandwich.

Do you always want to be the best? Is there something in your life that you want to accomplish, but can never finish? No matter how hard we try, there is always something else that can be done. We want perfection. The house we own must encapsulate our dreams. Our children will attend the best schools and excel perfectly in their talents. Even in our own selves, we desire to reach for perfection. Nearly my entire day is driven to please someone or obtain a goal.

Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”