Special Post II

As weird as I thought the story was, I figured “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” had many things in it to interpret. The whole story starts with a man with wings falling from the sky. He comes down to take a couple’s sick child. The couple doesn’t really know what to do, so they locked him in a chicken coop. They get a priest to come over and ask the angel question to prove that it is an angel. There many questions that pointed the angel out proving that he wasn’t apparently to the public eye. The wife was tired of having so many people form the community come into the house that she starting charging people to come over. They eventually become rich and get a mansion. Everyone started getting tired of the angel because another “freak” had risen to fame that had been turned into a tarantula. Her only means of nourishment are meatballs being tossed into her mouth. Years go by and the angel looks like he is on the verge of death. He is still in the coop and has been treated vey poorly. He randomly becomes healthy and is able to get out of his cage. He tries to roam the house in search of the daughter but keeps getting shooed out of the room by the mother. He attempts to fly away form the house and is successful at doing so. The mother was happy to not have him around anymore.

            I guess I still never quite understood the whole thing about putting the angel in a chicken coop. I guess I could understand that they weren’t sure what he would do if he woke up. I just thought out of everything a chicken coop seemed weird.

            I think that this story deals with the mindset that everything is not what it seems at first. This is clearly shown when the priest is trying to prove that the man is an angel. They think that because he doesn’t speak Latin that is a reason to doubt. Even when the angel would speak out to the people around they still seemed to look past his words. Everyone was soon not interested because the next interesting thing came along. Everyone just left him and he was alone. It was almost as if people thought he was crazy. People like to believe things they can only see. The story seems to be a story also about having faith. An angel comes straight out of the sky from heaven and people still need proof even after what he tells everyone otherwise. It is almost the equivalent of regular humans spreading the good news about Jesus and people just ignoring them. This time it is an angel. It’s like, how much proof do you need? Especially a priest! Why does an angel have to speak Latin in order to be a true angel? I just think it is funny that a priest is testing an angel. Just the concept of that is funny. He looks like an idiot in the end when he is proven wrong. Well he is wrong to begin with so I guess he does look like an idiot.

            I think the interpretation matters because it shows what things as humans we should believe and not believe. We should not believe in this case what the priest it trying to prove about the angel. It is almost like he didn’t even think in depth about what he was doing. It was like he knew how to test an angel. What book tells him how to test someone to see if they are a legit angel?  You would think a priest out of anyone would be one to listen to something out of heaven. I guess it goes to show that even people in ministry can be pretty ignorant and stupid at times in the way they act. This matters because there should not be judgment on people unless they have something about them that is an example of why they are not something. The story also shows how when a new thing comes around, everybody runs to that new interest because humans like to follow the crowd. I think sometimes it is appropriate but at other times why is there a need to follow everyone? Also the parents seeming  like they were scared to let their daughter go when she was sick. No one wants ever see their child pass away. It was as if the parents could not accept their daughter passing away and giving her up. As a Christian, we should be able to give up anything for God. It is hard because we attach ourselves to things subconsciously and it is hard to separate ourselves once we are attached. Letting God do his part is our way of honoring God through letting him take over our lives. As humans we get afraid to let things go because we are afraid to lose control over things we think are ours. We don’t know which direction we are going to go with God in control. People get worried when they can’t always see what is in front of them. With God in control we just do what we feel led to do without question and not always in understanding. God tries to show us more than we realize at times. Things seem so simple at times but in reality they are complex. Sometimes it’s vice versa. 

A Very Old Man, A Very Weird Story

So basically this angel falls onto earth to take away Pelayo and Elisenda's daughter. I honestly don't even know how to relate to this story. It is just so out there too me. I'm not trying to sound shallow or anything especially towards Professor Corrigan. These people caged an angel and had people pay them money to come and see him since they were tired of the community coming over to the house. Then the priest trying to prove if the man was a real angel. It almost seemed a little sac-religious. Not everything is what it seems. I like how the angel gets better and still roams the house for the girl. Elisanda finally "shoos" him away and rids the "annoyance" out of her life. I'm not exactly sure about all the symbolism involved with some of the stuff in it but all I now is that the story is very out there. I guess the story could be saying that we should not judge what we are not sure of. The priest was trying to test the man to see if he was an angel. The old man didn't know latin and had moral characteristics which led people to believe that he was not an angel. Maybe we are not supposed to know that angels seem human. Maybe the story is trying to tell us not to judge based on what we see on the outside and that there is a deeper meaning to angels then what we will see. God doesn't want us to know everything. As for the priest, I think this could be a way God tests him. A priest who leads masses is asking this angel questions to see if he is real. It almost takes away from the "faith' aspect in christianity. It is in our nature to only believe things that we see and not believe in. That's why faith is such a hard thing. It's nothing we can see, it's only something we can believe.

Walking Away From Omelas/Pleasantville

So again for me at least this is another story that was hard for me to really get into. It is just weird to me even though I know it is a made-up city. It is also a little amusing in a way with the things that are described in the short story. A place of happiness and delight sounds like a fairy tale. This story almost sounds like a Narnia type place before the White Witch took over and things got cold and more evil. Everything in this Omelas is pleasing except for this one truth that the city has. Too me it sounds like a super conservative city where they handle a blunt truth because they are too blinded my themselves to listen or believe it. It's like the movie Pleasantville. Everything is black & white and beautiful and perfect. When people come in from a different world with a more realistic perspective on things which make things turn into color. People start getting angry at the change because their world has been a certain way for so long with no worries. A very unrealistic world. When the brother and sister introduce new things into this world the people start getting more and more curious about things. They start realizing there is more to their world than not using bodily functions and not learning about pointless things. The world is more complex than they portray. The world is not just black and white, there is gray.

Philipians

Philipians is a great book. I love reading Paul's letters in general throughout the New Testament. His wisdom is awesome and so beneficial to how we live our lives. There are various metaphors throughout this letter and all through the Bible. It's amazing how faithful Paul was sitting in a jail cell and still praising God and ministering to people through his letters. He could be bitter and angry at where he is at, but instead uses that time he could use for those emotions and puts them out in a positive manner.

 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  But if I am to 

live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do 

not know which to choose.

 I love this part in the letter where basically says as long as he is still alive he will do fruitful labor for the Lord. If he dies, he gains eternity in the place where the streets are made of gold. He gains when he dies, but he still labors in fruitfulness for Jesus when he is still alive. That is just an interesting concept to think about in how we live our lives for Christ. I don't think I have ever heard anyone sounding excited to die. it IS a weird concept but as a Christian shouldn't we really have that mindset? He should be excited to die. We should be excited to go to the kingdom of Heaven and gain eternal life. I think one big drawback we have is that we think about losing our loved ones around us. Yea I guess it is sad to think about the people that you've had in your life will never be seen again if they don't go to heaven. We should still live for Christ alone though. If all we're supposed to need is God, then why do we worry so much about the other things in our life? We've become attached. We are afraid to let someone else (God) take over our life because when we control it we see where it is going. Sometimes we just need to let our autopilot direct us.

Thursday's Class

So in class last week it was another typical class period. I was still feeling a little bit of the oxycodone but I was feeling better. We read over and essay that Dr. Fettke had written. The article spoke out to me because my sister has a disability and she is involved with things at church and stuff. Towards the end of the article Fettke talked about people with disabilities being involved with the church. My sister helps out at our young adult group worship nights. Does she understand the spirit of the Lord? What the Bible says? I think to a certain extent she does understand. What IS God's reasoning behind kids with disabilities being born into the world? I think it humbles families when a child with mental issues is born. I believe it can even draw us closer to God. The thing about mentally disabled people is finding what you have to do to get THROUGH to them. What is their strengths. Now of course it depends on how severe the disability is but their are ways to communicate to the disabled. My sister has a niche with kids. She just loves kids and works in a daycare. Though she is still learning how to deal with certain things, she slowly makes progress.

Special Needs

So in class we talked about this play that everyone has been reading. We got into groups and discussed what lines spoke out to us. Now it was a little hard being up to dat considering the fact I had surgery on Friday and was still and am currently recovering. I had oxycodone in my system so it was a little hard to concentrate in class. Which probably explains why I am missing a blog from Monday. The class was set up like a panel discussion with a special guest sitting at the front of the class. Candace was the special guest and she really knew her stuff. In fact her and Corrigan were speaking back and forth for so long as I looked around the room I met eyes with several students in the class who looked clueless. Eventually we got to the point where people were able to interact with what we were discussing. The play and topic relates to me in a way because my sister has a mental disability. Corrigan is right about how people with disabilities do some humorous things. Not to laugh at them like we are making fun, but laugh at them kind of like we laugh at babies when we think something they do is "cute." My sister has Coffin Lowry. I don't know really how to explain it to well. All I know is that she has a hard time controlling her emotions and she is 26 but mentally she is probably in her younger teens or maybe even younger. Yea I've gotten annoyed with her with a lot of things in the past but I still love her and she is my sister. Sometimes the patience level is unbearable but at the same time I have learned that my sister cannot help some of the stuff she does. But... there are things that she does know that she can discern right and wrong. My sister has been through a lot in her life with our family and even her 2 surgeries she's had including one in which metal rods were placed up her spine because her scoliosis was so bad.  There is a lot more I could go on about with people with disabilities, but I will tell you all that it is a very humbling experience to be in the life of someone with a disability. God has his reasons for everything...

A Nature Experience

So in class on Tuesday we read from a few different poems. But that wasn't it. The poems weren't very long but they were insightful. I know I say that a lot about Corrigan's stuff but it really is. Even though it seems weird the things he might have has do, I like it because it is different. I may not show that I like it all the time but I really do. He had the whole class go down to one of the dock's alongside of the lake by the Academic building. I wasn't necessarily thrilled about walking around since I have surgery in a couple of days but I was still a little happy to get out of the room. I had a lot of things on my mind that day. Honestly though, the whole day seemed to be very interesting to say the least.
 When we get out there on the dock it was hard to concentrate when he started to read the poems aloud to us. I was legitimately trying to read along with him. I felt as though I could have concentrated better when I was looking over the lake or something. It's weird sometimes. I feel like I can pay attention to speakers better when I'm doing something else at times. I guess it depends on what, I know that when I this blocked game on my itouch I can pay attention in chapel better. Or it could be some of the speakers that we've been having. Anywho... I did enjoy the short time we had when Corrigan told us to take a few minutes and kind of ponder over the nature we were surrounded by. It was actually nice to feel some sort of peace even though their were things on my mind. Nature has a funny way of showing peace to us I feel like. I guess since God created it their can be peace in what he is a part of. I guess through this last week or 2 I have come back to appreciate nature a little more than what I thought. There are so many beautiful things that are a natural part of this earth and yet I think we seem to forget where the basis of our materialistic things come from.