New Template.

So. New template-background thing. What do ya think? I was really bored yesterday and that's how it happened. I think I'm going to change the text color later, but we'll see. Anyway. This instance fits perfectly with one my favorite old sayings, "Boredom breeds creativity." Actually, its not that old, I coined it last night. But whatever. The problem is that its not actually perfect if you really think about it. I didn't do anything exceptionally creative. I just scrolled through some options ans picked one. Now you may be thinking that the person at Google is the creative mastermind, but all he did was copy a picture of a map that was drawn probably centuries beforehand, so you can scratch Google-man off the list. Oh, I have it now, you're thinking to yourself, the map drawer. Well, you're wrong. He's not it. Think about it. All he did was draw copies of things that were created millions and millions of years ago. (or so they say) So the real creative person is the guy who created the stuff on the map. You may have heard of him, he gets around quite a lot. He goes by the name of God. Yeah, I thought you would know him. He's quite the creative genius, actually

In other happenings, last night I watched The Boy in the Striped Pajamas with a bunch of friends. Before I go on, I want to say that as soon as we started it, I realized that its probably the kind of movie that's better to watch in a smaller group rather than the dozen or so we had there. But it captivated everyone. And I think its an important movie for people to watch.

Although charming at times, overall its not what you would call a pleasant movie. The more I think about it, though, the amazing and important it gets. After it ended people were saying stuff like, "I knew stuff like that happened, I didn't need to see it dramatized." or, "I wanted a happy ending."

But I think its good to see what it (the Holocaust) was like, for many reasons, but ultimately all those reasons come down to the fact that we are fighting a battle. Life isn't always about feeling cozy inside, although that's definitely the optimal. In this case I really like the first of my quotes, the one about not wanting see it. And I say to that quote, How are you going to fight evil if you don't have clue about what it is? If you go into the world clueless as to what going on, it would be like a New Yorker going into a jungle without a guide. He'd die. Lilke right away.

I'm going to take it even further though. I'm going to say that that 'not wanting to see it' mentality that we have is why we're in such a mess right now. There is a crime going on in our so-called civilization that is every bit as evil as the Holocaust and has effected many more lives. Why is it still allowed to continue? Because we don't stand up, we don't draw the line; it's not fun to think about, it doesn't make us feel good, so we push it to the back-burner to let it simmer on the fringe of our minds. And we forget. Because its convenient.

This is not meant to be a condemnation. Its just my rather roundabout way of telling you why I think its an important movie to watch. It changed the way I think about the Holocaust, it changed the way I think about life. And I know I go with the not-wanting-to-confront-the-evil flow all the time. Its so much easier. Its feels so much better. I don't do nearly as much as I can. Yeah, I pray at a clinic every once in awhile and once a year I go to a demonstration in San Francisco, but that's nothing, or rather very close to nothing.

We need to stand up. We need to fight. Our rights and our lines are infringed and crossed constantly. We are being hemmed in. But we are passive. We act as if we don't even care. It hurts too much to look, to confront, to see, so we let it pass back, we let it simmer, we let it be forgotten. The problem is if we don't do something soon-ish, what little freedom, what little culture we have will be snatched from beneath our noses while we are busy feeling cozy inside. And don't get me wrong, feeling cozy inside is important. But all things, except God, in moderation.

...Well that got a little bit emotional...It was probably hard to follow and I think definitely redundant. Sorry, its what happens when I get worked up about things. Just watch the movie if you haven't already. It will change you. And the beautiful thing about it is that its pure drama, pure emotions. There is no slapstick violence or gore.

Lastly, I want to say that I know what people were saying after the movie wasn't serious. I get that. It's just that what people were saying was in tune with what I wanted to talk about. I used the quotes a little bit out of context.

TTFN


-Thomas, who just realized that his post did a complete 180. Yikes!