Lord,
Make us instruments of your peace.
Where there is hatred let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
- from a church bulletin

Stand for truth; it is enough.
- Ben Jonson

Politics is about people and you cannot separate people from their spiritual values.
- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Those who say that religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion means.
- Mahatma Gandhi

Good is never accomplished except at the cost of those who do it; truth never breaks through except through the sacrifice of those who spread it.
- Cardinal Newman

JUST FOR TODAY I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.
- excerpt from "Just for Today", a poem used in AA

Nonviolence or nonexistence
- MLK

Nonviolence is not a strategy [...] it is not passive [...] it is active love
- John Dear, SJ

Nonviolence as a methodology of social change
- paraphrase of Gandhi

Jesus ... active, nonviolent, revolutionary, illegal
- paraphrase of John Dear, SJ

There is a "depth of our obsession with punishment"
- William M. DiMascio (Executive Director of the Prison Society in Philly)

The active part of nonviolence is love.
- Mahatma Gandhi

I am a work in progress.
- John Dear, SJ

Samantha Power: writer, professor at Harvard Law (started the Carr Center for Human Rights there), wrote the book A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide.

    

Brian Steidle & Gretchen Steidle Wallace: served as the U.S. representative in the African Union for about a year.  Gave some of the photography he took in Darfur to Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times columnist, to use (Brian was not referenced and he was not supposed to give these photos out).  After his contract with the African Union was over, he used much of his own money to travel and speak about the current genocide in Darfur (in northeastern Sudan).  Check out his book The Devil Came on Horseback - him and his sister Gretchen have helped in making the movie (same title) as well.  Sidenote: His sister Gretchen was named one of the 35 most influential women in business under the age of 35 by World Business magazine; she's also the founder of Global Grassroots.

Romeo Dallaire: was the UN commander of the UN peacekeeping forces during the genocide in Rwanda.  He had 2,500 troops but knew he needed more, so he requested for a peacekeeping force of 5,000.  At that time, the UN budget did not allow for this so Romeo was in the middle of a genocide with hardly enough troops (his hands were basically tied).  Despite attacks, Romeo was determined to keep his eventual force of only 500 troops on the ground.  After the genocide was over, Romeo came back to America feeling incredibly guilty for having led a mission that failed (despite the fact that he was not allowed more troops and pretty much lacked any support from the international community).  Consequent to flashbacks of his time in Rwanda, he has suffered from PTSD and tried to commit suicide twice.  In A Problem From Hell Samantha wrote about him: "It is both paradoxical and natural that the man who probably did the most to save Rwandans feels the worst."

I have come to find that many of the people I look up to and want to be like, live far from glamorous lives.

check out:
www.cnn.com/genocide
http://www.genocidewatch.org/aboutgenocide/whatisit.html
http://www.savedarfur.org/section/learn
http://www.yale.edu/gsp/projects.html

...and another blog spot.  ecentries.blogspot.com

So this'll be my last one.  By this time next week, I'll be done with two exams, one 20 pager, one 10 pager and one 5 pager (all double spaced, thank the Lord).  Family comes in on Friday and I will be leaving them and Grand Rapids early Sunday morning for Nashville for one week of sales school, where I will learn how to essentially run my own business.  This summer will be a challenge for sure, but I've got a feeling that I'll pull through somehow!

This situation in Burma pains my heart.  It's just so incredibly frustrating when I read of the lack of immediate, intentional help from the government to the people.  I get emails every other day from Free Burma Rangers, and yesterday an FBR sent pictures of some of the after-effects of the cyclone.  One image is of a mix of debris and bodies - kids - along the coast.  Something about sending money to FBR and looking at that picture doesn't settle right with me.  There's got to be more.  For now, all I think of is my long-term goal ... working towards ways to reconcile this disparity between government and its people that we see so often throughout the world (um, West Virginia anyone?  I pray the problem of the local government not valuing their people's voice will somehow improve)

Well, back to studying.  Right now I'm reading about why the nature of competition in the U.S. health care system should change and suggestions for how ...

So I feel like one thing (amongst many) that I have learned as a result of my four years at Calvin is: simply say thank you when someone gives me a compliment.  Before, everytime someone gave me a compliment I would automatically brush it off as, "oh noooo my presentation wasn't that good" or if someone compliments me on something I'm wearing I'll respond with "oh yeah, I got it from J.Crew (hehe)!".  Now I've learned (and still am practicing) to just say thank you and be grateful for the compliment.

A friend once mentioned...a compliment is a gift.  If someone is giving you a gift, you wouldn't give it back or try to shrug it off or say to them ... oh gosh, don't give that gift to me! (ok..exception would be within the Chinese culture - something I cannot stand but need to tolerate!) You would accept that gift and say thank you.  One of my pet peeves is if I say to you: "You look lovely today." and you answer back with "thanks, so do you!" as this automated response or just out of habit.  It's taken me some time, but I appreciate it when someone just accepts my compliment and says a simple thank you.  I want you to know that you look nice today or that you did a very good job on that presentation.  I don't expect anything back.

Of course, this is just my personal opinion.  And I'm trying to remind myself of that because my dad is someone who is very much bad at just saying thank you to compliments.  He's SO Chinese.  When I tell my dad that I appreciate him so much and that I love him, he just HAS to answer with something along the lines of ... you know, it's good that God puts people who love us in our lives...or well, God has really blessed all of us...it's always something in the plural and it can't be just singular.

I think there needs to be a balance of both - complimenting individuals as well as keeping in mind that the world doesn't revolve around one person, but right at this moment I just think that at least in my family (specifically because my family is Chinese), I just wish there was more intentionally directed, personal uplifting comments.  We say I love you to each other at the end of each phone conversation, but I know that it's just awkward if we say it to each other face to face.

Then again ... my dearest friends who I can say that to are also American and I can't help but remember that it must be a cultural thing too ... well, and that my friends and I are accostumed to looking at each other in the eyes and telling each other how much we mean to each other...and that took time to do, since you learn to trust each other only through time.  I just hope for that intimate friendship with my own family ... especially now that I know I've grown so much and am more mature (yet still growing, of course - but willing to grow more and be challenged!), and am a lot different from the Eunice they were used to in high school and even over this past Christmas break.

Anyways, for me I know I want to get better at really meaning the compliments I offer to people and to be meaningful in the little things I do ... for you never know how even the littlest thing like "I appreciate you." might make someone's day :)

The more I think about the weddings I'll be missing out on this summer, the more disappointed I am in myself in having signed up for working with Southwestern all this summer.  I have been invited to three weddings, two of which the people getting marrie dare good friends.  Should I get a round trip plane ticket twice, throughout the summer?  The downside of that would be: (1) money, but money is replaceable and I wouldn't mind at least if i order ahead of time...I'm sure I can find some cheap tickets; (2) readjusting to work would be very difficult, for sure, but I just think to myself..I've had to readjust myself to a whole different culture and country and way of life for five months last year, so I'm pretty sure I can handle this.  It's all mental.

The upsides would be: well, seeing two of my good friends get married.  Both weddings would be in Grand Rapids.  I just keep thinking....these weddings should mean more to me than the plans to work that I have for myself.  But then again, I'm not in either of them.

Also, what do people usually get for weddings gifts?

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