Today I was surprised by two random acts of service and kindness from complete strangers.
First I was at Lake Michigan Credit Union, because I was informed that I had a negative balance on an account that I thought I hadn't used in about 2 years. So I went in to fix the problem. It turns out I had accidentally used the wrong card when I got my hair cut early May. Lake Michigan has a service that they pay for my overdraft, but the service costs $30. The lady there took the $30 off my account, and what I thought was a $35 inconvenience was only a $5 inconvenience. Maybe she does this for a lot of people, but I sure appreciated it.
Then I was in twisted rooster ordering my $3.00 roo-burger to go (their all day Wednesday special). After a bit of a wait, the waitress who had taken my order told me that it was taking longer than usual, and I should just go back over to clique and she would bring my burger when it was done.
Neither of them had to do either of these things for me, but they both did. It just made me smile, so I thought I would share it with all of you.
What nice things have people done for you today? What nice things have you done for people today?
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
A Tiny Effort.
I am not always a responsible member of my community. I often place my selfish desires - or more often laziness - in front of the interest of my immediate or global community.
Today I was at Costco buying a lot of various fluids. I unloaded my cart of heavy cases of water bottles into my car, and I just did not feel like walking all the way across the parking lot to dump my cart in the cart corral. I paused for a moment, and looked around the parking lot. I saw about 4 carts sitting next to the parking spaces of irresponsible members of this community. I nodded my head, and walked my cart across the parking lot to the cart corral. I took care of my stuff, and now nobody else has to.
Tiny effort. Incredibly significant moment.
Think about all those things that annoy you. When your co-worker doesn't do that little thing that would make a world of difference. When a selfish man spits his gum in the urinal when there is a trash can three steps away. When you turn on your blinker, but nobody lets you in.
Now take a day to be intentional and see how you are impacting your immediate community. How is your community blessed by you? How is your community inconvenienced by you? Then add that tiny effort to make somebody's day that much better.
Blessings,
-Ben
Today I was at Costco buying a lot of various fluids. I unloaded my cart of heavy cases of water bottles into my car, and I just did not feel like walking all the way across the parking lot to dump my cart in the cart corral. I paused for a moment, and looked around the parking lot. I saw about 4 carts sitting next to the parking spaces of irresponsible members of this community. I nodded my head, and walked my cart across the parking lot to the cart corral. I took care of my stuff, and now nobody else has to.
Tiny effort. Incredibly significant moment.
Think about all those things that annoy you. When your co-worker doesn't do that little thing that would make a world of difference. When a selfish man spits his gum in the urinal when there is a trash can three steps away. When you turn on your blinker, but nobody lets you in.
Now take a day to be intentional and see how you are impacting your immediate community. How is your community blessed by you? How is your community inconvenienced by you? Then add that tiny effort to make somebody's day that much better.
Blessings,
-Ben
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
What do You think?
Ok, this blog is not a political blog. This blog is intended to be a source of challenging questions and inspirational messages. But today that question and that message are intertwined with a political event.
Today President Obama did another one of those bold things that he does. Things like authorizing military action in Libya, or says that whoever is responsible for the oil spill is going to get their asses kicked. Well, rather then saying what he said I will just quote him:
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.
Is Obama saying this to get votes? Yes... of course he is. He is a politician. It is a bit of a gamble, because he will certainly lose some votes as well. He has likely done all the math and calculated that it will yield him positive results by making the announcement.
All that said, I think that there is still good that can come from it.
What do you all think about this? Do you think that he is just using this topic to get votes? Is that such a bad thing?
Here's my take: I do not think that this is an issue for the government to decide. Remember this: the separation of state and religion is a good thing. For me it just boils down to people. No matter what I believe about anything, if I cannot love people, then the fault does not lie with them, but with me.
What do you all think?
-Ben
Today President Obama did another one of those bold things that he does. Things like authorizing military action in Libya, or says that whoever is responsible for the oil spill is going to get their asses kicked. Well, rather then saying what he said I will just quote him:
“I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors, when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together; when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married,” Obama told Roberts in an interview to appear on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Thursday.
Is Obama saying this to get votes? Yes... of course he is. He is a politician. It is a bit of a gamble, because he will certainly lose some votes as well. He has likely done all the math and calculated that it will yield him positive results by making the announcement.
All that said, I think that there is still good that can come from it.
What do you all think about this? Do you think that he is just using this topic to get votes? Is that such a bad thing?
Here's my take: I do not think that this is an issue for the government to decide. Remember this: the separation of state and religion is a good thing. For me it just boils down to people. No matter what I believe about anything, if I cannot love people, then the fault does not lie with them, but with me.
What do you all think?
-Ben
Grace? Maybe.
I am standing on the brink of being done with my junior year of college. That is insane. At the end of every semester I remark about how it was the most difficult semester yet, but this time I will make a different remark: this was the worst semester yet.
Drama, stress, business, etc...
Same story as everyone else.
I am beginning to think that college is just hard, and that is why every semester is really hard. hmmm... novel concept.
Anyway, this semester I held one idea in my head that sort of kept me going no matter what mountain I stood at the foot of. I met with Dr. Shangkuan earlier this semester, and in our conversation she told me this: with every endeavor, we can expect grace. Simple, easy, grace.
Yesterday I was cramming, as I always do at the end of a semester. I was writing a paper, and I worked on the paper from 3:00 PM to 3:00 AM. When I was satisfied with the progress I was making, I decided to take a nap and then keep working after my nap. Well, none of my three alarm clocks were able to pull me from the strong arm of sleep. So I slept until my sister woke me up. Upon waking I had a terrible realization that I would not finish my paper on time.
I e-mailed my professor to ask for an extension. He e-mailed me back soon thereafter to remind me that the paper was due a week from today... not today.
I laughed for a while.
Grace? Maybe. Either way, I embrace today with gratitude and a smile.
-Ben
Drama, stress, business, etc...
Same story as everyone else.
I am beginning to think that college is just hard, and that is why every semester is really hard. hmmm... novel concept.
Anyway, this semester I held one idea in my head that sort of kept me going no matter what mountain I stood at the foot of. I met with Dr. Shangkuan earlier this semester, and in our conversation she told me this: with every endeavor, we can expect grace. Simple, easy, grace.
Yesterday I was cramming, as I always do at the end of a semester. I was writing a paper, and I worked on the paper from 3:00 PM to 3:00 AM. When I was satisfied with the progress I was making, I decided to take a nap and then keep working after my nap. Well, none of my three alarm clocks were able to pull me from the strong arm of sleep. So I slept until my sister woke me up. Upon waking I had a terrible realization that I would not finish my paper on time.
I e-mailed my professor to ask for an extension. He e-mailed me back soon thereafter to remind me that the paper was due a week from today... not today.
I laughed for a while.
Grace? Maybe. Either way, I embrace today with gratitude and a smile.
-Ben
Friday, May 4, 2012
Strength and Weaknesses, Person to Person
For a while now I have been reflecting on the idea that man-made social structures are not made for people to function in.
This thought began when I was processing through some particularly frustrating requirements that I have to fulfill at Calvin. Would a school function better if it evaluated the needs of its students (educational and otherwise) based on the individual? Would students graduate more equipped for their field, or further education if they were able to create a customized plan that addressed their weaknesses while bolstering their strengths?
In the social structure of an educational institution, students are no longer people. The institution views each student as a piece to be assembled, and each student moves through the production line, no different than an engine block or a plastic doll. The teachers/professors stand by and try to fix the broken, or otherwise disabled pieces, and if they cannot fix them, then they throw them out. The administrators decide what it means to be a functional product, and once a student has passed all of the tests then they are able to move from the factory into use.
This frustrated me because I was an engine block struggling through the tests made for a plastic doll.
Get it?
Then I had this reflection. The problem is larger than school. The entire western world is fixated on this factory line production model. Efficiency is God. If you get in the way of the people's God... well, we all read about the crusades.
This model has been pushed so far that it permeates every aspect of our world.
But this is what I propose: Human beings need to be treated as human beings: micro organisms that have strengths and weaknesses; each unique; each an individual.
Man-made social structures need to be treated in the same way. Nobody is perfect, so nobody’s ideas are perfect. Social structures are macro organisms (they are living, organic beings) that will reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the creators in flux. If we cut out every organism in its moment of failure, we will take away every organism’s ability to thrive. In this model ingenuity can't happen, in this model you will never see the true potential of a human organism.
Strengths need to be bolstered, and weaknesses addressed appropriately for each individual.
This thought began when I was processing through some particularly frustrating requirements that I have to fulfill at Calvin. Would a school function better if it evaluated the needs of its students (educational and otherwise) based on the individual? Would students graduate more equipped for their field, or further education if they were able to create a customized plan that addressed their weaknesses while bolstering their strengths?
In the social structure of an educational institution, students are no longer people. The institution views each student as a piece to be assembled, and each student moves through the production line, no different than an engine block or a plastic doll. The teachers/professors stand by and try to fix the broken, or otherwise disabled pieces, and if they cannot fix them, then they throw them out. The administrators decide what it means to be a functional product, and once a student has passed all of the tests then they are able to move from the factory into use.
This frustrated me because I was an engine block struggling through the tests made for a plastic doll.
Get it?
Then I had this reflection. The problem is larger than school. The entire western world is fixated on this factory line production model. Efficiency is God. If you get in the way of the people's God... well, we all read about the crusades.
This model has been pushed so far that it permeates every aspect of our world.
But this is what I propose: Human beings need to be treated as human beings: micro organisms that have strengths and weaknesses; each unique; each an individual.
Man-made social structures need to be treated in the same way. Nobody is perfect, so nobody’s ideas are perfect. Social structures are macro organisms (they are living, organic beings) that will reflect the strengths and weaknesses of the creators in flux. If we cut out every organism in its moment of failure, we will take away every organism’s ability to thrive. In this model ingenuity can't happen, in this model you will never see the true potential of a human organism.
Strengths need to be bolstered, and weaknesses addressed appropriately for each individual.
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