If I Ruled The World...........

At least three or four times a day something happens that makes me seriously hope that there are a lot of people out there, which before they go to bed at night, seriously thank someone or something that I’m not in charge around here.  From witnessing complete and utter stupidity, to being surrounded, and or the direct target of ridiculous ignorance, I would barely make it through half a day without someone being banished to exile, if given the power to do so.  Which got me to thinking, what if I was in charge?  What if I ran shit?  What would I do, and how would I do it?  So I brainstormed a bit, and came up with five things I would change or implement immediately in hopes of making this world a much better place to live.  I was going to do ten, but this leaves the door open for the Peoples Blogger to do another peoples sequel, and we all know how well that turned out last time.  The emphasis here will be placed on greater good overall and a better running society with direct reflection on social acceptance and unity as a whole.  Stupidity will be punished accordingly, and lack of production will directly result in lack of compensation.  Here now is what I would do, and how I would do it, in no particular order.

Population Density and Racism
Its 2012 here people and we can’t get along yet?  And for the record, once and for all, I’m going to say it. Get over it.  Whatever your background is, and whatever whom ever did to you whenever the fuck they did it.  Seriously, get over it.  I’m sick and tired of it being someone’s crutch to lean on whenever things don’t go their way.  Let me let you in on something, it’s been so god damn long since slavery, the holocaust, revolutions, and so on and so forth, that there is maybe 1-2 percent of the people in the world, IF THAT, that were even around, or have any association with, directly or indirectly, any of that stuff.  That 1 or 2 percent can speak up whenever they feel like it, but no one else.  And another thing, I didn’t do shit to anyone, so I really don’t need to hear about it from anybody.  The truth of the matter is, the person who calls racism the fastest and loudest, is in fact and all actuality, the racist, because they don’t have the ability to see the situation for what it probably is, just some idiot doing some dumb idiot shit.  The only thing they can see is ethnical background and or colour, and in using that information they deem what went down, how and why, which by definition is racism isn’t it? So, when I drive by a kid of diverse background in the pouring rain, because he decided to jump out of the darkness at the very last second and I didn’t want to slam on the brakes and put half the bus through the windshield, don’t go saying anything about his colour and me being a racist, that would in all actuality, make you the racist.  Racist!  So, here’s the first thing I’m going to do.  I’m jumbling everyone up, and salt and peppering everyone everywhere, and know what? That’s where you’re staying so learn to live with it.  I’m spreading you out too.  No more whites are over here, blacks are over there, pink green and blue in the middle, and yellow around the rim.  Everyone, everywhere.  It may sound bad at first, but picture this, your outside relaxing and your neighbor is annoying the hell out of you, well, now you can walk over to him and say whatever the hell you want to him, without worrying about upsetting any apple carts… That sounds good, doesn't it?    One nation undivided!

Punishment and Education

While I’m spreading everyone out, I’m going to leave Greenland completely empty.  This is the new world’s jail. We are going to cut it in two parts, the first part is going to be about one third of the country, and that is going to be for smaller crimes.  Petty crimes if you will, misdemeanors. Theft, minor violence, minor property damage, etc. etc.  And no, public urination doesn’t constitute a trip to Greenland (stupid Federales), basically anything that annoys or upsets society in a minor way.  Minimum sentence, two years, nothing less than that.  No parole and no getting out early at all.  Fuck up in my world, you pay.  The larger part of Greenland will be reserved for major crimes like rape and murder, etc. etc.  Anything that causes long lasting and irreversible damage to society and its people.  Minimum sentence there, 10 years, but here’s the thing, if you go away to the bigger part of Greenland, you’re probably not going to come back.  I’m not a huge fan of rehabilitation, so you do the math on that, but you definitely don’t want to go to the big part of Greenland.  It won’t take long before people start respecting each other and each other’s shit with incentive like that now will it?
And in my world, everyone gets an education, no one will be allowed to drop out, or else the small part of Greenland you go.  And to be fair, you can take as long as you want to get through school if you’re having difficulty and have to repeat a year or two, that’s not punishable, but you will learn eventually.  Everyone will receive the same education as well, but the classes will be structured a little differently.  For instance some of the mandatory classes taught to everyone in my world would be; Logic and Understanding 101; Respect and Manners 101; Basic Speech and Communication 101; How Not To Be An Over Sensitive Wussy 101; and Ethics and Self Respect 101, 102, and 103.  Oh, and one more thing, everyone will speak the same language. It will probably be English, but I don’t know yet, I’ll make that decision at game time.   One nation, one language….Undivided…..

Compensation Based on Completion and Output
Everyone will work if they want to eat.  I’ll find a job for you, or make one up if I have to, but assistance is out the window.  I don’t care about your back, or your foot or your blah blah blah, you want to eat? I’ll find you something you can do, and you’ll be paid for it.  If you really don’t want to work, that’s your call, but you’re not getting any help from my government, and you will eventually get hungry, and you will eventually do something stupid.  The only question remaining would be, are you going to get yourself sent to the big part of Greenland, or the small part?  And as far as pay goes, I’m going to need a little bit of time to work on that, but I can assure you this much, there will be none of these ridiculous discrepancies in salary.  It will be fair and realistic right across the board.  Now obviously, if you’re doing something more important in society you’ll be compensated slightly better, but none of this million dollar a year shit, while someone else is making ten dollars an hour, that’s just got anarchy written all over it.  So, the doctors, the nurses, police, scientists, bus drivers, and sexy lawyers from San Francisco will make a little more than the guy selling oranges on the corner, but not much, and everyone will have enough to live comfortably.  Taxes will be realistic and reasonable, and you will see how every tax dollar is broken down and spent right down to the penny.  For the record, I won’t even be drawing a salary off your taxes, I’ll be running the world in my spare time, and still driving my bus 40 hours a week.  Although I’m not sure who is going to continue this blog, seeing as though I won’t have a lot of spare time left over……….ahhhh,  you know I’ll make the time for it, who’s kidding who here???   One nation, of working class people……Undivided

Politics
In every sense of the word politics will change forever.  Gone are all the ‘isms and ‘ocracies.  We are going back to the Roman days, where there is one man, Me, and on my deathbed I will name a successor, whom on his death bed will name a successor,  and so on and so forth.  Why are we doing it like the Romans did? That’s not the question you should be asking.  The question should be, how long did the Roman Empire stand at the top of civilization for?  A very long fucking time, that’s how long.  And why? Because it was for the betterment of the people.  Now, say what you will about communism, fascism, and anything else, but look no further than our beloved democracy to see corruption in its purest form, right W.? And we as Canadians are no better than our terribly mislead neighbors to the south either.  Why just recently Stephen Harper had the guts to call an early election so his conservatives could gain a majority government, on the basis of a “motion of non-confidence” (whatever the hell that means), when I’m pretty sure we as Canadians voted for a minority government for the duration of the term.  Right there in my eyes, democracy went right out the window, and that’s the main reason I’ll never vote again.  I have motions of non-confidence in shit every day,  that doesn’t mean I get to spend millions upon millions of tax payers’ dollars to get what I want does it?  One man in charge, one nation, undivided……..

Religion
Let’s do a quick exercise together, I need one person from each religion to stand up, just one person, from each religion. Good, everyone is represented, everyone here, and ready? Here it is.  You guys do all know that you’re praying to the same thing right?  I mean sure, He goes by different names, and He speaks different languages, His work and process deviates slightly, and His descendants births and deaths, or for that matter even existences may be sketchy and slightly different, but you do realize it’s all the same message right? Love, understanding, faith, heaven and hell even if by other names etc. etc.  Basically do right, and be good people, or else. Same message in every book.  Then how the fuck do you read that, put the book down, and go out and fight some other religion for hundreds of years based on what you just read?  Does that really make sense to anybody? Seriously, what’s blocking the information from your eyes to your brain, because I know you read your book, shit, some of you can probably recite it back to me from memory?  But clearly you’re misunderstanding something.  Do I have to add interpretation 101 to my education systems curriculum? Because I’ll do it if I have to.  And I’m not even going to start on whether or not your Deity exists, that’s your business, and if you choose to believe, I’ll stand by you on that, because I encourage anything that has to do with people trying to be better people, and that’s what faith and believing is supposed to be about.  But in all honesty, you warring religions are primarily what has brought this world to its damn knees.  I’m going to tell you a real quick story.  When I was about 10 years old, the school handed out bibles to the kids.  This of course was back when you were actually allowed to do shit like that, and I took the bible home and I asked my mom, “mom, what’s this?” and she sat me down on the couch with the bible, and she looked me in the eyes, and she told  me “when you are old enough, and have acquired enough information, you will make this decision on your own, and neither me nor the school or anyone else for that matter should influence that”.  Keep in mind; this was a 26 year old girl, talking to her fatherless 10 year old son.  If we could figure this shit out between us, in a five minute talk, seriously, what the fuck is taking everyone else so long to figure it out.  So based on the immortal wisdom of my very young mom, here’s what we are going to do here.  In my world, you are allowed to both believe in and pray to whomever your heart desires.  You can go to church on Friday, you can go on Sunday, hell, you can go on Wednesday afternoon at 2pm if you want, assuming your work is done for the day of course.  Meet up, hold hands, dance, read, sing, cheer, clap, play Ouija, do whatever you want to do, just have you a good old time.  But leave it there.  Don’t go running up and down the streets screaming out about anyone else’s beliefs, don’t go getting on my bus and starting fights because your God is better than someone else’s God, and definitely don’t go around shoving it down anyone’s throats. In fact, I’m pretty sure in each one of those books it says, and I’m paraphrasing, to spread the word but don’t push the word.  It’s supposed to be a personal and private decision someone will make on their own time, and of their own will, and it’s for the betterment of social society and the greater good of my/our new world that we keep it that.  Different beliefs maybe, but one nation, undivided………….

give jesus your best. give jesus something to bless.

I was so incredibly blessed this weekend. I was able to spend time with Josh and be reminded how much I love him and how greatly God has blessed our relationship, I had a lot of time to socialize and hang out with friends and just have some plain old fun! BUT...when Sunday evening rolled around, and my reality of being a college student with responsibilities, homework, and goals kicked in, my weekend brought some disappointments and I wondered to myself, Am I giving Jesus my best? Am I giving him something to bless? 


I started to get really down on myself, "How could I be so unfaithful to my work?" I felt so overwhelmed; I couldn't for the life of me memorize the bible passages for my memory work test, I wasn't able to practice piano, my laundry was overflowing and I have literally no clean clothes to wear, I have to go play an intramural basketball game, and oh...study for a psychology test?! When will I be able to do that? I felt a mental break down coming on! 


I finally sat still and calmed myself down and went to the one person who could help me, my Lord and Savior of course. I read the line to myself, "Give Jesus your best. Give Jesus something to bless." I realized that I could not change the late start I had gotten on my endless to do list, but I did realize that it was never to late to give Jesus my best. 


I pray, I read a devotional, and I decide that it's better late then never to start giving Jesus my best. Bring it on memory work! It's truly amazing what God can do for you when you cast all your anxiety on him; he truly does care for you! Trust me, I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed with everything that seems to be thrown at you at once {I'm a crazy busy college student} but how amazing and comforting is having a conversation with Jesus and deciding to be faithful in our talents and giving him something to bless! Thank you, thank you, thank you Lord!






Signature!

BREAKING NEWS!


I just figured out how to create my own signature :) Pretty fancy huh?! I am very proud of myself for figuring this out! I hope you like!



Links I'm Lovin'

There are a bunch of links {inspiring, interesting, thought provoking, cool} that I would love to share with you all :) I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thursday! I'm super excited because I get to see Josh tomorrow!! He will be in New Ulm for the weekend, and I couldn't be more excited! I'll have to post a weekend blog sometime early next week. The thing I'm most excited about...


I've just seen there adds for a three course meal. I told Josh that are plan should be for one of us to order the three course meal, and the other to order endless soup salad and breadsticks and we could share everything! Maybe even a "Lady and the Tramp moment?" haha, well we will see, all I know is those breadsticks are calling my name!

Now on with the links!

So this video was shown to me tonight while I was volunteering at the "Teen Center" in New Ulm's local WELS church. It brings up a lot of interesting points and things to think about when it comes to religion vs. believing in Jesus. Even though this man is a pastor in the Missouri synod, he says some GREAT things that I can definitely agree with. Plus...he really puts this other guy in his place! CHECK IT OUT!!!


This is the devotion I read today...and it really struck a cord with me: WELS daily devotion {WELS Daily Devotion}

It's so, so easy to go to church, confess your sins, feel rejuvenated by the hymns, and made alive by the message of the pastor. But when you walk away do you live out your life the way you did in church? Maybe this devotion will help you think about that. I loved this one :)


Bon Iver {"bone-ee-vare"} is definitely one of my favorite artists right now! He is from Eau Claire, WI. My hometown! He just did a concert at the university, and i swear every single one of my friends status' on facebook were, "Bon Iver Concert!!!" or, "Bone Iver=best concert ever!" or something along those lines. I hope you enjoy this song by him. His music is a little eclectic, but totally chill, relaxing, and perfect for study music :)

And last, but CERTAINLY not least....I must share with you some of my favorite pins this week :)

I used this as my "warm-up" workout yesterday before hitting the treadmill!

I am obsessed with these nails! Way too adorable :)

I am a huge culprit of planning my future and getting ahead of myself. I must remember that God is in control! LIVE IN THE PRESENT!!! <3

At the very ripe age of 20, I'm still going through this realization...{reminder to self: Jesus will always be your real friend}


Love always,
Rachel




Pray Continually.

Happy Wednesday!

I love knowing I'm halfway through my week :) This week started off as a rough one. I found myself feeling very lonely, nothing to look forward to, and being upset about not being with the people who I loved who are so far away. So of course, I called Josh, and he helped me through it. His best piece of advice:

"It's great that you come to me, and I love listening and helping you, but the person that will help you through this the best is your Lord and Savior Jesus."

This is the number one reason why I love him! He reminded me how I need to take everything to God in prayer and put my hope and trust in him. I NEED to be better at my personal devotion life and diving into the scripture more often! So here's a few passages that truly uplifted me and have gotten me through the past couple of days!

"The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them." {Psalm 145: 18-19}

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." {Psalm 46:1}

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" {John 16:33}

"And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

God is good! I have to remind myself everyday and be thankful for the countless blessings he has given me.


ONE MORE THING :)

In my Teaching Religion Class I had to write a devotion as my assignment for today. I was inspired last night to write mine about Prayer. Let me know what you think!

The Blessings of Prayer

Hymn 411 “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”

Psalm 50:15 “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.

            When we are hurt, sad, stressed out, or angry, who do you usually go to for comfort and support? You may talk to your parents, your good friend, or maybe even your teacher or pastor. All those people can provide great advice and comfort, but the most wonderful advice and comfort we can receive is when we take our troubles to our Lord and Savior in prayer.
            In our Scripture reading for today, God tells us that he wants us to come to him when we need his help. We are all sinners, and constantly need to go to the Lord in repentance and ask for forgiveness. This world is a sinful world, and we will go through many struggles while we are in it. God wants us to be relentless in our prayers to him. We should call upon God in prayer everyday, for everything.
God also gives us a promise in this passage; he lets us know that he will deliver us and help us. He promises to hear and answer our prayers. Because of this, we thank God by honoring him—by loving, praising, and obeying him. We have comfort that God will always answer our prayers, it might not be right away, or the way we think it should be answered—but he promises that he does answer them and will bless us.
Prayer is such a blessing and comfort for us as Christians. Praying is an awesome, easy, and inspiring thing. Some of us might think that prayers should be formal, which in some cases like a church service they are, but in our personal prayers with our Savior you can say and do anything you want. Prayer may take place while you’re brushing your teeth, doing your chores, getting dressed for the day, or lying in bed at the end of the night. It may also be helpful, and even more personable, to think that Jesus is sitting right next to you—hugging you, sitting in a chair listening, or putting His hand on your back while you poor out your anxieties to him. It is such a powerful and comforting thing to know that we have an almighty friend and Savior who can listen to our problems, and has promised to deliver us from them. Let’s take advantage of prayer, and pray to our Savior and friend freely and continually!

Prayer:

Our dearest friend and Savior,
We come to you now with renewed and fervent hearts—praying that you strengthen our faith to fearlessly and continually come to you in prayer. You have blessed us with the ability to talk to you, and with your ability of answering the requests we bring before you. Allow us to rely on you for requests and comfort. Grant us the belief in the power of talking with you, and give us renewal and comfort in our hearts when we pray to you. In your name we pray and will continue to pray. Amen.