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PKbrita
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Name: Brittany
Country: United States
State: Maryland
Metro: Baltimore
Birthday: 8/19/1982
Gender: Female
Interests: Jesus Christ - lover of my soul, Son of God and Son of Man Nascar - JEFF GORDON!! Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne!Exploring the world... rain drops on the window
Expertise: when we gain expertise, what keeps us from throwing it away due to the inability to learn more?
Occupation: Front Desk Clerk
Industry: Hotel - Marriott
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  DMJVJR2537
Member Since:
12/26/2003
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| I imagine every once in awhile the average person will lose something important to them... there may be tears... there may be frustration... there may be great anger... but over time the pain of that loss begins to subside and we are able to move on and move forward in our lives. But what happens when we lose our passion? It may not be something we even notice when it happens... and so there is no grieving process... no time to be angry that our passion is gone... to be sad.... to even be frustrated... Just all of a sudden you're standing there, at a computer, in front of a world that you dont like and never thought you'd have been sucked into... you're standing there wondering what happened to your desires? when did they change? or when did you allow the world to determine what you would do with your life? and the more questions you ask the less you can understand where the passion has gone... and the less you understand, the less likely you are to be able to find it... and then you realize you're stuck... stuck in the interim... waiting for that thing that you've planned but you just need a little more time... or maybe you dont even know what you're waiting for but it might happen and so you dont want to miss it so you'll stay in your situation in spite of everything your heart tells you... | | |
| This month I focused my prayer life and fasting project on the situation in Darfur. Embarassingly, I felt that my term paper back in spring 2006 had meant something... I thought that my 50 pages of A- worthy research and brilliant prose had somehow changed the course of events halfway around the world... but surprise surprise... that report sits collecting dust in a box upstairs and entirely unread on my computer's harddrive. So what did all that wasted thought really accomplish? Not too much.... and what about those hours sitting outside the cafeteria asking people to sign post-cards to send to My President... thinking he'd read them and spurred by his Christian compassion would have to act to stop the killing. My how hopeful I was... that somehow my college education and my Masters degrees would change the course of events in the world... that somehow because i read a few more books and wrote a bunch of papers, people in Africa would stop dying, would stop being raped and killed, would stop being kidnapped, would stop contracting curable yet deadly diseases... and again all i can think about is all I thought I had done yet all I haven't dared accomplish... this isn't about me, my action or inaction... this is about peace, about innocence stolen... about evil being allowed to exist without consequence... and i'm just not sure i can live with that sort of reality... i'm not sure i can care more about the economy or gas prices than the slaughter of millions in the land of the fur....
Who has the power to end the genocide? Is it President Obama?? Will he be able to get away from domestic issues long enough to make the world stop fighting? Why don't more people care about ending the suffering of human beings in Africa? Why do people care so much what Jessica Simpson looks like in her daisy dukes yet seem to become deaf with any mention of war in Africa?
While I care about politics, and television, I did spend a lot of money to learn about both... I am so beyond tired of television and politics... I don't believe anyone anymore... no one seems to tell the truth... people steal other people's money so they can live high... and then act like they didn't bring it upon themselves when they get caught... and act like they haven't ruined hundreds of lives.... but yet they still focus on how much money they swindled... WE still focus on how much money he took... why doesn't David Letterman talk about how the janjaweed continue to slaughter Darfurians and that makes no sense... why doesn't he talk about how Khartoum denies any knowledge of what is happening there, yet sends government aircraft to drop bombs on villages... why doesn't he ask what the heck is going on with China getting it's oil from Sudan in exchange for weapons and financial support?
Because no one would laugh?.... because it's funny when a billionaire steals money from other billionaires but it's not funny when powerful leaders kill their own people simply because they are african sudanese not arab sudanese?
What are we so busy doing that we can't care about our fellow human beings?? Why do I lay around watching tv instead of getting out there and doing something to change the fate of suffering Africans? Why would I rather take a nap than read a book or write a letter to my congressman? Why don't I take every moment I can to educate people and try to do my part in effecting change in the world? Why am I asking questions that simply make this sound like a selfish rant about how frustrated I am with my inabilities........
What does it take to make the slaughter stop? I'm not anti-peace... i'm not anti-sovereignty... but i am anti-cruelty... i am anti-suffering... so maybe we have to knock of the head to kill the beast... but will that stop the genocide or will the head just grow back stronger... or maybe as two heads... what if the answer to killing just isn't more killing...??
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| I wish I had better news to report on the final day of the month of February. My thoughts and prayers have been with Zimbabwe and yet it seems like the insanity and chaos that rules over the people will continue on. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7916312.stm One of the big issues is that Mugabe ordered seizures of white owned farms, and gave them to his cronies... in November, those former farmers went to SADC and demanded justice... which they received with a ruling that Mugabe's order had violated international law... and then today Mugabe laughed in the face of that ruling, while wasting $250,000 to throw an 85th birthday party for himself... Zimbabwe could have used a longer month... I will plan to revisit the first three causes in April to give them more time to be prayed for and allow miracles to begin to happen. Unfortunately, while I am hopeful that one day DRC will be peaceful, the hope for Zimbabwe ebbs and flows with the insanity of its "leader"... | | |
| It seems like life's darkness is raining down upon too many people I am connected to... I pray that we all are given the wisdom to know how to dance in the rain since waiting for the storm to pass is sometimes a futile venture. | | |
| Positive steps have been made recently in Zimbabwe, but the crisis is far from being resolved. Today I woke up and began praying for Zimbabwe... I was led to pray for the people to be delivered out of the grasp of a corrupt government that has caused unimaginable inflation rates and lack of access to aid and food. Zimbabwe is an interesting case study because historically it overcame great oppression as the nation of Rhodesia, to emerge from a civil war stronger and better poised to be a nation of peace and tolerance. Racial tensions have haunted the past of Zimbabwe... but there was hope of a brighter future. President Mugabe was a strong leader in the beginning. He was not the feared corrupt, possibly insane man he is today. There was promise in the early years of his leadership, but his thirst for power blinded him from and free and fair electoral process and created a corrupt dictatorship he has created.
The most recent elections had their own daily struggles, mostly centered around intimidation and violence, but through a miraculous sign of compromise and hope, President Mugabe agreed to a power-sharing arrangement with his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai and appointed him as Prime Minister. Today, the BBC published a story reporting that PM Morgan Tsvangirai "said the cost of rebuilding his country's economy could run as high as $5b[illio]n" shedding much needed light on one of many problems Zimbabwe must overcome to rebuild itself as a functioning nation-state.
1. Economy -- inflation rates have soared into the hundreds of thousand percent... numbers that are unimaginable and sometimes impossible to calculate. The idea that one piece of toilet paper costs more than some apartment rents in America is hard to grasp.
2. Cholera -- once a disease of ages past, cholera has hit with a vengeance in this poor failing nation. According to the UN, 80,000 Zims are now infected with cholera... a disease caused by dirty water
it is with great pain and sadness that i end this post to continue my day of prayer, fasting, and education on the struggles zimbabwe continues to face.... please pray with me this day for all those suffering from the harsh realities of life and death in this african nation...
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