Let me discuss the reasons why we fast. Of course, we understand that God expects us to fast, Jesus fasted, most others used by God fasted. But do we understand why?
It would be terribly remiss of me to assume that no one knows how to fast, so I shall write under the assumption whoever (however illegally they obtain this) reads this knows how to fast. Considering the whole religious culture that we have, it would not be a great leap in logic.
Let me discuss the reasons why we fast. Of course, we understand that God expects us to fast, Jesus fasted, most others used by God fasted. But do we understand why?
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A democracy works when people actually respect each other's opinions and choices in politics. During an election in an ideal world, the majority vote overrule the minority and everyone gets along until the people get another sort of election to choose who they want to represent their views. Or, generally, that's how it should work. But as is always the case, what should be and what is are very rarely the same.
Often times, a democratic election turns into a popularity contest, not unlike American Idol in its hey-day, but rather than an actual vote regarding views and competence. And people will hurl venom at each other online over their preferred contestants. And that is exactly what is happening here in the Philippines. This is probably a side effect of the whole feudal system we've had since the 1600s, and is perpetuated in the modern semi-feudal democratic state, where your representatives aren't regular people but from the same ruling families from decades ago! WARNING: The Writer is not a professional painter or blogger. He's not even very good. Any advice recommended will help you achieve tabletop quality at best. Take anything written here as professional advice at your own risk. I figured that forcing myself to write an article will help me get back into the rhythm of writing essays regularly. Today, I'll be reviewing the uses of the Citadel Gemstone paints.
I've only gotten my hands on the relatively new Citadel Gemstone paints just the past Monday. And, after watching a few other reviews and tutorials, I found that it works well for gems. But what other uses does it have? For this entry, I'll be figuring out how it works on a flat surface to imitate coloured or tinted glass. Hit the jump to get to the review and some pictures! Over the course of the four years since I finished university, I have either mentioned it myself or someone else has mentioned that I miss university, or college, or high school. Perhaps, after the grand goal of graduating and escaping that rut of education, we find out that real life is not as glamorous as the movies and television shows make it seem.
My friends know of my fascination with painting miniatures. It is a hobby that I not-so-recently picked up, mostly as a way of learning new things while having fun with one of my favourite franchises. I started out with Games Workshop's Warhammer, and have slowly branched out to Warhammer 40,000 and other games and collections. Over the course of learning techniques and skills in painting, I am also faced with this undying problem of shaking my paints.
So, I was checking my emails this morning and I found this little story in my inbox. It was the old children's story, the Little Red Hen. Or at least, a slightly updated version of it. I had a few chuckles from reading it, and comparing real life to its principles.
I figured I'd post it here for any random readers to come across. And whoever wrote this, you ma'am/sir, are brilliant. Everywhere I go, I'm often bombarded with images and advertisements and basically efforts at telling me that the world is changing. Changing in the face of human industry, and the world struggles to cope with the amount of greenhouse gases we produce that induces the dreadful climate change.
I spent most of this week at a training of sorts for pollution control. At it's most basic, other than repeatedly being told that the company would be fined and penalized for any failures on my part as a pollution control officer, it advocates tree-hugging and ground-humping. Courage. We hear that word being tossed around often, usually in the context of some imagined version of bravery that we think applies to it, but in fact may not actually be an actual form of actual bravery. Courage is often taken to imply strength and bravery, but it hardly is the same thing. A man who takes time to build body strength can be described strong, but if he lacks the bravery to face the consequences of his mistakes, then he cannot be described as a courageous man. See what I mean? They could of course be meaning that courage is an emotional sort of strength, much like a widower would have as she looks to avoid making a scene in public. This is hardly courage, as she would be practicing proper decorum more than actually resolving her feelings.
The other virtues, such as prudence, temperance and mercy, these are all nice when life is easy. But it becomes almost impossible to stay prudent, calm and merciful in a difficult situation for an extended period of time. In much the same manner, courage only exists in a very difficult situation. It is not a virtue by itself, but rather the practice of all virtues at the point of testing. Where prudence by itself cannot stand, courage takes its place. It is easy to keep the virtues when things are going well, but as Winston Churchill once said, ‘It’s when you are afraid that it is hardest to choose the harder right over the easier wrong.’ Pontius Pilate was very merciful to Christ, the Bible tells us, until it became risky. Come New Year's Day, you and I probably know at least one person who has committed to do something this coming year. Whether it is to cut down on one particular thing, or to do some other thing, or to spend more here and less over there. We call these New Year's resolutions, simply because we resolved to do them for this year. When you spend time with people, the first thing that you learn from them is that they do not always know what they want. I found that people are often susceptible to their own moods, and are prone to changing them halfway through whatever it is that they decided to throw themselves into.
Perhaps it is the side effect of humanity's nature; our natural desire to rebel against all forms of authority, even if it were ourselves that placed these restrictions upon ourselves in the form of such a resolution. Why do we bother trying, we should stop and ask ourselves this very question often. More often than not, we become so accustomed to going about our daily lives without bothering to try and understand the meaning behind most of what we do. We are merely content to go about it, or give up after trying a few times. According to everyone in my country, the Christmas season began around three months ago, when September rolled around. Which is rather silly, considering that having a Ber at the end of the month is as significant as having a day of the week end with the letters "d", "a" and "y". Means nothing in particular, and yet people choose to give it some sort of significance.
Considering it's late, and most people have probably already purchased plenty of gifts for everyone. I decided to make public some material things that I would like to obtain while I am still alive, and the reasons for wanting them. Keep in mind that these are in no way reflective of what I really think about Christmas (I'm saving that for next week), but it's simply a way for me to jump on the materialistic bandwagon and accumulate more junk that I'll be leaving behind to any descendants that I may or may not have with a future wife that I may or may not find. Maybe you'll find it in your heart to buy me stuff. Maybe not. I'm just putting this out there for everyone to know! |
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The Writer. A fancy title that he granted himself to justify making a blog on whatever it is he thinks of. Archives
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