Wreckage

Maybe this isn't "breaking news" to the rest of the world, but I ran across this story at CNN.com tonight.  It wrecked me. Totally. 


The short story: 9 students (and potentially a 10th) have been indicted for allegedly participating in months of bullying and harassment which ended January 14, 2010, when Phoebe Prince (pictured above) hung herself in her apartment lobby.  She was 15.


Wrecked.


Look, the statistics on teen suicide have been well-documented, and I doubt many people would bother to argue that this kind of story is really all that surprising based on similar stories and even personal experience, but this is tragic.


Tragic because a group of adolescents for some reason targeted the new girl from Ireland because they could.  They decided amongst themselves that she was of inferior worth, and it seems took advantage of every opportunity to make her aware of their twisted perceptions.


Tragic because Phoebe believed the lie that her life held no value to anyone including herself.  The absolute conclusiveness of her action exhibits a soul-deep conviction that the uncertainty of afterlife must be a far better perdition than yet another day at school. Nobody managed to convince her otherwise over the course of her 15 short years.


Tragic because "The bullying of Prince was common knowledge to most of the student body and to certain faculty, staff and administrators" according to Massachusetts Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth D. Scheibel.  Most of the student body?  Well, kids will be kids won't they?  Oh wait, faculty, staff and administrators?  Adults?  Yep, kids will be kids, but it's beyond obvious that adults in authority be able to at minimum, intervene and investigate details behind what MOST everyone knows is going on.


Tragic because 9 sets of parents had no idea what their kids were up to during the day.  As much as I want to be angry about this, it surfaces a grim realization of how little I know of my own children's behavior and activity for at least 1/3rd of most days.  My assumption is, like myself, these parents wanted to believe their children would never treat a human being this way.  They still may not believe their children did.


Tragic because Phoebe Prince is dead.


Heartbreaking situations like this happen every single day, I know.  When I randomly browse my various media outlets of the day, I don't gravitate toward this type of story because I love tragedy, or because I identify with being harassed and bullied, though I do. I gravitate toward stories of tragedy based on the depravity of the human condition because I feel compelled to never, ever forget what I am capable of, and more importantly, what I feel is my duty to seek out such people and offer up even a little of my being to show compassion and love.


I fail at this daily, yet my faith obliges me, second only to my worship of God, to attempt anew each morning my commitment to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.  No turning back, no turning back.

Lows & Highs

Ooo-wee! The last 24 hours have made for some interesting interweb-ery. What with all of the talk of sweeping healthcare reform, you'd think everyone forgot they had literally billions tens of dollars riding on NCAA gambling.  Its not so much the foolish hysterics (anywhere from "The day America died", to "Finally, equality and justice for all Americans (wait, what??).  Honestly, I'm rubbed a little raw with all the verbal sparring, and the topic is a blog post for another day.  I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing yet, but I suspect I fall somewheres about in the middle.  Sadly, today I am equal parts mildly embarrassed to call myself an American and a Christian.  That's the low.


Anyhow, I am somewhat more than mildly embarrassed to call myself big-bonededed obese.  Really, I'd love to quibble about the technical definition of obesity, as I've managed to find a wide range of descriptions which I assume are intended to fit a wide range of audiences.


I'm "thick", so you MUST be talking about somebody else.


My motto for the moment is "What's true?", which is an attempt to only deal with the heart of matters, and no longer respond based on emotions or illusions presented by myself or others.


Truth is, you fat bruh...


Yeah, so I'm chubby.  But, I'm on a mission as of a couple months ago.  I've been exercising like mad on a regular basis.  The intent is not so much to lose weight, but to feel better, seeing as I was getting tired or being.... well, tired.


You?  Exercise?  Please, you won't even "run" water .


The phenomenon of having a tired body but actually feeling good, is a brand-new experience for me, and I'm thinking it might be a pretty cool thing.  Time to  work into a sound body to match this oh-so-beautiful mind.  True high indeed.


Nice job "figuring out" exercise is good for you before anyone else stumbles upon that high-level wisdom.  Way to be cutting edge.  Hi-five...

Dis An' Dat

Now that I've finally realized I don't have to always be saying super smart stuff all the time, I want to start sharing some of the tasty web-nuggets I run across everyday. Two reasons:

1: Obviously, there's tons of stuff out here in cyber-land. Some of it is legitimate garbage, and some is just plain legit. By trying to maintain a regular post of cool bits, I kinda force myself to purposefully find the goods.

2: You get to see all the cool stuff I find. Duh.

It's gonna be a mix of stuff I like: music, theology, (very little) politics, stuff my friends are up to, and humor. Enjoy.

- For those of you who, like me, grew up head-bobbin to A Tribe Called Quest, and were heartbroken when they broke up, check out a pretty cool interview with Phife Dawg from OkayPlayer.com. He really cuts open a vein. Also, keep an eye out for "The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest" - a documentary by Michael Rapaport, and Phife's new album set to drop some time in late summer.