bright sunshiny day...

Waking up in Castlewellan Castle on Sunday morning (looking out the window at the breathtaking sunshine on the Mournes) was followed by great teaching on grace, good craic and a lovely drive back to Belfast. I crashed a sunny & chilled BBQ in the afternoon (complete with badminton and my fabulous wee nephew!).

Then I got a chance to hear the legendary journalist John Pilger being interviewed by William Crawley in downtown Belfast. Very interesting discussions - I seriously could have sat and listened to him all day.... just an incredible amount of experience and understanding of the historical/political dynamics in different parts of the world (obviously from his perspective, but is a very interesting one!) He’s deeply cynical about a lot of things, including the future of independent journalism, Obama, possibility of resolution of Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the UN in its current form etc. He was also very critical of British and US foreign policy, while being optimistic about developments in South America. He said he was most proud (in a humble way I think) of keeping going over his long career, and also having the chance to give a voice to people who needed one. Very inspiring guy. One quote of his (not from last night, although he did say this indirectly):
“It is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers without understanding the hidden agendas of the message and myths that surround it.”

Followed up by spontaneous chat over good coffee.... you could say it was the perfect day.... And the sun is STILL shining :)

laughter and forgetting

Just finished an interesting book that has so many quotes that I want to try and get my head around. Milan Kundera's The Book of Laughter and Forgetting sounds lovely and rosy... but most of it is anything but. I've been thinking about this quote...

“Graphomania (a mania for writing books) inevitably takes on epidemic proportions when a society develops to the point of creating three basic conditions:
(1) An elevated level of general well-being, which allows people to devote themselves to useless activities;
(2) A high degree of social atomization and, as a consequence, a general isolation of individuals;
(3) The absence of dramatic social changes in the nation’s internal life....
But by a backlash, the effect affects the cause. General isolation breeds graphomania, and generalized graphomania in turn intensifies and worsens isolation. The invention of printing formerly enabled people to understand one another. In the era of universal graphomania, the writing of books has an opposite meaning: everyone surrounded by his own words as by a wall of mirrors, which allows no voice to filter through from outside.” P127

Could you substitute the writing books with writing blogs?? Useless activities? Isolation? Wall of mirrors?

Although it is talking about life in communist Prague, reading the following cynical quotes I couldn’t help thinking about the conversations in Irish/UK politics at the minute about the abuse and expenses scandals...

“...like all political parties, like all peoples, like mankind...they shout that they want to shape a better future, but it’s not true. The future is only an indifferent void no one cares about, but the past is filled with life and its countenance is irritating, repellent, wounding, to the point that we want to destroy or repaint it. We want to be masters of the future only for the power to change the past.” P30
“The struggle of a man again power is the struggle of the memory against forgetting.” P4

Anyway, not sure if I’m recommending the book (as slightly disturbing) but definitely thought-provoking.

africa is a continent

Well, the US election drama, along with my constant need to be up-to-date with the latest political twist, is over and my life is returning to normal. It’s great. This video made me laugh though.


I’m sure there is probably a withdrawal feeling, although sad if in reality people put all their hope/trust in a person or political cause. I think the most amusing thing after the election was reading facebook statuses… which ranged from despair and resignation to overstated elation among my friends. I’m not going to wade into who I thought was best candidate, but with the latest information I’m glad Palin is nowhere near the white house: She didn’t know Africa was a continent?? Honestly, no comment. Obama’s win does feel historic and I have to admit I was moved to tears in the wee hours of Wednesday morning (although, I’ll usually cry if I see someone else crying so with Jesse Jackson etc, it was inevitable!).

Anyway, bring on change… even if the world’s not quite sure what that’s going to look like…

confession

I’ve been told confession is good for the soul, so here goes: I have election fever. I’m just a LITTLE bit hooked on what’s going on in the US presidential election. I just find it all so interesting... it’s just the drama of it and every day has a new twist that is torn to shreds with the pontificating analysis and over-analysis by the political blogosphere and media. For example, I stayed up to watch 3 out of last 4 debates (which is something I probably shouldn’t admit to). I’d like to say it was all worth it, but I guess I just wanted to watch the debates in real time, without the media spin the day after. Sad, I know. It’s kind of like being addicted to the west wing except this is the real deal. But sometimes, I think it might as well be a TV series to me for all the impact it actually has on my life... and the sooner it’s over, the better it will be for my dissertation (and general sanity).
Although, I was in the library for 8 hours today. That might be a record for the semester so far and there must be many more days like it as pay back for time spent reading political blogs... It feels like history in the making though... (yada yada - excuses, excuses....)

Too bad that NI politics does nothing to inspire me at the minute... probably should pay a bit more attention to what’s going on here these days besides the policing and justice who-ha/standoff. Guess we’ve had our fair share of drama and history-in-the-making over the years.
Ok, confession over. In the meantime, any suggestions for how to treat election fever are welcome!

act 1 ends (sort of)

Finally. And yet it's really just the beginning. Wisely or unwisely, I stayed up to watch the speeches last night live - it felt kind of an historic moment which would not quite the same the next morning - (like watching football highlights a day later...) The consensus? First of all, I thought McCain speech seemed pretty dull and he just grinned funnily after saying serious sentences in a soft voice - a bit unnerving actually - claiming that his change (not Obama's) was change to believe in. I still haven't figured out his strategy about whether he's going to distance himself completely from Bush or not and how it will affect his support. I know it wasn't that significant a day for him, but I didn't think he portrayed himself as 'a leader to believe in' as it said behind him. But, for some reason, I still think he could win.

Clinton's speech was hotly anticipated (and hadn't been leaked before it like the other two) - and as one commentator said, she's moving through the stages of grief-- between denial (that it's actually over) to bargaining (for vp maybe?). No concession yet - so much for unity. At times it seemed like she thought she had actually still won. Obama's speech - more of the same soaring rhetoric on a historically important day (even if not a lot of 'meat' on the bones of his policies/calls for change) and seemed far more inspiring after watching McCain earlier - but is it just rhetoric? All in all, an interesting night which the pundits will tease out as the rest of the week unfolds (and as they waiting for Clinton's next move).

I have no idea why I'm following this race so closely - but given the amount of coverage in the media here, I'm probably not the only one.

politics and peace

For some reason, I'm fascinated with the US elections at the minute. I'm not really sure why... I just find it so interesting... the issues, the personalities, the debates, the late night vote counts, the newspapers' analysis etc. Just to the get in the politics mood, I've watched loads of West Wing on my week off.. maybe a little too much... I feel like I still have Aaron Sorkin's quick dialogue bouncing around my head and feel as if I should be walking through corridors somewhere while discussing how to resolve the tragedy that's unfolding in Kenya. I've liked some of Obama's speeches this week... maybe it's cause i've been thinking about hope recently and he seems to talk about it all the time. Yesterday in his victory in SC he said, "While we breathe, we will hope..."

Talking about a different hope, CH Spurgeon said that "Hope itself is like a star... only to be discovered in the night of adversity."

*****
I've also been thinking about contentment today. I'm starting a new semester tomorrow and I do have a peace that I'm still in the right place... even if I'm sometimes still restless for something else, something more...
Francis Schaeffer said "When I am not contented, it's because I am not letting God be God, or I have ceased to be thankful."
On the other hand, Max Lucado states that "Unhappiness on earth cultivates a hunger for heaven. By gracing us with a deep dissatisfaction, God holds our attention..."

I'm not sure which of those two perspectives I'm thinking today... Maybe both: I need to let God be God, but continue to thirst too for the deeper, the higher...

So, back to Spurgeon, (who said that contentment is one of the flowers of heaven...) my prayer for the start of a new term is this:
"May there come over [my] spirit a deep calm as when Christ hushed both winds and waves. May [I] feel not only resignation to your will but delight in it."

elections and easter...

nigerian elections start tomorrow. praying for peace.

2 things i've been thinking about over easter...

'the death and resurrection of Jesus are precious not because they turn my life into a string of successes but because they keep me from collapsing under my string of failures'

'if we could keep in view the risen Christ as he really is, our bottomless appetite for beauty & greatness & wonder would find satisfaction and our lives would be unending worship and joyful obedience' (j piper)

election time

so it's election time tomorrow...still trying to figure out who has my vote if i'm honest. will be interesting to see what the week holds...will it be a step forward? i hope so.

in the midst of it all, one verse that the EA website have been reflecting on is this:
"the first thing i want you to do is pray. pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. this is the way our Saviour God wants us to live." 1 tim 2:1-3 (the message)

there's another election in april that's been on my mind the last few months and may prove to be more significant. nigeria. if all goes smoothly, it will be the first time one elected leader will succeed another.

but i can't vote in that election.. and can vote here tomorrow. i mentioned a wee while ago i got to meet a few politicians and ended up our chartered society of physio magazine...proposing a different kind of manifesto.
(i'm third from left along with some uup, alliance, sdlp and sf reps). it helped to hear them talk about their policies on health which is something i'm interested in. remains to be seen if it swayed my vote...

politics of health...

so, i was at a very interesting meeting today organised by the chambre public affairs with a health spokesperson from all but one of the main political parties in northern ireland. it was really to talk about what their priorities in relation to health would be if there actually is a restored assembly after the march elections and also to give us (from various organisations) the opportunity to ask questions...
i was there with the csp representing all those physio students who know that there's a huge issue of physio graduate unemployment at a junior physio level all over the uk...
i asked my question (emphasising that it costs the NI taxpayer £35,000 to train me and that 7/10 physio graduates from UUJ last yr are still without a job..) "can i have a commitment that you will use whatever influence you have both now and in a restored assembly to resolve this issue of graduate unemployment as a matter of urgency... etc..."
to be honest, their answers were all so vague which is probably down to the fact that they are politicans and that they are answering/making commitments hypothetically as they're not actually in a running government at present! so while they agreed that it was an important issue, i'm not sure they will have an opportunity to do anything about it. the health minister in a new government will definitely have their hands full (see this article) so not sure they will care too much about the issue i wanted addressed. however, it definitely made me think that it's these kind of issues that we need the assembly for and the sooner the better. it'll be interesting to see what the next few weeks brings in relation to manifestos and whether there's a chance of anything going ahead...(maybe get some discussion going on the whole election issue here). at least today they were talking about something they could all agree on for once: the priority that healthcare should have in our society.