According to the extremely scientific and empirical geek test, I'm a plain old regular geek. On their scale of geekiness, I rate 23.86588 on a scale of 100, I think. I'd be curious to hear how the rest of y'all rank.
Elsewhere on the "Information SuperHighway," Heidi Schlumpf has written an interesting article for Sojourners about what it's like being progressive and pro-life, a demographic that probably deserves "endangered species" status.
After driving down 28th Street in Grand Rapids this weekend, I saw hundreds of things that could be included in James Howard Kunstler's "Eyesore of the Month," which, by the way, has been updated for June with a glance at the new Seattle Public Library. I wonder if he knows about 28th Street?
On my best and most virtuous days, I think I can truthfully state that I am a pacifist. On Memorial Day (or Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day), I'm not sure what to think. How does one properly commemorate war when one believes that war is immoral? I think that one of primary functions of these holidays is for those who didn't fight to express gratitude to those who did. But can a pacifist really be grateful for the actions of soldiers that caused other human beings to die?
All I know is that I am grateful, even if I can't square it away with my intellectual and ethical pretensions.
Perhaps the real function of these days is to tap into the collective memory of the horrors of war, and work, pray, and hope that it doesn't happen again. I hope that's not just wishful thinking, considering how war operates on a rather sickening and morbid inertia, constantly rolling across the globe, begetting other wars, violence, poverty and destruction. What is the outside force that can stop the motions of war?
Stanley Hauerwas would say that the task falls to the Church. Read his "Pacifist's response to September 11" here.
Also, Wendell Berry on "The Failure of War."
Elsewhere on the "Information SuperHighway," Heidi Schlumpf has written an interesting article for Sojourners about what it's like being progressive and pro-life, a demographic that probably deserves "endangered species" status.
After driving down 28th Street in Grand Rapids this weekend, I saw hundreds of things that could be included in James Howard Kunstler's "Eyesore of the Month," which, by the way, has been updated for June with a glance at the new Seattle Public Library. I wonder if he knows about 28th Street?
On my best and most virtuous days, I think I can truthfully state that I am a pacifist. On Memorial Day (or Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day), I'm not sure what to think. How does one properly commemorate war when one believes that war is immoral? I think that one of primary functions of these holidays is for those who didn't fight to express gratitude to those who did. But can a pacifist really be grateful for the actions of soldiers that caused other human beings to die?
All I know is that I am grateful, even if I can't square it away with my intellectual and ethical pretensions.
Perhaps the real function of these days is to tap into the collective memory of the horrors of war, and work, pray, and hope that it doesn't happen again. I hope that's not just wishful thinking, considering how war operates on a rather sickening and morbid inertia, constantly rolling across the globe, begetting other wars, violence, poverty and destruction. What is the outside force that can stop the motions of war?
Stanley Hauerwas would say that the task falls to the Church. Read his "Pacifist's response to September 11" here.
Also, Wendell Berry on "The Failure of War."