live love.

the district of columbia is a place every american needs to visit.
it was so surreal to be there.
to be 250 feet from the president of the united states as he gives his memorial day speech in the amphitheater next to the tomb of the unknown soldier in the arlington cemetery.
to stand in the lincoln memorial.
the jefferson.
the washington.
the capital building.
the white house.
the pentagon.
the vietnam memorial.
the holocaust museum.
the tomb of the unknown soldier.
the statue of iwo jima.
there is so much too soak up, to be moved by.
to see truly how much God has done for this country.
it is so surreal to be surrounded by so many monuments and memorials.
to look all around you and be surrounded by history.
by old buildings. beautiful old buildings.
not run down, but absolutely beautiful.
in the jefferson memorial there is a quote on the very top that wraps around the whole thing. it jumped out at me when i read it. i couldn’t stop reading it.
this is what it said:
“i swear upon the altar of God, eternal hostility to every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
when you couple that quote with the other quotes in the memorial, all of which declared God the giver of freedom, the maker of all, the One who made us all equal, you just can’t help but be thankful and be in awe.
to see our country now, so far from God, so far from her roots of not even christianity or religion per se but just from the roots that there is a God, and that that God has made us to be free, free to think.
that freedom to choose. to choose our actions. to choose our faith. to choose how we use our mind.
we have gone so away from that, we refuse to think and rather believe whatever we are told. we refuse to teach to think and rather teach what we want to be learned.

i saw the endlessness of death.
in arlington cemetery there are tombs as far as one can see.
it never seems to end.
so many deaths for my freedom. your freedom.
so many have died so that you and i can have the freedom to say we don’t like war.
so we can say we don’t like this politician.
so we can complain about the government.
so we can criticize those dying for our freedom to say what they are doing is pointless.
if they never die, you and i never get to say any of those things.
never get to voice opinions.
to see the statue of iwo jima.
to realize what freedom costs.
to get an idea of how brave those men were.
how willing they were to serve their country and defend it.
to fight and die for the freedom of others.
to be so unselfish to put yourself in the most vulnerable of positions to raise our nations flag and raise up the call of freedom.
had a marine corps recruiter been standing by me while i was there at the iwo jima memorial i would have signed up without thinking twice about it.
it is such a moving thing to see.
the last two mornings of the trip, i got up and 5 in the morning and took a jog with pastor matt to see the memorial again.(also to help keep in shape, it was about a mile from our hotel. and we of course jogged back straight to a starbucks about a block away from the hotel before heading back to shower and get ready for the day) and every time i went back, it was just as moving and this part of me just wanted to join up then and there and serve and give something back.
after going to the holocaust museum i even more desired justice.
feelings of sorrow and sadness quickly changed to that of anger.
anger at injustice. at people being wronged.
a group of people being tortured and killed because of their race.
it made me so mad to read how those who had disabilities both physically or mentally would be killed for being “inferior.”
that people would dare see another human being as inferior.
the contrast from God made us all to be equal and free to killing everyone who was not white skinned, blond haired, and blue eyed is ridiculous.
the freedom to live was defended by our soldiers.

seeing so many military personnel around the city was inspiring.
seeing thousands of vietnam vets riding their bikes down he street.
seeing people lined up on both sides yelling thank yous and giving them high fives.
seeing the city embrace those who served and sacrificed and fought for them.
seeing the excitedness of both veterans and spectators.

almost everyone would say that of all people, those who have died for a cause as great of freedom and of defending our country would have died a worthy death.
would have lived a meaningful life.
yet some who died for such a great cause cold very possibly have wasted their life.
as great as the call of freedom is, the call of God is greater and greatest.
if someone can die for their country and still truly have wasted their life i begin to wonder if i am wasting my life.
am i living a life fully honoring and pleasing to my Savior and Maker.
unless i am, i am wasting my life.
that breaks me. that humbles me.

my thoughts are a bit random. a bit out of order.
i wish i could have written at the end of each day.
thoughts and feelings would have been more fresh, more precise, more meaningful.
i can’t even recall which day i went where.
all my days are blurred together into a feeling of 2 or 3 days and not the week i was there.
thanks for reading the ramblings of a 17 yr old kid still figuring stuff out and still learning. i never want to come across like i got it figured out. i am no one near that.
–
live love.
live doulos.

This entry was posted Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 3:39 pm and is filed under blog, features, life, thoughts. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.