3 or 4 blogs for the price of 1!!

Tonight, watching the Republican National Convention, there was a section dedicated to the familes of victims of 9/11. One women talked about her husband who died that day at the hands of the terrorists, and also mentioned that she was now giving her son to her country to fight in the War against Iraq. This got me thinking. That women said that she was willing to lend her son to her country, knowing full well that there is a chance that her son will not return to her. In essense , she has thought it would be tragic, but worth it for her son do die for her country.

This got me thinking about one of the major differences between Canada and the United States. There are very few of us north of the border that are willing to die for our country. Why is that? There are probably many reasons why people will sign up for military service in the U.S., but not here, so I will list a few ideas:

1. In the U.S. there are far greater incentives to join the military. Many of them will have school fully paid for, and in a country where Post-secondary education is so expensive, this must be a very attractive offer. Here, there are not the same bonuses for joining war.

2. In the U.S., the military is avery noble and honourable service. The military is looked upon as the countries heros. In Canada, the military is mostly regarded as a joke, will little more than water guns, and out-of-date equipment.

3. The reason I believe to be the biggest however, is that there is great pride in the U.S. that is not evident in Canada. Some people may say there is great Canadian pride, but besides rallying around our beloved hockey team, I see little evidence of it. The U.S. believes that it has something great to offer the world, democracy. I don't think that Canada here in Canada we want to be known as democratic. I don't think we want to be known as much, besides the occasional inspiring beer comercial and hockey. It seems that these are the only things we can rally around. Is beer and hockey worth dying for?? Some may joke and say yes, but I would like to see them do the same with a gn pointed to their head. But for many americans, they absolutly believe that democracy is worth dying for.

For me, I don't know if I would die for democracy. Is it a noble enough cause to die for. I think it would be easier for me to consider dying to end some sort of tyranny (like Hitler, Stalin, or even Saddam). Is dying to stop this kind of tyranny just the reeverse of dying to further the cause of democracy? I'm not sure.

I know that there is one thing worth dying for though. I absolutely agree with the apostle Paul in saying, "To live is Christ and to die is gain". There is nothing that is even close to being as important as the cause of Christ. You can fight to end the reign of Hitler, and save many lives here on earth, but if they are still dead spiritually, in the whole scheme of things how much has been gained? I'm sure that I would rather die a martyr for Christ in some village where they have never heard the gospel, than to die ending the reign of a dictator. Both deaths are honourable, there is no question there, but saving a person's eternal soul is far more important than saving someones temporary life on this earth.

Well, I probably could have written about 3-4 separate blogs about the stuff I covered in this one, but one thing just seem to lead to another.

Let me know what you think on any of these issues...

kidcube??

so we just invested in a kidcube (aka nintendo gamecube). vanessa really wanted it, and that was the major factor in the purchase. but i also purchased it for these reasons:

1. i figured it would give us something to do as a couple. she doesnt really enjoy many xbox games, and gamecube has a lot of multiplayer games that we can play together. its more social that just sitting and watching tv!

2. some of the mario-type games are pretty fun. my dear friend steve got a degree at strickland university in mario tennis. we loved playing that for the 64, and so there are many mario type games that are just as fun for the cube, with better graphics

3. it was only 40 bucks. there is a deal at eb games where if you trade in 5 xbox, or ps2 games, you get 100 bucks off the system. so i traded in 4 games i never play anymore, and fifa 2003. the only reason i parted with fifa 2003 is because fifa 2005 is coming out in sept, so i now i have an excuse to get it!

4. there are a few star wars games that only came out for the kidcube, so now i can play them

all in all im happy for those reasons, plus the main reason, that vanessa is happy :)

Christians and politics

heres a touchy one for sure. how should a Christian vote?? is there one right why? (no pun intended). again, i am not going to claim to have a ultimate answer, but here are some thoughts...

why do Christians vote right-wing (ie conservative or republican). many would vote this way because of their stance on social issues, like gay marraige, and abortion, etc. we clearly know that God does not want gay marriage and abortion, so they vote for these parties who will hopefully stop them from happening.

why do some Christians vote left wing? probably because they would tend to take care of the poor better, single mothers, and all these other groups that need help. a left wing party is way more likely to support these people, the same people that Jesus sought to help when he was on the earth.

then there are other, non-Christian reasons for voting a certain way...ie the specific candidate in your riding, whether you value less taxes or more programs, etc.

but based on the 'Christian' reasons, i will tell you why i am a crusty old right-wing type of dude. i believe that it is more important for the government to fight agiants abortion and gay marriage, etc, than it is for them to spend more money on programs. i am not saying that the programs are bad... but when i have to choose between the two, i value the social issues more than the programs. my reasoning is this... i think that taking care of the poor, the single mothers, etc is something more for the church to do than the government. (church being churches, Christian organizations, and individual Christians). i know that in a lot of cases this is not happening, so there is a place for govt. programs. but also keep in mind, even the conservatives have programs. not as many, but they still have programs.

another thing is that left wing parties not only do not try to stop abortion, and gay marriage, but they advocate them. so not only are they not doing something that i want them to, but they are doing exactly what i dont want them to. at least with the whole programs thing, right-wing parties do make an effort to help, but just dont do as much as lefties.

now that i have rambled on (get used to it, i just ramble, i am not looking for a published work here, but just to say a few things of the top of my head about issues, some big, some small), when it all comes down to it, i dont think that there is any one way that a Christian should absolutely vote. as long as they are voting according to their conscience, and what they beleive, go for it. although i do beleive that we will be held accountable before God for everything, so dont just go out and vote for the marijuana party or anything....

canada in athens

why does canada suck at the olympics?? is it because of funding? probably has a lot to do with it. if athletes were given more money though, would that take away from the innocence of the non-professional idea of the whole thing? but then again, our beloved 2002 olympic gold hockey team were all professionals. i dont know the official rule about professionals in the olympics, maybe i should find out. or maybe someone reading knows the answer and could let me know. obviously there are no professionals in certain competitions. like shot put. is there a professional tour going from city to city for shot put? like 50,000 people fill the skydome and watch a shot put compitition with the grand prize 1,000,000? i dont think so. but if athletes, say, were paid by the government, say like 40,000 per year to do their event, so they dont have to work at the grocery store in addition to their training, that would definatly help. but then they would be paid solely to train for their events, and therefore it would be their profession, thereby making them professionals. and alas we are back at the begining of the loop. so i guess it is not necessarily lack of funding that hurts our athletes. somebody please tell me... why do we stink?