The Phenomenologist

The marketplace may be one of the most effective places to minister for Jesus Christ today. As believers work in their regular businesses, jobs, or professions, they can have a huge practical and spiritual influence on their communities and on society as a whole.

The report argues that we seek educational excellence to maintain economic competitiveness. However, higher education's goals transcend solely economic purposes. Of course we want students who live lives of economic productivity. But we also want to imbue students with a deep sense of engagement, commitment, and efficacy as citizens in a democracy. We want them to have a strong sense of social responsibility, personal meaning, and a continuing capacity for adaptation and new learning. That broader perspective of what it means to be an educated American has helped fuel our country's productivity and democratic political system.

Even if we can agree on that broader perspective, common educational goals like "critical thinking" or "preparing students to function as citizens in a democracy" are often invoked for quite different achievements. No single set of measures can do justice to all those variations.

[...] I appeal to educators and administrators to transform their institutions into laboratories where assessment and action are closely connected. Transparency without innovative excellence is ultimately opaque. America will remain competitive by teaching our students that a meaningful life is about more than competing.

Well I saw a neat show with Bill Moyers and a remarkable Buddhist nun tonight talking about working against your own happiness. Made me think of my love of cokes. Because on the surface there is no rational reason to have the relationship I have with them. They cause by way of the caffiene(so I've been told) my heart palpitations which trigger irregular rythmns, they are too sweet and fatten me up, the enamel of my teeth both discolors and is removed much like the product left in a burnt pan overnight erodes the goo, they have carbonation which does something nasty to the tummy,and they somehow affect potassium. And I'm sure so much more...and yet. Well, as the program so fully illuminated, I seek my false happiness at the door of the soda machine, finding nothing but gastric distress and false joy. Way to go ..I'd "like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony". But doing it requires something I'm not demonstrating. Such is my very human life. I'll always love the product and I'm sure they know it.

I feel...

I think of the oak beams in the ceiling of College Hall at New College, Oxford. Last century, when the beams needed replacing, carpenters used oak trees that had been planted in 1386 when the dining hall was first built. The 14th-century builder had planted the trees in anticipation of the time, hundreds of years in the future, when the beams would need replacing. Did the carpenters plant new trees to replace the beams again a few hundred years from now? [...]

I had never thought of the clock as a question. It was more of an answer, although I wasn't sure to what. I talked more, about the shrinking future, about the oak trees. "Oh, I see," Salk said. "You want to preserve something of yourself, just as I am preserving something of myself by having this conversation with you." I remembered this a few weeks later, when he died. "Be sure you think carefully about exactly what you want to preserve," he said.

OK, Jonas, OK, people of the future, here is a part of me that I want to preserve, and maybe the clock is my way of explaining it to you: I cannot imagine the future, but I care about it. I know I am a part of a story that starts long before I can remember and continues long beyond when anyone will remember me. I sense that I am alive at a time of important change, and I feel a responsibility to make sure that the change comes out well. I plant my acorns knowing that I will never live to harvest the oaks.

Talking about my cancer experience was therapeutic. It was, and still is, an important form of support for me. I now know that millions of others living with cancer feel the same. We can help people get the support they need by sharing our stories. When people share what they’ve lived and learned – about dealing with the aftereffects of treatment, telling your kids and managing pain and depression – they help give others the emotional and practical support. Over the past year, one powerful phrase – LIVESTRONG – embodied the spirit of people who have been affected by cancer. One simple gesture – wearing the yellow wristband - became a compelling symbol of strength and hope. Suddenly talking about cancer became okay. Sharing your cancer experience with strangers became commonplace. Now, with more than 50 million people wearing hope on their wrists, I realize that these shared stories are a truly powerful weapon in the battle against cancer. Our power in the fight against cancer lies in our ability to unite through common experiences and shared hope. When we share our stories, we learn that we are not alone in the fight. When we share our stories, our experiences take on a deeper meaning; we channel energy, knowledge, inspiration and strength to the millions of people living with cancer.

-- LiveStrong.org, Lance Armstrong's Story

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In a society that is increasingly touch-phobic, many of us aren't getting our Recommended Daily Allowance of welcomed touch. For many people, the only options for getting their touch needs met consist of paying for a massage, having a drunken hookup or getting a pat-down from airport security. Cuddle Parties seek to change that in a way that's conscious, healthy and nutritious.