Study: Unhappy people watch more TV

not that this is a huge surprise, but a study came out that directly correlates TV watching with unhappiness. read it here. i still think when i have kids that i don't really even want a TV in the house at all.

and here's some excerpts:

"An extensive new research study has found that unhappy people watch more TV while those consider themselves happy spend more time reading and socializing.

The University of Maryland analyzed 34 years of data collected from more than 45,000 participants and found that watching TV might make you feel good in the short term but is more likely to lead to overall unhappiness.

Concludes the study: "These points have parallels with addiction; since addictive activities produce momentary pleasure but long-term misery and regret. People most vulnerable to addiction tend to be socially or personally disadvantaged, with TV becoming an opiate."

oh, books.

just a fun little quote i came across today:

"books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled." - al mohler.

so mark them up!

The Man Watching

The Man Watching

Rainer Maria Rilke

I can tell by the way the trees beat, after

so many dull days, on my worried windowpanes

that a storm is coming,

and I hear the far-off fields say things

I can't bear without a friend,

I can't love without a sister

The storm, the shifter of shapes, drives on

across the woods and across time,

and the world looks as if it had no age:

the landscape like a line in the psalm book,

is seriousness and weight and eternity.

What we choose to fight is so tiny!

What fights us is so great!

If only we would let ourselves be dominated

as things do by some immense storm,

we would become strong too, and not need 

names.

When we win it's with small things,

and the triumph itself makes us small.

What is extraordinary and eternal

does not want to be bent by us.

I mean the Angel who appeared

to the wrestlers of the Old Testament:

when the wrestler's sinews

grew long like metal strings,

he felt them under his fingers

like chords of deep music.

Whoever was beaten by this Angel

(who often simply declined the fight)

went away proud and strengthened

and great from that harsh hand,

that kneaded him as if to change his shape.

Winning does not tempt that man.

This is how he grows: by being defeated,

decisively,

by constantly greater beings.

_______________________________

I think I like this poem so much because it is so encouraging.  I like the image that we are being shaped, being kneaded by this harsh hand to change our shape.  This is how we grow--we are constantly put in our place, decisively.

Homeless Survival Kit Distribution

The homeless survival kit distribution was Thursday afternoon, and tons of people showed up at Speaker's Circle.  There were men waiting for us starting at 1:30, and one man said that people were so grateful, talking about this for 2 weeks!  It was incredible how many people showed up as well was how much was donated by people at the Crossing.  It far exceeded any of my expectations.  Very humbling experience.

And check out this link to see the audio slideshow that was put up by the Missourian.

i sit and look out.

I Sit and Look Out
Walt Whitman

I sit and look out upon all the sorrows of the world, and upon all oppression and shame;

I hear secret convulsive sobs from young men, at anguish with themselves, remorseful after deeds done;

I see, in low life, the mother misused by her children, dying, neglected, gaunt, desperate;

I see the wife misused by her husband--I see the treacherous seducer of young women;

I mark the ranklings of jealousy and unrequited love, attempted to be hid--I see these sights on the earth;

I see the workings of battle, pestilence, tyranny--I see martyrs and prisoners;

I observe a famine at sea--I observe the sailors casting lots who shall be kill'd, to preserve the lives of the rest;

I observe the slights and degradations cast by arrogant persons upon laborers, the poor, and upon negroes, and the like;

All these--All the meanness and agony without end, I sitting, look out upon,

See, hear, and am silent.

the sense of the beautiful

"a man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul."

-- johann wolfgang von.