Torn

It's late (well 1:30 am is actually early...). My eyes are drifting and feeling very sleepy but I haven't blogged in a while and it's time for a spur of the moment (should only take 30 minutes tops right?).

Let's see, yesterday I did a presentation at my church about global poverty and global health with hopes of raising awareness for such causes. In my mind people need to be active about it. It often sounds very impossible to eradicate poverty but in my mind it doesn't mean it's not worth aspiring to attain it. Pessimistically, we may never even make a dent but optimistically, we can at least change the life of one person who could help the life of another and a chain reaction starts and in the end we find out we've actually made that "dent."

But that's just a side note, not really what I wanted to say. I wanted to talk about the word "torn." One issue of approaching global poverty is being torn over where to start first. How do I know where to start? What issues seem most important to me? It's really impossible to choose one or eliminate any. Education, health (epidemics, child health, maternal health), gender equality, environmental sustainability, global partnership including financial and political transparency, or nutrition. Torn? Very much so. It's impossible to decide what needs to be "fixed" first. However the associate priest at my church pointed out it's good to be torn. Good to be torn. Not that it's stressful, daunting, and can stop us from even doing anything, but it is very much good to be torn. It can be motivating, a powerful push to untangle the knot that makes us torn and confused of what our priorities (the real ones versus the quote-unquote ones) are.

And this feeling of being torn extends to everything, every situation, every conflict. On a day to day basis I'm torn about something. I have issues with letting go. I'm torn between the past that I concretely understand and a future where that sameness I'm striving for doesn't exist simply because it can't. It sounds foolish, being torn between staying put and moving on. But things aren't always "fair" and that's okay, it's okay. Where was a going with this....it's "late" and I honestly don't remember now. But it's a relief to be torn and it's a relief to know that things just happen, for what reason I don't always know, or have to know...oh jeez, that's whole blob of shtuff to be torn about. What a strong finish E.Chow...G'night.

Happy [Early] Mother's Day

I know! Two blog posts in one day? Must mean I'm definitely not doing anywork..teehee. But I really wanted to write about this now and since it's a different topic from my post of some minutes ago it deserves a separate entry.

Last night I watched a video by The Jubilee Project, a group headed by three people who make beautiful videos for amazing causes. I think they're very inspiring and everyone should be informed about the causes they stand for. Their latest video is in honor of Mother's Day (which is tomorrow!). There's a rising campaign for universal maternal health (Millenium Development Goal 5). Too many women die each day from complications in pregnancy, of which could have easily been prevented had there been a proper medical facility nearby, reasonable transportation, clean sanitation, and so many other reasons that seem oh-so-basic to us and others living in developed nations. The Jubilee Project (along with many other notable sponsors) created a video in which people were asked what the world would be like without moms. It included some fantastic stories and reminded me how lucky I am to have my mom (and my dad!) in my life. The video even included one of my role models, Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, a fantastic organization dedicated to supplying services to alleviate disease (HIV/AIDs being one of their core focuses) and poverty.

But enough talk from me, just watch the video. And share it with your friends and family!


And learn more about the issues of universal maternal health from Every Mother Counts, a great organization that's part of the movement.

Senseless Thoughts

Ah, my first academic yea in college is ending. I, of course, want to write a reflection within the next week or two, but here's a silly, senseless one to start. Enjoy =]

College Baby: Check! Just need to record some more "firsts"
College Toddler: Agh, jumpstarts in two weeks!
College Child: And life is amazing! (more so than I already thought...or is it "think"?)
College Tween: So excited but I don't even want to think about it...these days won't ever come [to an end], right?
College Teen: Agh, stressful but oh-so-thrilling!!

Where is the adult? Silly goose, no one ever grows up in college...

(Get it? Sí? ^_^)

Things that make me angry...

I hate being angry and I should be studying, but the news has been quite a bully lately. Here's some examples.

As much as if is good news that one of the world's most vicious terrorists is finally gone, I'm not one to celebrate death (in general) and I'm certainly not going to belief the death of one person will change much of anything in the name of terrorism....well, in the name of anything really.

I am absolutely appalled.


And this just really upset me.

Finally, what happened to Japan and Libya and Egypt? Or Haiti? And I'm sure there's many more unheard stories out there, but unfortunately, the happenings of the royal family were more important. The couple has my best wishes, but imagine if that money was spent on something else. Like evolving the world to adapt to this startling news.