honors response 13

Okay so I feel like my posts all end up being the same thing week after week, so for my final post of this semester I will try and switch things up a bit.  So here goes...

For both of the books presented this past week, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven really caught my attention.  For one, it wasn't written by Wendell Berry.  Yes, I understand that there was one or two other books that were presented that weren't written by him, but this one was on a completely different spectrum than all the other books.  The six other books (I believe it was six but don't quote me on it) that were presented in class were all about white people and their farms or them working on farms.  But The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven was about Native Americans living on their reserve.  Sure there was some mention of farming, but it did not play that big of a role in the novel.

So why did our professors choose this book for us (or at least some of us) to read?

I'm sure that all the books that were presented all had a common theme about them that our professors were aiming for, but if I'm going to be honest, it was rather difficult for me to relate this particular book to the others.

This is what I took away from the book:

Everyone on the reserve was expected to fail.  This realization came to me when the presenters were talking about the kid who was amazing at basketball made a mistake while playing (his name and his mistake both escape me).  He was found in the back of someone's house, drunk out of his mind.  But what really shocked me was that everyone else on the reserve almost expected him to fail at basketball at some point.  So naturally, this was coming.  The same happens to those who decide to leave the reserve. They leave, try to survive, society wont accept them, and they end up back on the reserve.  This happens so often that the Native Americans have almost given up all hope of leaving the reserve and exploring the world outside of their own.

So now after I have typed this, I'm realizing that there may be a connection this book has with the others.  The mindset of the Native Americans is quite the opposite of some of the characters we have seen in the other books.  Take The Grapes of Wrath for instance.  That family does all that they can to survive as they move from their home.  They work together in order to be successful.  The Native Americans in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven initially have the drive to succeed, but quickly lose it as they realize the difficulties they have to go through.  However, one can argue that the Native Americans don't really have a choice.  They aren't accepted out in the "real world" (for lack of better words) because of their race so naturally they go back to the place where they belong and feel accepted: the reserve.  During these time periods of the books, it was much easier to be a white person attempting to survive in a new community of other white people.  But being a different race, the Native Americans were outsiders.  They almost didn't have a choice but to stay on the reserve.

All in all, I guess all the books did somewhat relate to each other, whether it be in agriculture or something else.  And maybe I'm totally missing something in The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven.  It was a bit of relief to have a novel that wasn't completely focused on a farm.

Next Semester

Okay, so I have no idea what to do for this service learning project.  I still don't completely understand what we need to be doing.  Throughout the whole class time we were talking about it, I was trying to think of a project that could pertain somewhat to my major, exercise science.  But I couldn't think of anything.  And maybe there isn't really anything with my major that I could do for this but I'm not completely sure because I still don't know 100% of what the goal of this project is.  Anyways, as we all know, Little Caesars and Dunkin' Donuts are two local businesses that throw out all of their leftover pizza or donuts in the dumpster, free for anyone who is willing to climb into a dumpster (which is most college students let's be honest).  I was thinking that maybe a project we could do is talk to those restaurants and see if they are willing to donate all of they're leftover food to charity.  Now I have no idea if this is what our professors are looking for, but that's all I have been able to think of at this point.  Hopefully I'll be able to think of other ideas once this whole project is explained a little more.

honors response 12

The book presentation about The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in class this past week got me thinking, again about the discussions we have had in class this semester.

One of the themes that the group had presented on what community vs. individualism.  What I took from it was that the family in this story was that each member put in their part in order to make sure that they, as a family, survive.  They stuck together as they were traveling from Oklahoma to California, through thick and through thin.

This made me think, what if we did this in our daily lives? In all aspects of our lives?

If we focus on our community, our brothers and sisters in Christ, then maybe, just maybe we could solve one of the many problems of this world that we have talked about in class.  I'm not saying that we could fully solve multiple issues or even just one, I don't think that that would be possible, however I do think that we could help it out a little.  In class we've been talking about how we can help change the world as individuals, but what can we do as a community to help the world?

One statement that was made during the presentation was don't let fear control you.  That hit me hard.  We are always so focused on ourselves and what we can do to change the world.  But then we get the over-consuming feeling that we are simply just one person, whatever we do as an individual will not change the world, unless you're Justin Bieber (which by the way, I saw him in concert this past Wednesday and what God is doing in his life is absolutely incredible).  It gets to the point where we just put aside taking action because we don't think that we can have and effect.  But if we ban together as a class, or even as a school, we could make some sort of a difference.

Our soccer team has a saying, "what we do, we do together".  Although we overuse that statement on the team, especially when it comes to our punish (when 100% it involves a ridiculous amount of fitness), it can really apply to us.  As Christians, God tells us not to do life alone.  We should come together as a community, as one, to make a difference.

honors response 11

Because I presented on the education factor of rootedness in my groups presentation, I decided that I would write this post staying in that realm.

Hannah's statement, "The bigger idea of education, from first to last, is the idea of a better place.  Not a better place where you are, because you want it to be better and have been to school and learned to make it better, but a better place somewhere else.  In order to move up, you have got to move on." (112) parallel's with Wirzba's writings in Living the Sabbath.  Wirzba writes about how education today encourages students to be self-centered in order to be successful.  Mattie especially was extremely self-centered in his education.  All he wanted to do was get as far away from Port William as possible.  

At first, Hannah seems disappointed that not one of her three children decided to take over the farm that her and Nathan lived on and raised them on.  But I don't think that she completely blames the education system, despite her statement above.  She says that she and Nathan decided to send her children to college because they themselves never got the chance to.  They were able to afford to send all three of their children to college so they did, giving them better and more opportunities in their lives.  

Personally, I think that it was amazing for Nathan and Hannah to do that for their children.  They could have not let any of their kids go to school, and force them to go into the family business of farming.  However, they gave them the choice.  Sure, it was unfortunate that none of them chose to farm, but they were given an opportunity to follow their dreams and to cultivate their special talents, whether it be teaching, agriculture, or technology.  Nathan and Hannah were extremely unselfish to give their children the freedom that they did.

Also, on a side note, I don't think that farming was what Mattie, Caleb, and Margret were particularly talented at.  I think that they went onto do what they were passionate and talented in, and I think that Hannah believes that as well.  Of course, the kids, especially Mattie and Caleb, were extremely selfish in the developing their talents and they didn't have the right intentions in their pursuit of their future.  But at the same time, I don't blame them for wanting to "get out" of Port William.  When I was in high school, and even now, I don't ever want to go back to Normal, Illinois again in my life.  Not because I never want to see my family again, but because I've lived there my whole life.  I want a change of scenery.  So I see where they are coming from.  But I do think that it is selfish of them to never see their parents or talk to them.  

The argument on whether or not Hannah's children were selfish or if the education system causes them to become selfish could go either way really.

honors response 10

I'm just going to start this post off being honest.  I did not like this book.  For starters, it was very hard for me to follow along with, and maybe that had a lot to do with the fact that I was reading it off of my computer.  However, I think a lot of it had to do with how much I disliked Andy.  To me, all it seemed like he did was look at the bad things in life.  He would always whine about how he didn't have a hand.  Maybe I'm being too harsh about it, but I was just annoyed for the entire time I was reading this book.

With all of that put aside, there was one particular section that I found quite interesting.  Both Bill Meikelberger and Isaac Troyer were farmers, but they lived totally different lives.

To start, Meikelberger had an extremely elegant lifestyle.  To sum it up, his house "was a brick ranch house with ten rooms and a garage, each room a page from House Beautiful" (61).  His farm consisted of a lot of land, a lot of machinery, and a lot of hired help.  He had three children,  one was a doctor, one in law school and one was married to a company executive, yet he is in debt and does not believe he ever will be.  As I will elaborate more on later in this post, I think that Meikelberger's situation is rather strange, however I think that it may not be as uncommon as one would think.

Isaac Troyer's farm is contrasting to that of Meikelberger.  He only lived on 80 acres of land.  He had a wife and five kids, and his parents live very near to them.  Yet, what really got me thinking was his interaction with Andy:

"How much land do you have, Isaac?"

"Eighty acres."

"Eighty acres.  Is that enough?"

"Enough for what?"

"To make a living."

"Well, we're living, aren't we?" 

Eighty acres is enough land to take care of nine people.  Yet Meikelberger's wife has to go into town to work everyday in order for the two of them to survive. 

Now this may have something to do with how the two men farm, however, I think that a lot of it has to do with their mindsets and their lifestyles.  

I think that Meikelberger is selfish.  He has such an incredible house, only for him and his wife, and they don't even use it.  He tells Andy that they usually go out to eat in town and not use their immaculate kitchen.  Yet Isaac, with significantly less land, and not as a nice of a house, and with more people to take care of, is surviving just fine.  Again, there is a lot that goes into the debt of Meikelberger, but I think that he is squandering what he has.  He can do so much good and influential things with his house and his land.

Here's where I am coming from on this whole topic.  I come from a family of 9.  Three of my younger siblings are adopted, and my parents have told us over and over that one of the reasons as to why they adopted was because we have the room in our 4 bedroom and 4 bathroom house.  I remember my senior year of high school, there were 3 beds in my room.  As much as I hated it, and thought that my house was way too small for all of us, it really wasn't.  My parents saw that they had the money and the space to help three little girls, so they did.  

The farms of Bill Meikelberger and Isaac Troyer really reminded me of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  Isaac used his land and worked on it to the best of his ability, therefore God is taking care of him and his family.  However, Meikelberger, sure he works on his farm, but it seems as if he was too worried about rebuilding his house and making it as fancy as possible and putting machines in and hiring other people to do his work for him, which is probably why he is in so much debt.

Relating this all back to Christians and the environment: I think that whatever God has given us, whether it be land, talents, extra money, extra space in our homes, we as Christians should use all that God has given to the best of our abilities.  

honors response 9

We all know the Sunday school acronym JOY.  Jesus, Others, Yourself.  That's the order we were told to put our priorities.  Jesus comes first, then everyone around us, then ourselves comes last.  When I was reading chapter six of For the Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma-Prediger, my mind kept coming back to this acronym.  Others.  Does that simply mean other people, or could it include it include all else that is around us?

Bouma-Prediger writes that virtues are what makes us who we are.  Defining virtue, he states, "In sum, a virtue is a state of praiseworthy character--with the attendant desires, attitudes, and emotions.  Formed by choices and habits over time, a virtue disposes us to act in certain excellent ways." (pg 140)  The fourteen ecological virtues Bouma-Prediger expounds are respect and receptivity, self-restraint and frugality, humility and honesty, wisdom and hope, patience and serenity, benevolence and love, and finally, justice and courage.  He speaks on the biblical stories, the theological themes, and finds ethical principles and moral duties on each of these fourteen virtues.  The two virtues that made me think of the JOY acronym was benevolence and love.

The common belief of humans having rule and authority over all of creation comes from Genesis 1:26 stating, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  But we are not the rulers of creation.  We are here to simply take care of it.  Psalms 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it", simply stating that all of creation is God's, not one thing is ours.

So how does benevolence and love fall into the whole idea of earthkeeping?  Well first of all, Bouma-Prediger defines benevolence as "the willingness to promote the well-being of another" and the definition of love to be the "unselfish concern for the good of that for which one deeply cares" (pg. 155).  Benevolent people perform kind actions.  In terms of the earth, these kind of people treat all things, people and other creation, with kindness   Love is quite similar to this.  We often relate love to an affection towards a person, however, it can also be placed in the context of places, aka nature.  Bouma-Prediger writes that we should show both these virtues of benevolence and love when taking care of the earth because all in all, the Earth is not ours.

So in my opinion, I think that the Sunday school acronym doesn't just apply to humans.  We are to also take the rest of God's creation under consideration when think of the "others" portion of the JOY acronym.

honors response 8

"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.  And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

1 Corinthians 10:13


In Chapter 10 of Living the Sabbath, Wirzba seems convinced that our educational system today is not fulfilling God's will.  That we are people who are fully devoted to ourselves and only ourselves.  He states, "For the most part, our educational aspirations have a self-serving focus that encourages us to disregard the particular needs of the place we live in, given the need to 'grow the economy,' even if that means destroying or degrading local habitats and communities." (133)  Now, I can't really disagree with this statement. I do think that today's society has put an extreme emphases on education in order to get somewhere with our lives.  As time has progressed, education has become more and more important.  It seems as if you can't get a decent job without having a good education. So I agree with Wirzba on the terms that in today's world, nearly everyone is focused on themselves and how to get ahead of everyone else.

I believe, however, that Christians are called to do the opposite.  It is stated throughout the entire Bible that we as Christians will encounter situations in which we are tempted to follow the ways of the world, such as focusing on ourselves in our education, instead of following the ways of the Lord and focusing on Him.  In 1 Corinthians 10:13, God says that we will be put into temptation, but it won't be anything that we can't handle.  He says that He will provide a way out of the temptation.

We are given such a great opportunity to spread God's light in the selfishness of this world.  1 Corinthians 15:10 says, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.  On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."  If we go into our classes with the mindset that God has gracefully given us the opportunity to be educated and that we will work as hard as we can for Him and to please Him, then I think that we can further God's kingdom.  We can cause questions to be asked.  We may even eventually have the opportunity to change the mindset of some of those going through the education systems down the line.  But it all comes down to our mindset.  Are we doing it for ourselves and to further our lives, or are we doing it for God and to further His kingdom?