Tidings of This and That

There are a few things to cover from the past week or so. First off, it was my birthday last Monday. Unfortunately, I had was sick. I've had some virus or something that's made me miserable since last Sunday night. Happy birthday to me! Oh well. Thank you everyone for all of your cards and notes. It's always nice to be remembered. Caleb managed to talk me nto going to English Club at least to say hello on Monday night. Unbeknownst to me, part of the theme for that night was my birthday. Isa had made a Santiago pastry for me. It had two little red candles that said 23, but one had broken on the way there and so it was kind of sad looking. :) I've never had a better birthday cake. Thanks Isa. Caleb, Lindsey, and Eva gave me a small book about a famous Gallego photographer from the early 1900's, Ksado. I had a great time even though I was feeling pretty miserable.

The other big thing was that Caleb and Lindsey announced this week that they will be moving to Barcelona. They don't know exactly when yet, but it will be in a month or two, possibly before I leave. Eva will be going with them, so I'll be on my own again for a little bit. Oh well, I'll do just fine.

Last Sunday, José Manuel's entire family came into town for the day. Dinner was an all day affair. I was a bit apprehensive because I had been up all night the night before and was pretty tired. But they were wonderful. I had a lot of fun sitting around talking and joking with everyone all day. Even though I had to eat clams, and I really don't like clams. :)

In the Name of the Law...

Hold on. I'm about to get ridiculous. My friend and I were talking about rules yesterday and why I don't respect them. Let me explain myself. There is a very real need for laws, and obeying them is necessary for our health both as individuals and as a collective. I guess what I don't agree with is the idea of the innate power of law. I'm not sure I believe that anyone individually or collectively has the innate authority to enforce law over me. Neither do I have that power over them.

Please don't confuse this statement as a proposition of anarchy, nor as a negation of absolute law (divine law, natural law, the Tao, what ever you would like to call it). As humans, we are subjugated to by our place in the universe to inescapable absolute laws. Gravity and the Laws of Thermodynamics will forever constrain our physical existence to a certain number of possibilities. People who argue with these laws tend to end up dead in a way that is very messy and unpleasant to speak of.

Likewise, there is an absolute law that governs our souls just as our bodies are governed. I don't argue with the innate authority of this law over us. What I am referring to are the regulations implemented by ourselves upon each other. It's a bit like Mrs. Brown's pre-school class trying to set up their own Supreme Court to regulate themselves during nap time.

So, what am I talking about? Should we forget rules altogether? If we were only under our own laws, then yes, I think we could. If that were the case, we would have problems on a much bigger scale and worrying about our own little laws would be a bit superfluous. However, this is not the case. We are still under the absolute law that dictates that we love. As Christian scripture teaches, the entirety of the law is summed up in love because love does no harm to it's neighbor. Seeing as we don't understand the first thing about how to love others, we still need rules to keep us from hurting each other too much (in theory at least).

So why don't I respect the rules? I don't respect them because they aren't an authority over me. But I obey them anyway because of the authority that is over me. (well, I should be doing anyway) This is where submission comes into play. The reason the idea of submission is so offensive to us is that we see it as an endorsement of an illegitimate authority over us that insults our autonomy and freedom as an individual. We think of submission as an act of inferiority when in fact it is an act of magnanimity.

I don't respect the rules, but I should respect those who make them because of the freedom inside of me.

Carnaval!

I saw my first Carnaval this week here in Santiago. Well... 'saw' is a relative term. Mostly I just saw the back of this spanish guy's head, but I could see some of the taller floats. Unfortunately, I didn't get many interesting photos of the event. Unless any of you out there want to see the back of a spanish guy's head. :)


Jonas Crider making his Carnaval debut.

House Warming

We had a house warming party for Isa last weekend. It's her first place thats just her's so it was a big deal. There was enough food to stock her fridge for her first month. We also had a lot of fun writing her notes in dry marker on all of the glass surfaces in the house. She will be finding them for months. :)

It was also the first time that I had seen a lot of my friends since I got back. I had forgotten how much fun they all are. What a bunch of jokers! People get older, get families, become responsible, but I don't think they ever grow up. :)

The three amigos, and me left holding the tortilla español.