Hallelujah

Lyrics by Marie Kopp & Christina Heath
Music by Leonard Cohen

Swept away, my hopes are gone.

I'm feeling lost, all alone,  

I just don’t know how I'm gonna get through.

I've sunk into my darkest days,  

I can’t imagine now singing praise,

But I hear somebody singing Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, hallelujah,

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

A broken home, a father gone,

A mother who has lost her son,

And several million people who have no one.

Yet somehow in their miseries

They're crying out "Let glory be

To God in all His mercy, Hallelujah!"

...

Though sometimes I can't see your face

You are my life, my source of grace;

Without you my whole world begins to fall through.

In this dark, you're guiding me

Your hand is there unfailingly,

It gives me strength to cry out Hallelujah!

...

Before the tears can even start

Your bleeding Hands and broken Heart

Hold my shattered soul through these disasters.

Though I can hardly feel you here

Through my failure, through my fear,

I go to you with mournful hallelujah.

...

My God you know my dreams and plans

But I place my future in Your hands,

So this is all that I ask from you now:

That You would hear me as I sing,

I make my life an offering,

My life remains your broken hallelujah!

Hallelujah, hallelujah,

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Hallelujah, hallelujah,

Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Instrumental version of the music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNIdlxtNu_o

Me singing this at my graduation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbBlxr_I5Co

Perspective for Pro-choicers

So, all pro-lifers have heard this argument:
"It is your right to believe abortion is wrong, but it is wrong of you to try to force that belief on everyone else on the country. Just because you don't agree with it, doesn't make it fair for you to try to force that upon everyone else and make it illegal. It's each woman's individual right to choose, that's why we are PRO-CHOICE, and it is wrong of you to try to take away that choice!"

Blah Blah Blah.

Okay, so, hypothetical situation to put things into perspective for ya:

America legalizes rape. (I dearly hope this remains hypothetical, just saying. Anyways.) You, liberal pro-choicer, are outraged. (As you WELL SHOULD BE. Every conservative pro-lifer in their right mind is too!) So, you take up a campaign, and try with all of your might to spread the word about how wrong this is. You do your utmost to attempt to make rape illegal again. You ignore the rotten tomatoes and moldy bagels thrown at you out of car windows, along with vulgar insults, as you protest outside of the new weekly rapist support group meeting. (The bagel and vulgarity is a true story, it happened to me when I protested outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Pittsburgh. I smiled and waved back, and enjoyed watching the birds who came, grateful for their new snack.)

People in support of the new legislation tell you you are wrong to do this. They tell you you are unfair and judgmental; you can't decide what is right for other people, you don't walk in their shoes; what is right for you isn't necessarily right for them. Your peers are angry at you when you post about your mission on social media. Your coworkers glare at you when you try to bring it up at work. Even people at your church plug their ears and tell you that you are the one who is wrong here.

These people believe that it is the rapist's right to rape a woman, even though it compromises the woman's rights. And they don't want to listen to your judgmental, hypocritical, self-righteous rant  to the contrary.

So, do you stop opposing rape? DO YOU, liberal pro-choicer, agree to let it go and roll with the new legislation? Hmmm? Do you stop going to marches, rallies, protests, lectures, etc., in support of your mission, simply because people disagree with you? Do you allow the fear of persecution or of offending others with your opinion to stop your fight against this heinously disgusting new legislation? NO, you don't. (At least, I hope you have that much backbone left in you.)

Well, we, conservative pro-lifers, are the same. We believe that abortion is wrong. Yes, we know your arguments to the contrary. We understand that you think it is wrong for us to try to make abortion illegal based on "our opinions." We know you get upset when we post about it on social media, when we bring it up at work, school, or even, unfortunately, church. We know you'd rather not hear about it, and ignore the horror you are content to allow. But that doesn't change our decision to fight you tooth and nail, which we will continue to do as long as we have breath left in us.

Harry Potter - My Two Cents

So.
I just finished the Harry Potter Saga. For the first time.
Yes, yes, I know. It is truly the first time. No, I have not seen the movies yet, either. Well, none but the first at least.
Why is this the first time I've read them when everyone else read them eons ago?
A) Dad thought they were evil.
B) I'm a strange person. In my strangeness, I avoid trends like the plague. If something is popular, it isn't for me. So, I have to either read/watch it before it is trendy, or wayyyyy after. Otherwise my enjoyment of it is immensely diminished.

Anyways. They were a fun read, but they left me dissatisfied. My thoughts on the matter are thus:

- I enjoy fantasy novels. Thus, I enjoy magic in books. But the Harry Potter magic was a little too dark for my tastes. No, they didn't call on demons. But they call themselves witches and warlocks, and their potions especially are creepy, in an old fashioned witchcraft sense. I didn't love that.

- As far as secular young adult literature goes these days, I thought they were fairly well-written. The characters were loveable, human, flawed, but still trying to be noble. Good qualities.

- I don't like that they are set for such a young age group. I don't think I would like anyone under 14 reading them, simply because anyone reading them needs to be old enough and mature enough to realize this is fiction, and in the real world, "witchcraft" is not harmless. It is evil. They need to be able to understand and grasp this, while still being able to enjoy the stories.

My biggest bone to pick with the series is this:
It makes such a big deal out of the difference between good magic and the Dark Arts, as it indeed should! I would not approve of any book containing magic that didn't. BUT! Why make that distinction, that MAIN PLOT of the story, and then allow the main characters to practice those same Dark Arts with no consequence?! What makes that okay, people?! I understand they are human characters. I love them for that. I understand they have weaknesses. But I don't understand what makes Harry any better than Malfoy. The series makes such a big deal about the Unforgivable Curses, but in the last book, as well as previous ones, Harry uses these curses. He attempts the Crucio curse in The Order of the Phoenix, The Half Blood Prince, & successfully uses it in The Deathly Hallows; he also uses the Imperius Curse multiple times in The Deathly Hallows. Why is this never addressed at least? Why are Crabbe and Goyle and Malfoy so evil for using them, but not Harry and Ron and Hermione? I'm in a quandery here. I think this would have been a perfect time for the author to discuss this. To explain why it is wrong for the characters use them. To show consequences. But she doesn't....it is simply a frustrating, unadressed thread that is thoroughly ignored. Humph.

My two cents.