The Man Who Bombed and The Country's Outrage

It has been 1 year, 11 months, and 21 days since the death of Osama Bin Laden.

It has been a few days since the capture of Dzokhar Tsarnaev, aka the Boston Bomber.

For the days leading up to his capture, my eyes were glued on my computer screen going through as many articles as I could trying to figure out who was responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing. I shouldn't be surprised, but reddit was the greatest help for me (and I never used reddit before). I wanted to find out what kind of person was responsible for such an awful event. I've only seen one picture of a victim and it was enough to make me sick and not want to look at any more. It was a picture of a person with half his leg blown off. I couldn't look anymore.

The news that Dzokhar was captured alive came as great news. Half of me wanted him to suffer and realize how many lives he has negatively impacted. But, the other half of me didn't want that. 

Yes, he committed a despicable act.
Yes, he killed and injured people.
Yes, he forced a major city to shutdown.
Yes, he is a 19-year old sicko.

But, I can't seem to be overjoyed.

Yes, I do want him to be arrested.
Yes, I do want him to face justice.
Yes, I do wish all the victims didn't have to suffer at his hands.
Yes, I do despise this kid.

But, what would Jesus do?

This article helped me remember why I wasn't overjoyed. It reminded me of my blog post about the death of Osama Bin Laden. What does the Bible have to say?

Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?- Ezekiel 18:23

Rather than wishing the worst upon this individual, doesn't God call us to love and forgive? How are we supposed to love someone who causes harm to others?

Jesus would love and forgive this man. How are we going to put the name of Jesus on our backs when we call ourselves Christians if we can't even do as He did? 

Pray for Boston. 
Pray for the victims and families of those affected. 
Pray for the healing of the wounded. 
Pray for the departed souls. 
Pray for angry people around the world for an understanding heart. 
Pray for the forgiveness of Dzokhar Tsarnaev.

Boiling Point and the Good in the World

Pretty much every morning, I stop by a bakery before work to get that good milk tea. It just so happened one morning that I was running late for work (I usually try to get there 10 minutes early). Normally, the lady hands back change before I get my drink. I gave her a $20, took my drink, and went off to work. Something missing? Yeah, I forgot to take my change. That's $20 for a $2 drink. It wasn't until 2 hours later when I looked in my wallet that I realized what happened.

Here's where the nasty takes over my mind. I assumed that since they were Chinese ladies, they would be stingy with this kind of situation. It has happened before when I was younger. My mom went back to a restaurant demanding that they give her back the proper amount of change and they denied ripping us off. Long story short: older Chinese people don't play games when it comes to money.

I was formulating all these situations in the case they denied not giving me back change. I was ready to break out some advance Chinese on them to stick it to them that I wasn't going to be messed with. I had all these nasty words ready to be unleashed. I was ready to point at the cameras and tell them to check everything. I was ready to explode.

On my break, I walked back to the bakery and approached the counter. I first calmly, yet had a hint of anger in my voice, explained the situation. To my complete surprise, the lady smiled and told me she remembered me. She said I walked away before she could go get the change for me. I smiled and apologized. She gladly gave me back the $18 that I was supposed to receive. I thanked her like four times on my way out.

It wasn't until I left that I realized what a terrible person I am. I thought the worst in humanity and didn't once think of God's love in others. I put my head down in shame that I was taken over by these wicked thoughts.

God is good. Always.

Relationships and the Internet Age

It took an article written by Ashton Kutcher to make me realize it. Well, I guess I've always known it, but it's never been brought to my attention like it has now.

Romance is dying. Ok, let's not jump to extremes now. Not dying, but changing.

I've been raised in a society thinking that asking girls out online or over the phone is cowardly. It's been implanted into my mind that any other way besides face-to-face in real time is unacceptable. We live in the age of Facebook and Twitter now. All means of communications basically run through them.

She said yes.

This goes against everything that society has drilled into my brain. The comments following the picture were all in favor of this calling it "adorable" and "beautiful". I'm sitting here thinking "Does this actually work?"

Do you realize how easy a guy's life would be if all hardships in starting a relationship worked all the time through the internet? All those hours, days, maybe even weeks thinking of how to ask a girl out would vanish. All those lines we run through our heads the moments leading up to the actual asking out of vanish. All those heart-beating seconds that seem like an eternity waiting for the girl's response as you awkwardly look at her vanish. Instead, you type a few clever lines and sit in your seat as your stare at your computer screen in anxiety.

Flirting has now been replaced by e-flirting. Include that happy face at the end of a text. Play the right words in the right order. E-flirting makes the world take notice. Anyone can see on their news feed those playful, cute remarks two people exchange. But flirting in real life cannot truly be replaced. The whole world isn't there to take notice. It's more intimate. Those awkward glances at each other. Only the two people involved truly take note of it. Sure there could be a few people around who notices the behavior, but it's not flaunted on one's news feed for all to see.

I refuse to believe in these relationships forming over the internet. There's no real hard work put into it the way doing it face-to-face takes. Of course, I'm no expert in relationships. But I suppose I can put in my two cents.