(re)learning good lessons.

i have a very unique privilege: whenever i want, i can sit in on the urban studies class and listen to the guest speakers, particularly, dave batstone. he comes twice a year and it never gets old. today was no different; he shared about his vocational journey and i left inspired, refreshed and pleasantly surprised that one can share the same message in so many different ways.

here is what i (re)learned today:
our biggest obstacles in finding and following through with our vocation are 1. disappointing the people who have dreams for us (ie: fear of upsetting or letting down the goals our parents might have for us) 2. romance / sex / marriage (ie: romantic relationships need to be a partnership on the journey, not a destination) 3. the acquisition of material things (ie: what i have to own and want, which quickly turns into a need). as much as people say "i can't go there- i can't do this- it costs money- money is what separates me from my vocation" etc, that's actually false. when we use money as an excuse, we probably don't want -whatever it is- bad enough. i write all of this not to say that you can't follow through with your vocation if you don't disappoint your parents, you happen to be married or have acquired [unnecessary] material goods-- it's more that when we put those things first, before our vocation, that's when things get sticky.

we are the generation of awareness. meaning, we know about it all (or at least we think we do!). we know about aids, we know about poverty, we know about rwanda, we know about iraq, we know about this-that-and the other thing. it's been shoved in our face and it feels like the baby boomers are saying "it's messed up and you have to fix it." and we are left feeling hopeless. we are left feeling overwhelmed and constantly asking ourselves, "where do i start?" we are lost. we are over-aware. at one point we are going to tell you (older and wiser generation) that we don't want any more information because there is too much to do, too much to know, and too much need. i would say it's part of the reason colleges have tried to stop sending all campus emails unless it's vital. they are over-awaring us and then we stop caring. all together. just stop. so then people like barack obama come along and provide something new and people like hillary clinton wonder why she doesn't have what he has. barack is standing up and saying YES WE CAN. no one else is doing that. no other political candidate is giving hope to the over-aware generation. and people wonder why the youth are attracted to him?

dave has spoken all over the country regarding his book, not for sale. someone asked dave what the difference between a harvard and a westmont student was... he said the difference is in the job at the bus station. for example, harvard students are driving the bus and directing its' path while westmont students are taking the tickets from the passengers. what's worse is that the westmont staff & faculty (some, not all) are teaching and inspiring to the ticket-takers, not the bus drivers. this might be confusing, but ultimately dave was saying that the difference between the two is the attitude and the way harvard students are set up to succeed. you can also replace westmont with any other college that is not an ivy league or well known for its' amazing-ness (ie: wheaton, biola, usf, etc)

last: if you stop asking questions and stop learning and stop being curious, you get old. we don't need more old people, we need more young people. rusty, my 77 year old friend, is a great example of staying young.