THOUGHTS ON JOHN-JOHN

I’m probably going to get in trouble with my Democrat friends at work, but my first taste of the John-John show tonight made me nauseous.  JK looked haggard (shades of Nixon vs. Kennedy in the first televised presidential debates in the 1960’s?) and nervous (at one point, I thought he had Parkinson’s disease, he was bobbing and convulsing so much).  He spoke too fast and didn’t pause nearly enough.  (The pause is an underrated indicator of how comfortable a speaker is on the podium: is s/he OK with silence, with all eyes on him/her without having to move onto the next point?)  And when JK pointed out JE and JE gave that cheese grin and the double thumbs up, I practically leaned over my couch and puked.  Way too much sunshine, boys. 

The crazy thing is that the DNC was one power-packed convention.  The D’s certainly have their share of marquee names.  I watched here and there while I scarfed down dinner and did the crossword puzzles, and paraded before America were some truly remarkable men and women: Clinton, Gore, Carter, Sharpton, Albright.  Talk about a “Murderer’s Row.”  Clinton could charm a . . . well, I’m not going to go there.  Carter had me believing, Sharpton riveted my attention, and the sea of delegates was a rainbow of skin colors and ages and classes.  I watched, and I felt the love.  To end with JK was, for me, such a letdown. 

Thanks for the party, D’s.  Your move, R’s.    

URBAN RUNS
 
I gutted out a five-miler this morning.  Between the humid heat and the fact that I gave it my all during the Broad Street Run two months ago, it’s been hard to put in good mileage this summer, so it’s increasingly unlikely that I’ll be ready for the half-marathon here in town in September. 
 
I ran past a fitness center this morning and thought of how hard urban running can be on your body.  While others save their legs from concrete (and their lungs from pollution) on a treadmill or on a nature trail, I subject my body to urban sidewalks and car exhaust.
 
But I wouldn’t trade it for the world.  I love urban running.  I don’t care if my legs have to absorb the rigidity of asphalt and my lungs have to gulp in toxic fumes.  There’s something about urban scenery that exhilarates me.  Sure, I like running in nature, and watching TV while you log the miles on a treadmill is fun for awhile. 
 
But give me urban scenery any day.  Darting through a city sidewalk buzzing with shoppers and latte sippers and dog-walkers.  Passing historical sites like Franklin’s grave or Independence Hall or Elfreth’s Alley.  Circling around City Hall and praying for our politicians.  Deciding between two river trails, the nation’s largest urban park, or the Art Museum steps where Rocky did his thing – all within city limits.
 
Urban running has become one of my favorite things about traveling, too.  I’ve survived six miles in downtown Phoenix in the middle of summer.  I dashed through a sketchy section of Cincinnati en route to Fountain Square, a busy downtown hub that was practically empty because I got there at 7:00am on a Sunday morning.   DC (Rock Creek Park) and Boston (Charles River) are other favorites of mine, a touch of natural civility in the midst of city life. 
 
So I limped to work this morning, probably more sore from the pounding than if I’d run on a treadmill or driven out to a nature trail.  (And I’ll probably get cancer from running behind that soot-belching bus for two or three blocks.)  But no matter how much it smarts, I just can’t give up my urban scenery.

TRUSTING GOD WHEN THINGS LOOK BAD
 
This morning, the missionary serving as a guest preacher at our church was regaling us with stories on the mission field, of times when things looked bad and God’s people prayed and He answered.  He shared about people getting through customs, of Christian materials smuggled into closed countries, and of lost passports being found.  The point he was making was that when things look bad, if we will just trust God and pray, He will come through.
 
It reminded me of an incident in my life, which while relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of things, still taught me a lesson about God’s faithfulness.  Six years ago, Amy and I were at the airport in San Francisco, waiting to return to Philadelphia after spending a week with my parents.  Though we had had a decent time in California, Amy was eager to get home.  Only I had left my driver’s license at my parents’ house, and the guy at the ticket counter wouldn’t let me through. 
 
As I calculated whether or not there was enough time for me to call my parents and have them bring me my driver’s license (there wasn’t), Amy started to get upset.  She didn’t want to miss the flight, but nor did she want to fly out without me.  I lost my cool very quickly.  In a frenzied state, I checked my carry-on for the third time to no avail.  For a crazed moment, I even thought I had misplaced our plane tickets.  I was a wreck.
 
Amy calmed down and said, “Let’s pray.”  I was sane enough to know that that was the right thing to do, but still so panicky that my heart wasn’t into it.  I was thinking more about how stupid I looked for having misplaced my driver’s license than I was about entreating God for help.  Amy proceeded anyway.  “God, I’ve seen you come through before when we’ve messed up.  We need your help again.  Do it, for Your Name’s sake.”
 
No sooner had she said “Amen” when (as if on cue) a middle-aged man came up to us and called out my name.  I looked at him quizzically.  He introduced himself as the father of one of my old high school basketball teammates.  I’d never met him before, but he remembered me from the many games he had attended.  “Can I help you with something?”
 
Can you ever!  I explained my predicament, and he walked us to the ticket counter and said he’s see what he could do.  Turns out he was a supervisor, and what he could do is not only get us on the plane but bump us up to first class!  After we got over the initial shock of being this close to not making it back home, we were able to thoroughly enjoy our first experience with first class: quality food, excellent service, and our choice of entertainment. 
 
Now, in the grand scheme of things, this is nothing.  God didn’t save anyone through this experience; in fact, it was a fairly selfish and private blessing.  While God is for us and comes early and often to our rescue, it is not because we are the center of His world but because He is the center of ours.  Nevertheless, I learned something valuable that day.  I learned that even and especially when we have messed up, when we are helpless to get ourselves out of a predicament, when we don’t know anyone around us who can come to our rescue, God can and does still work.  He knows us by name, comes to our rescue, and showers us with an abundance we cannot fathom.  He is trustworthy, even and especially when things look bad.

A LESSON FOR KERRY AND BUSH
 
Amy and I were talking about the importance of being clear with the teens we work with in our respective workplaces.  “You have to be firm with your answer,” she remarked, as she was recounted a story to me about a girl who kept pestering her about something even though Amy was adamant about not giving in.  “Decide what’s best and then stick to it no matter what anyone says – but if it’s wrong, apologize and make it right.”
 
A light bulb went off on my head.  “Amy, what you just said would be great advice for Kerry and Bush.”  She nodded in agreement. 

ME, A MOB BOSS?
 
I went to http://hokev.brinkster.net/quiz/default.asp?quiz=Better+Personality&page=1 to take this online personality test.  This is what got spit back out to me:
 
"You are an SRDL--Sober Rational Destructive Leader. This makes you a mob boss. You are the ultimate alpha person and even your friends give you your space. You can't stand whiners, weaklings, schlemiels or schlemozzles. You don't make many jokes, but when you do, others laugh out loud. They must.
 
People often turn to you for advice, and wisely. You are calm in a crisis, cautious in a tempest, and attuned to even the finest details. Yours is the profile of a smart head for business and a dangerous enemy.
 
You have a natural knack for fashion and occupy a suit like a matinee idol. Your charisma is striking and without artifice. You are generous, thoughtful, and appreciate life's finer things. 
 
Please don't kick my ass. "
 
Yikes.

SEEING THE PRESIDENT

I drove out to York with three other Asian-American professionals yesterday afternoon to attend a rally for George Bush. Besides us, I counted three other minorities in a sea of 5,000 rabid supporters. This part of the state is very white and very Republican, and Bush soaked in the adoration. His bus pulled right into the auditorium and he made his way to the podium while “Eye of the Tiger” blared on the PA and the crowds cheered lustily.

His forty-minute speech was punctuated by countless interruptions for applause and standing ovations. The biggest cheers came when he hammered away at the point of taking decisive action against terrorism “so that American will be safer.” While I applaud the President’s resolute attitude when it comes to the war on terror, I wonder if we could have an even greater cause to shoot for: not just our own security, but the triumph of liberty for all the nations. But here in the heart of rural Pennsylvania, hearing that we have a president who will step up to protect us and our families was what got us out of our seats.

I also appreciated the President’s consistency. While his previous and current opponents ran jumbled campaigns with mixed messages, Bush stayed on point. Like or hate him, at least you know where he stands and what he’s about. You could boil his platform down to a few key phrases: homeland security, lower taxes, and pro-growth economic policies. Frankly, I couldn’t tell you what Kerry’s message is, except that he’s not Bush.

All in all, I’d have to say I applauded about two-thirds of Bush’s message. I too am morally and fiscally conservative, and appreciate the accountability he is shooting for in the corporate boardroom and the classroom. I like his big thinking when it comes to foreign policy, but am queasy that he comes off as the kind of American the world hates: the one who is Ameri-centric, who doesn’t quite always take the time to understand things from someone else’s perspective. On a related note, I listened in vain for a word about the plight of Asians, blacks, and Hispanics in our country, though I can see why he excluded it from his speech, seeing as there weren’t any in the audience to hear it.

Outside, Bush-haters and Kerry supporters filled the walkway into the auditorium with clever signs and heated invective. At one point in the procession, the protesters were on both sides as I walked calmly between them. One pointed a camera at me, so I blew him a kiss, which seemed to rile the crowd up even more.

While the drive was long and the lines longer, I am glad I took the time to see the President. It was a window into his vision, into a part of America I’m not as familiar with, and into a level of security I’m not used to being directly affected by.

THE GREATER GOOD

Call me naïve, but though I believe in the inherent sinfulness of man, I also believe that we humans also have in us capacity and desire to do good. All things being equal, if given a chance between doing good and doing harm, most of us would choose the former.

But not all things are equal. Competing for the greater good all too often is the perception and/or the reality of the individual good. Warring factions in Iraq, uncertain that their individual causes will thrive or even survive in the new regime, are withholding their vital verbal support in order to safeguard a place of importance and power. Nationally, Kerry and Bush are lining up their support base, cutting deals now with key constituencies that one of them will have to follow through on from 2005 to 2008, regardless of whether or not it is good for the country as a whole. And locally, politicians are haggling over whether or not to give Comcast a sweet tax break to keep them in the city, rather than taking the time to push through tax reform that will make the city a great place for all businesses to locate.

But let’s not point fingers outwards when there’s so much in our own hearts that condemn us. More often than not, we cannot plead ignorance – not that it’s a legitimate defense, anyway -- when it comes to what lives we ought to live for the greater good of a just society. We know what are the important things we ought to safeguard – good schools, safe neighborhoods, and a corruption-free political system, for example – yet we seldom choose to sacrifice individual comfort for societal progress.

Such is the dilemma of the urban Christian. It is vital that she tend to her own needs, without which burnout is likely and a self-important martyrdom role dangerously easy to take on. And yet it is a subtle thing to forgo being poured out in the service of others and the greater good for a life that does not stick its neck out and takes care of its own.

The question of the day is how do you have the stamina, faith, and roots to pursue the greater good without burning out, leaving nothing in the tank for yourself, and giving up in despair? How do you stay healthy in taking care of yourself without losing the attitude that treats your life as a ministry resource over which you have been given stewardship to do great things for God? And from there, how do you convince others – your closest friends and family, your church, your government, and society as a whole -- to forsake individual and immediate pleasures for communal and eternal ones?

Again, I complete a blog with more questions than answers. I am guilty on both sides – of taking myself too seriously and of not taking myself seriously enough. Whether resting of striving, whether looking out for myself or for something greater than me, may I be grounded in God’s will for my life, living a life that is honorable and worthy of His presence in me.