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May. 17th, 2006 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mari4212It was sunny out for a while, I know it was. I even played outside with the kids and they were in a relatively good mood today.
And now it's back to raining. Gah.
Lets see, catching people up on my day. We discussed my sister in philosophy class today. For those of you who don't know, my sister is profoundly retarded, both physically and mentally. We were discussing whether God had a plan for the universe, and someone mentioned handicaped people, I mentioned Sara, and we were off. It's one of those things that most people don't seem to know how to react to, which always amuses me. Sara's two years older than I am, I literally don't remember a time when she hasn't been what she is. I just accept that Sara's disabled the way that I accept that my hair is red. It's just the way things are. That's not to say it hasn't affected my life, it probably has in ways I can't grasp. I do know that my brother, my other sister, and I have all been told that we tend to be more compassionate and accepting than others, and we do trace that back to Sara. You have to accept others as what they are when you deal with someone like Sara on a daily basis. It's probably meant that our parents were more willing to deal with us as individuals, because with Sara, they can't expect any of us to be the same as the others.
And yeah, some things are a lot harder to do with a disabled person along. Try going camping in a single tent sometime with a girl who likes to crawl around in the night sometime if you want a challenge. But I wouldn't give up who Sara is for anything.
That turned out a lot more philosophical than I thought. I really wasn't planning on getting serious tonight.
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jadeites_lady tagged me with a meme to explain where my username comes from. It's actually very simple. Mari is a nickname I picked up in the NCIS Special Ops chatroom one night, when GG complained that it took too long to type out Margaret every time. I've never used it in real life, but mentally I pronounce it as Mahri, not Mary. 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, according to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and 12 is an in joke from my family, the answer to everything else. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you've got an interesting reason for choosing your username, I'd love to hear it.
It seems like every time I watch Chronicles of Narnia, I fall more and more in love with it. It's fast becoming my comfort movie, the one I turn on whenever I just want to lose myself in the beauty of the story for a while. I still get awestruck when Lucy first sees Tumnus, the scene where he's playing the pipe for her still makes me shiver, and I always cry when Aslan dies. And it still provokes the same reaction in me that the books did, because I always want to go check out the back of my closet after I see the movie or read the books.
Gosh I'm being rambly tonight. I'll stop now, before I bore you all to tears.
And now it's back to raining. Gah.
Lets see, catching people up on my day. We discussed my sister in philosophy class today. For those of you who don't know, my sister is profoundly retarded, both physically and mentally. We were discussing whether God had a plan for the universe, and someone mentioned handicaped people, I mentioned Sara, and we were off. It's one of those things that most people don't seem to know how to react to, which always amuses me. Sara's two years older than I am, I literally don't remember a time when she hasn't been what she is. I just accept that Sara's disabled the way that I accept that my hair is red. It's just the way things are. That's not to say it hasn't affected my life, it probably has in ways I can't grasp. I do know that my brother, my other sister, and I have all been told that we tend to be more compassionate and accepting than others, and we do trace that back to Sara. You have to accept others as what they are when you deal with someone like Sara on a daily basis. It's probably meant that our parents were more willing to deal with us as individuals, because with Sara, they can't expect any of us to be the same as the others.
And yeah, some things are a lot harder to do with a disabled person along. Try going camping in a single tent sometime with a girl who likes to crawl around in the night sometime if you want a challenge. But I wouldn't give up who Sara is for anything.
That turned out a lot more philosophical than I thought. I really wasn't planning on getting serious tonight.
jadeites_lady tagged me with a meme to explain where my username comes from. It's actually very simple. Mari is a nickname I picked up in the NCIS Special Ops chatroom one night, when GG complained that it took too long to type out Margaret every time. I've never used it in real life, but mentally I pronounce it as Mahri, not Mary. 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, according to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and 12 is an in joke from my family, the answer to everything else. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you've got an interesting reason for choosing your username, I'd love to hear it.It seems like every time I watch Chronicles of Narnia, I fall more and more in love with it. It's fast becoming my comfort movie, the one I turn on whenever I just want to lose myself in the beauty of the story for a while. I still get awestruck when Lucy first sees Tumnus, the scene where he's playing the pipe for her still makes me shiver, and I always cry when Aslan dies. And it still provokes the same reaction in me that the books did, because I always want to go check out the back of my closet after I see the movie or read the books.
Gosh I'm being rambly tonight. I'll stop now, before I bore you all to tears.
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Plans for people
Date: 2006-05-18 03:33 am (UTC)My cousin Akshay has Asperger's Syndrome. Early on, probably when he was about 2-3 years old, the family became aware that something was probably wrong with him as he wasn't able to talk. It was originally diagnosed as a speech impediment, but as the years got on, it became clear that it was probably something more. My mother, being a teacher and having a degree in Child Development, began to suspect that it might be a mild form of Autism (and, many years later, she was proven right as Asperger's Syndrome, when it was eventually identifiied, is likened to a mild form of Autism). It was very hard for my aunt and uncle to accept that anything was wrong with their son, and it took many years for them to accept that something was out of the ordinary (I won't say wrong anymore, because having grown to know him, it IS true that there's nothing wrong with him). Everyone in the family had to, at some point, come to understand him. If you don't understand Akshay, you may believe that there is something wrong. It took many years for each of us, but we have come to know him. And, to know a good person is to love them.
My mom and my sister disagree with me on the issue of abortion, and my mother disagrees with me on the death penalty, but the crux of my argument IS Akshay. To believe that any life does not have value is perhaps the greatest sin any of us an commit. There is a line of thinking that says that children who are known to have disabilities in vetro could be aborted to prevent their suffering. But what would this world be without Akshay, or without Sara? Do they have nothing to offer us. I believe you and I would say that they have had ENORMOUS impact on our world.
If this sounds like an issue based rant, it's not. My political views are merely reflections of a core belief, and that belief affects my views on issues like abortion, the death penalty, adoption, marriage, relationships, sports and 1001 other assorted things that make life what it is. Does God have a plan for everyone? I have staked my life on that belief, but that doesn't mean that I understand the full extent of those plans. God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. I'm a 24 year old engineer living at home. There's a bit of a difference in perspective there.
And yes, the Chronicles is a great comfort movie. It begs to be watched on the couch with a blanket at hand and many smiles.
I'll drop a quick username story too:
Back in high school, I went to Aviation Challenge, which was the Aviation version of Space Camp (run by the same company). I actually went two years in a row. Each year, when you go, you get a call sign (like the nicknames in Top Gun, Maverick, Ice Man, Jester, etc.). I was given the call sign Elvis because of my sideburns. Our Squadron was the Grim Reapers, and their Squadron Number is VF101. Add it all together and you get ElvisVF101, which is my handle of choice just about everywhere I go, just as Michelangelo is my Avatar of choice (because I like Pizza and Parties).
By the way, I outrambled you. HAH!
Re: Plans for people
Date: 2006-05-19 12:14 am (UTC)*applauds*
God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. I'm a 24 year old engineer living at home. There's a bit of a difference in perspective there.
And a difference between God and a twenty year old college student in her philosophy class. Or, as my family puts it, God is a lot bigger than us. Our conception of him is therefore limited, and so is everyone else's. Who are we to say what God intends in the end?
no subject
Date: 2006-05-18 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-19 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-19 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-18 06:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-18 07:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-18 07:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-18 07:54 pm (UTC)In typical Douglas Adams style, it goes as follows:
C'mon, pick a number, any number!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-19 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-19 01:17 am (UTC)But if you're referencing the answer Arthur Dent comes up with in Restaurant, they later discount that question, don't they?
no subject
Date: 2006-05-19 03:09 am (UTC)