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Josh Allan Dykstra
BOOK JOSH
Josh Allan Dykstra
BOOK JOSH
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LegacySeptember 11, 2007

Never Forget (9/11/07)

May we never forget that violence always kills -- not only the person who is murdered, but also the killer. Violence is always anti-Human. And let us never lose the hope -- or the desire to create -- better futures.  
I always believed in futures I hope for better in November I try the same losing lucky numbers It could be a cold night for a lifetime Hey now, you can't keeping saying endlessly My darling, how long until this affects me? Say hello to good times Trade up for the fast ride We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely I always could count on futures That things would look up, and they look up Why is it so hard to find balance Between living decent and the cold and real Hey now, what is it you think you see? My darling, now's the time to disgaree Say hello to good times Trade up for the fast ride We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely Hey now, the past is told by those who win My darling, what matters is what hasn't been Hey now, we're wide awake and we're thinking My darling, believe your voice can mean something Say hello to good times Trade up for the fast ride We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely We close our eyes while the nickel and dime take the streets completely "Futures," Jimmy Eat World
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LegacyAugust 20, 2007

The Educated & Scholarly

A few more words of wisdom from our friend, the "other" J.D.:
"Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them -- if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful, reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry. I'm not trying to tell you that only educated and scholarly men are able to contribute something valuable to the world. It's not so. But I do say that educated and scholarly men, if they're brilliant and creative to begin with -- which, unfortunately, is rarely the case -- tend to leave infinitely more valuable records behind them than men do who are merely brilliant and creative. They tend to express themselves more clearly, and they usually have a passion for following their thoughts through to the end. And -- most important -- nine times out of ten they have more humility than the unscholarly thinker. Something else an academic education will do for you. If you go along with it any considerable distance, it'll begin to give you an idea what size mind you have. What it'll fit and, maybe, what it won't. After a while, you'll have an idea what kind of thoughts your particular size mind should be wearing. For one thing, it may save you an extraordinary amount of time trying on ideas that don't suit you, aren't becoming to you. You'll begin to know your true measurements and dress your mind accordingly." - J.D. Salinger, The Catcher In The Rye (p. 246-247)
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LegacyAugust 15, 2007

Holden Caulfield On Jesus, Etc.

Thus spake Holden Caulfield:
"I felt like praying or something, when I was in bed, but I couldn't do it. I can't always pray when I feel like it. In the first place, I'm sort of an atheist. I like Jesus and all, but I don't care too much for most of the other stuff in the Bible. Take the Disciples, for instance. They annoy the hell out of me, if you want to know the truth. They were all right after Jesus was dead and all, but while He was alive, they were about as much use to Him as a hole in the head. All they did was keep letting Him down. I like almost anybody in the Bible better than the Disciples. If you want to know the truth, the guy I like best in the Bible, next to Jesus, was that lunatic and all, that lived in the tombs and kept cutting himself with stones. I like him ten times as much as the Disciples, that poor bastard. I used to get in quite a few arguments about it, when I was at the Whooton School, with this boy that lived down the corridor, Arthur Childs. Old Childs was a Quaker and all, and he read the Bible all the time. He was a very nice kid, and I liked him, but I could never see eye to eye with him on a lot of stuff in the Bible, especially the Disciples. He kept telling me if I didn't like the Disciples, then I didn't like Jesus and all. He said that because Jesus picked the Disciples, you were supposed to like them. I said I knew He picked them, but that He picked them at random. I said He didn't have time to go around analyzing everybody. I said I wasn't blaming Jesus or anything. It wasn't His fault that He didn't have any time. I remember I asked old Childs if he thought Judas, the one that betrayed Jesus and all, went to Hell after he committed suicide. Childs said certainly. That's exactly where I disagreed with him. I said I'd bet a thousand bucks that Jesus never sent old Judas to Hell. I still would, too, if I had a thousand bucks. I think any one of the Disciples would've sent him to Hell and all -- and fast, too -- but I'll bet anything Jesus didn't do it. Old Childs said the trouble with me was that I didn't go to church or anything. He was right about that, in a way. I don't. In the first place, my parents are different religions, and all the children in our family are atheist. If you want to know the truth, I can't even stand ministers. The ones they've had at every school I've gone to, they have these Holy Joe voices when they start giving their sermons. God, I hate that. I don't see why the hell they can't talk in their natural voice. They sound so phony when they talk." - J.D. Salinger, The Catcher In The Rye (p. 130-131)
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LegacyJuly 23, 2007

Jesus Drives An LAX Airport Shuttle

I guess you could say that I've been practicing "The Secret" for the last couple months. Kind of. I'd been meaning to watch/read/experience the "magic" for probably almost a year now, and also been putting it off, putting it off, blah blah. But when I flew back to Colorado for Gabe's wedding in April, in a stroke of brilliance (or habit), I took my blessed MacBook on the plane, and decided to buck up and watch the damn thing. Despite the apparent torture required to catalyze my viewing, I really did enjoy it. It was inspirational and empowering, if not occasionally hokey. So, when I arrived back at LAX, Allison and I got into one of those little deathtraps they call "airport shuttles" so we could get back to the parking lot where we left our car. We lugged our borderline-weight-limit Samsonite up both little shuttle stairs and heaved it onto the storage shelving. On my way in, I noticed that Jesus was going to be our driver. Of course, he was a hispanic gentleman — correct pronunciation: Hey-soos — but as I normally feel just a little scared for my freakin' life when circling the Los Angeles airport (if you've ever done it, you know what I mean), I instantly felt a little better knowing that the Savior would be my driver that day. But it turns out that Jesus' driving: not so good. He screamed around corners, scraping bumpers and inciting all sorts of hostile honking. He ran red lights and stopped abruptly, causing baggage to fly angrily off the rack. With my newfound Secret, I, of course, was "attracting" safety. Pure, unadulterated safety. I caught the gaze of the middle-aged business-suited gentlemen across from me, and knew he was thinking the same thing I was: "Sorry I didn't learn your name before we both died in a horrific shuttle crash." Things I never thought I'd say: "Man, Jesus needs to go to driving school." But I made it out alive... guess The Secret works. ;-) //
LegacyJune 4, 2007

War, PTS, & Responsibility

A couple nights ago, some of my good friends and coworkers attended a post traumatic stress (PTS) informational workshop/presentation for families of war veterans. They went to support the efforts of an amazing man in our community that works to help said vets. Result: they went in jaded, and came out different. Nutshell of what they learned: war changes a person. Always, irrevocably, negatively. I was impacted by their debriefings in a number of ways, but most jarringly with the question: "Why, based on the unquestionable harm done to soldiers by simply participating in combat, isn't there a response to the war movement that pursues nonviolent means to accomplish change?" Of course there are groups of people who protest wars, and of course there are countless studies about the effects of war on a person's humanity (NOTE: read this), but why have I never heard of any correlation between the two? Perhaps I haven't been listening. God knows I'm horribly, inexcusably preoccupied with myself most of the time, though I'm trying to become less so. I guess I'd just like to see a bit more consideration made towards these things... it seems like the responsible response. OTHER THINGS TO READ: Brian McLaren: Sorrow Can Make Us Better, Not Bitter Jim Wallis: 'No One Deserves a Tragedy' //