this past week i went to Washington DC for about half a day, which if you've ever been to DC you know that this is not enough time to do much. so i went to the Capitol and the Holocaust Memorial Museum. the Capitol was amazing. the architecture is simply incredible, such detail and precision...it's absolutely amazing, and just so much history! geez...i can't even tell you how amazing that was. and the Holocaust Museum......completely breathtaking! it broke my heart, but it was SO interesting. they had so many artifacts, it was incredible! they had diaries from victims, railcars that deported jews were transported in, bunks from auschwitz (one of the main concentration camps), shoes and luggage that were taken from the victims when they arrived at camps...it was just so amazing to be among these things that once belonged to these people that suffered so horrifically because of intolerance. it made me sick, but was awe inspiring at the same time. i can't even explain it. but i was really touched by it. i am so glad their stories are being told. there is no justification for what has been done to them, but this at least honors everything that they've suffered and is fighting the likelyhood of it ever happening again. i have a feeling this is one of my new major movements. i'm always up for supporting a good cause, and avoiding genocide and protecting human rights is a very worthy cause. it really is something that i feel strongly about, so expect more on the subject!

while there i got a card that had an excerpt from The Diary of Anne Frank, which sadly enough i still haven't read!!! i want to so badly though...but the excerpt was simply amazing so i really feel i need to post it.

"Do any of those people in their warm and cozy living rooms have any idea what kind of life a beggar leads?

Do any of those "good" and "kind" people ever wonder about the lives of so many of the children and adults around the? Granted, everyone has given a coin to a beggar at some time or another, though they usually just shove it into his hand and slam the door. And in most cases the generous donors think it's disgusting to touch that hand! Am I right or not? then, afterwards, people are amazed that beggars are so shameless! Wouldn't you be shameless too if you were treated more like a dog than a human being?

It's terrible, really terrible, that people treat each other this way in a country like Holland, which claims to have such a good social system and so many decent, upstanding citizens. In the eyes of most of the well-to-do, a beggar is an inferior being, somebody who's scruffy and unwashed, pushy and rude. But have they ever asked themselves how beggars got to be that way?

You should try comparing one of those beggar children with your own children! What's the difference? Yours are pretty and neat, the others are ugly and ragged! Is that all? Yes, that's all, that's the only difference. I you dressed one of those urchins in nice clothes and taught him good maners, there wouldn't be a whit of difference!

Everyone is born equal; we all come into the world helpless and innocent. We all breathe the same air, and many of us believe in the same God. And yet...and yet, to many people this one small difference is a huge one! It's huge because many people hae never realized what the difference is, for they would have discovered long ago that there's actually no difference at all!

Everyone is born equal; we will all die and shed our earthly glory. Riches, power and fame last for only a few short years. Why do we cling so desperately to these fleeting things? Why can't people who have money more than enough for their own needs give the rest to their fellow human beings? Why should anyone have to have such a hard life for those few short years on earth?

But above all, a gift should never be flung in someone's face---every person has a right to kindness. Why should you be nicer to a rich lady than to a poor one? Has anyone ever studied t

I wrote this in my journal July 4th....sorry I'm so late posting it. and sorry I haven't made a post in a while. My move has been pretty crazy and stressful so I'm just starting to get back to my computer.




Growing up in Texas, I lost my sense of adventure and my wonder at the beauty of nature. Other than sand dunes and some mediocre trees, there's really not that much to inspire either of the above. I regained both today. For Independence Day my family and I went to Mohican State Park in...well...somewhere in Ohio. We picnicked (is that how you spell that? is that even considered a real word?...) by a beautiful creek with a big covered bridge that you can stand on to overlook the creek and all of the trees and just the beauty of nature. That was incredible. There simply is NOT beauty like this in Texas. End of story. I was gone so long that I had completely forgotten how incredible nature is up here! It's simply breathtaking. God sure knew what He was doing. I'm not sure what He was thinking when He got to Texas, though....

I also discovered my new favorite place in the world: Clear Fork Gorge, which is also in Mohican State Park. It is over 1000 feet wide and 300 feet deep and has been largely untouched by humans and contains several kinds of trees which have become very rare. It also holds historical significance because Johnny Appleseed apparently travelled around the Gorge regularly while tending his apple orchards nearby. Despite all these impressiveish facts...it is simply gorgeous. I sat at the overlook for over an hour just staring at the Gorge in pure awe. It really takes your breath away and puts you in your place.

I've grown up in such a self-centered, destructive society that I've become so complacent to just how small I am in this huge world. In a world where I am surrounded by cleared off, paved streets and commercialized buildings, houses, and transportation, it has become so easy for me to get stuck in an artificial mindset. The Gorge was so big and beautiful that it really set me straight from this mindset. When you can hop in your little regulated, man-made, manufactured car and travel down man-made roads and know exactly where you are going and what you are doing, it is so easy to feel definatively iportant and like you've conquered the earth. With no trees in sight, nothing but high rises and fancy apartments, you must have conquered nature, right? There can't be anything else, can there?

This is where we need to wake up! Going to the Gorge helped me to realize that I haven't conquered nature; I'm nowhere close! It is so vast and powerful and majestic and we are so small and insignificant! To me, it represents the vastness and majesty of it's Creator. We feel like we're above needing something all powerful, but when we truly experience it, it just breaks us and rebuilds us into something beautiful.

Instead of seeking to conquer nature, why not let it conquer us? Instead of running away from our Creator, why not run TO Him? Take it in! Let it overwhelm you! If I could have everyone experience things in their lives, it would, by far, be the simple things: to look at the trees, to watch rain hit a lake or creek or river, to feel the wind on your face, to hear the wind in the trees, to feel the rain on your skin, to hear the birds chirping...to experience nature at it's fullest....to experience the Creator.

I do not believe that to experience life is to be successful in your job or have a good looking spouse or well behaved children, although none of these things are bad. I believe that to experience life...to truly experience it at its fullest....is to strip it of luxury and all things artificial and to simply feel life and nature and God sheerly overwhelm you. To let it take your breath away. To live it.


.love.
sarah.elaine

the small creation

so, i find myself more and more often getting into moods where i just wnat to be by myself and read, journal, and/or just listen to music. i'm becoming more and more introverted. yet becoming more and more loving and accepting/extroverted. i'm not really sure how to explain it. i'm not really sure what to think of this new introversion either because it's so different from how i've always been.
for almost all my life i've been EXTREMELY extroverted and out in the open with myself. i've always been very codependent and couldn't be by myself for very long. but now i only want to be by myself sometimes.

i've also become ridiculously curious! i always want to learn something new and find new things to love and appreciate. other religions and cultures and schools of thought have always intrigued me but i never really got into any of it and looked things up and such until now.



i've just become really deep and introverted recently. i don't completely understand it...but i like it! i love to read again! for so long i hated reading and didn't want anything to do with it but now all of a sudden i want to read everything i can get my hands on!!!!

is anyone else going through anything of the sort? or anything unrelated even...i really want to hear others' thoughts!!! i want to hear from you!!!