Nathan Key

I pulled this quote from a yahoo article that my friend Matt posted yesterday:

"President Barack Obama is counting on his $787 billion stimulus of tax cuts and increased government spending on big public works projects to help bolster economic activity later this year."

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One of my major complaints about the Bush Administration was that it held an economically unsustainable model of CUTTING TAXES and INCREASING SPENDING. Anyone who's ever done basic arithmetic should realize that continually cutting income while expenses continue to grow is the sort of thing that inevitably leads to debt.

And considering that our own national debt is in the trillions (and climbing), I firmly believe we've passed that threshold long ago and are now dabbling in financial risk that surpasses anything the world has ever seen.

I'm sure you'll recall that I'm no democrat, but I have argued somewhat favorably toward them in the past on the mere basis that they seem to know how to do basic math. They seemed to understand that when you increase spending you must increase taxes, too. Well, imagine my disappointment when I find out that this is apparently not President Obama's plan any longer. He has instead decided to follow the same lousy Bushinomic Principles by spending more and collecting less.

Man, I really hope someone reminds him that he's going to ruin us if he continues.

Now don't get me wrong- I wasn't looking forward to paying more taxes! I abhor the thought. I'd prefer the Libertarian model that cuts taxes AND government spending. But I still had this small bit of faith (and hope) that a change in the administration would bring about some sort of sensible financial policy that would balance our federal budget and begin reducing the national debt- even if it meant more taxes in the short term.

Well, I guess we can cross that dream out and throw it in the reality check file. And with this in mind, I'm going to continue to encourage my countrymen to look to a third parties in the future. Cause the "big two" just don't get it.

If you're planning to participate in this week's banner contest, be sure to have your entry in by tomorrow (THURSDAY) @ 11:59PM (EST). Anything submitted after that will be entered into the following week's competition.

Submit Entries HERE.

OH, and please make the banners 880px X 250px (I don't really want to resize them).

My good friend Tom and I don’t agree politically very often- so I’m really glad to be in his corner on the issue of the evils of the bailout money and the tragedy that our government is spending our tax dollars to salvage really awful, shortsighted, and greedy decisions within the financial district. I’m glad that we can also agree that the government has no right to keep a failing US Car industry afloat by stealing money from its citizens after they chose to support non-US brands instead.

While it’s shocking to me that we can throw out $700 billion at the financial district, I don’t really think that most people truly understand numbers this big. Billions of dollars are simply so much money that we can’t wrap our minds around it. We simply can’t garner the mental capacity to understand how much that really is.

And because we don’t really have the ability to wrap our mind around numbers that big, the media takes advantage of the situation and pulls data that makes us even more angry about the situation. Take, for example, the recent bonuses that AIG gave their upper tier executives. When we heard that they gave their executives Millions of Dollars in bonuses (paid out of the billions of bailout funds), it turned into hysteria.

Now, they’re reporting that $22 Million have been spent lobbying the government to relax some of the very restrictions that have been put in place to keep these sort of things from happening. We can’t help but freak out at this point. They’re seriously using MILLIONS that WE gave them to LOBBY for GREEDY ENDS?

-- HANG ON: I need to interject a side comment here for a moment to remind readers that I’m very much against restrictions and government intervention in the market, I think that Federal government should keep its head OUT of the private sector. But I also believe that corporations and big businesses have no right to buy off congress, either. When the government sticks its head into the market it’s almost always results in the kind of socialism that results in stagnation and poverty. When businesses (or religions) stick their head into government it almost always results in fascism and corporatism that results in stagnation and poverty. So, both are terrible. I wish they’d leave each other alone. :END of RANT --

OK, before we get too carried away, let’s stop our anger for a moment and put these monies into perspective.  $22 Million is a lot, right? Here’s what it looks like numerically:

$22,000,000.00

It’s a big number. More than any of us will probably see in our lifetime.
But let’s see how it stacks up against $700 Billion? Here's the two amounts next to each other.

$22,000,000.00
$700,000,000,000.00

OK, so $700 billion is obviously a lot bigger, right?

But these numbers are still so much bigger than the sort of money we're used to exchanging that it's still a bit hard to put these into perspective. So, let’s go back to 7th grade math for a moment and kill some of those extra zeros. This will result in a proportional set of numbers that are a little smaller- a little closer to what we might expect to interact with in our lifetimes.

$22
$700,000

These two sets of numbers are a little more manageable. I’ve spent $22 dollars within the past week.

But what about that $700,000?

I still feel like that sum is a little too big. It’s the cost of a really nice house rather than the sort of money that I’d be able to exchange on a frequent basis. So let’s make this number $700 instead. That’s more like the amount of money I might get in a paycheck (or paychecks depending on job).

$.02
$700.00

When we make these numbers comparable to what normal Americans interact with on a daily basis- it turns out to be about the same as a guy who takes his $700 paycheck (or to make the analogy even more pertinent takes a month’s worth of unemployment claims) and tries to put in his “2 cents” worth to a senator or representative.

Of course, the principle remains the same- “why would any of these businesses spend money that wasn’t theirs to begin with on things that are just going to make the public enraged?”

But when we put it in perspective these sums should actually beg a different question- Why does anyone need $700 BILLION dollars? What on earth did they do to get that far into debt that $22 million dollars of lobbying is comparably 2 cents- a sum so small that it doesn’t even seem to matter?

But another story here is that we need to be careful lest our heads and hearts and opinion be swayed by manipulated data from the media. Given the right perspective, it’s easy to believe things about certain individuals or governments or situations that aren’t actually the reality.

Take for example the “Swine Flu” thing that’s going around. Sure, we need to be careful because it’s a potentially lethal disease. But so is the regular flu. In fact, the regular flu kills off thousands of humans each year in the United States alone. So far there haven’t been ANY substantiated fatalities in the US from Swine Flu.

Which one is more dangerous? Which one should we truly be scared of?

Apparently, that doesn’t matter. The media needs to find a story that will make us tune into their broadcast. They need to create emotions and so they feed us swine flu hysteria and bring on their experts to remind us that the evil financial district is spending huge sums of money with the bailout we gave them.

Don’t get sucked in; do the math and check the facts.

And don’t freak out.

I know what it’s like to be unemployed. I was laid off in November and spent the next four and a half months searching, interviewing, and hoping for someone to give me a job. It was stressful, to say the least, but now I’m not only employed, I’m also leaving the job I took for a better one.

How did I do it?

1. I treated unemployment like a job

Every day, I followed a schedule similar to the one I kept when I was employed. I held a fairly rigid daily ritual of job hunting, blogging, networking, and resume targeting. I treated my unemployment checks like a salary (albeit a really small one). I was required to make a minimum of three employer contacts each week- but I tried to find that many per day.

2. I set up a SimplyHired.com RSS Feed

I have this theory that unless you’re first or last on the pile of resumes, you’re probably not going to get any attention. So, I subscribed to an RSS feed through SimplyHired.com that would alert me the moment anyone posted a job in the keywords I’d set. SimplyHired pulls jobs from all the major online job boards- sort of like the “google” of job searches. I’d have the opportunity to apply to these jobs the MOMENT they were posted instead of having to look for them or have them delivered by careerbuilder’s “we think this is a good fit” e-mail campaign.

3. I worked toward self-employment and self-improvement whilst unemployed

I learned new programs, wrote a LOT of blogs, wrote a ton of freelance articles (mostly pro-bono), and offered to help my church leadership team in any way possible. I needed to have something tangible that I could show for my day other than a completed application. I tried to target my self-improvement toward things that would be attractive to businesses (I’m an expert in ________ and I’m honing my skills by doing ______, _______, and _______ even when I’m not employed).

4. I didn’t try to begin a new career

When the economy is doing well and businesses have a lot of flexibility, you can branch out and try something new. But during a bad economy, it’s important to stick with what you know. Even if you’re not completely thrilled with what you do (or did) for a living, apply for jobs that utilize those things that you have a lot of experience doing. The fact is that people MUCH more talented that you are getting laid off from jobs they are better at. Fighting to be noticed when you have little or no experience isn’t going to work out very well. You’re competing against the best of the best, so try to target your job search at careers that you’re really suited for.

NOTE: This could be a very good time to go back to school if you want to gain learning and experience. But that’s different than getting a job. What I’m talking about is applying for jobs outside of your career path- rather than choosing this as the moment that you’ll go back to school.

5. I was respectful and encouraging to hiring managers and recruiters

When I interviewed with Liberty Mutual back in November, I didn’t get the job. But I sent a thank you note and asked the hiring manager to consider me in the future if a similar role was available again. A few months later, I touched base with him again to let him know how much I really enjoyed meeting him and that I’d love to work for him. He called me a month ago, before a Sr. Trainer Role was even published to the job boards and asked if I’d be interested. I’m going to begin working for him in a few weeks.

When I interviewed with Florida Virtual School, I told the hiring manager that she was the kind of person I wanted to work for.  We later agreed that it’s important to find someone who is valuable and find a job for them even if they aren’t suited for the job they’re interviewing for. I made it to the final round of interviewing and even though that position was filled by someone else, she had me come out and interview for another role that hadn’t been officially requisitioned yet- she liked me and wanted to find a place for me to work in her organization.

When I interviewed with Advantor, I was in the middle of interviewing with Florida Virtual School and so I told the hiring manager that even if I wasn’t available for employment, I’d be willing to come in and meet with her to help her narrow down the other candidates. She liked that and hired me because of it (coupled with my skills and abilities of course).

Contact hiring managers after interviews (even after they’ve given jobs to someone else) and ask for leads. Tell them you really want to work for them. Tell them that you’d love to be in contact again if anything comes up in the future. This isn’t desperation- it’s networking. It’s making friends.

People want to hire people who WANT to work for them.

6. I asked for honest feedback from interviewers and hiring managers

Toward the end of each interview I had, I’d ask something along the lines of:

"What reservations do you have about my ability to excel in this position?" Or "Is there anything about our conversations or my resume that sends a red flag that I might not be qualified or accomplished enough for this role?"

I did this for two reasons.
First, I wanted to clear up any concerns (it’s called Resolving Objections in the Sales Model).

Second, I honestly needed to know if I had the chops for the positions I was applying for. If you set your sites too high, you’re not going to get the results you’re looking for.

7. I learned how to wait

The biggest problem for those who are unemployed is that they don’t hear back for a long time regarding whether or not they’ve got the job (or even an interview). My good friend Brad told me early on in the process that hiring managers aren’t ONLY searching for someone t o backfill a position. They’re at work, working. They’re doing their job and they’re also shorthanded because they’re hiring. That means that it’s going to take a while for them to get back with you. They aren’t just sitting around waiting for you the same way that you’re sitting around waiting for them.

So, have patience.

Also, in a college class I took a few years back, I remember the professor telling us that for every ten thousand dollars in salary, you’re probably going to hunt for that many months to find a person to fill the position ($60,000=six months). So, it’s probably similar on the unemployed worker’s timeline, too. If I want to make $50,000 I may need to look for about 5 months before I begin getting a lot of attention.

Believe me, if you’re looking for roles you’re suited for and knocking ’em dead with encouragement and sincere thanks, the jobs WILL start coming. Seriously, I know, because I was unemployed just two months ago and now I’m about to leave my current job for a better one.

It’ll happen for you, too.

Taken from a letter written by Studdard Kennedy to his family during WW2 :

"The first prayer I want my son to learn to say for me is not, 'God, keep my Daddy safe', but 'God, make Daddy brave, and if he has hard things to do, make him strong to do them'.

Son, life and death don't matter, but right and wrong do.

Daddy dead is Daddy still. But Daddy dishonored before God is something to awful for words.

I suppose you'd like to put in something about safety too and Mother would like it too. Well, put it in afterwards, always afterwards. For it really doesn't matter as much as doing what is right."

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Studdard Kennedy was a chaplain during the war. An unarmed para-military person, working on the front lines with the men who served our country during the Second World War.

Now, I've heard about the sort of firefights that went on during WW2 thanks to my grandfather's stories (as well as an endless supply of cinematic displays from Spielberg and others who are passionate about war movies) so I'm fairly certain that being a medic or a chaplain must be some of the most nerve-wracking roles in the military. You faced the same dangers as the rest of them- without being able to defend yourself against attack.

That's guts.

And I'd honor those guys even without letters like the one above. But when I see the contents of Kennedy's letter- I'm shaken. Oh to be like the men who place honor, goodness, bravery, and strength before safety. They want to be safe, sure- but never at the cost of the aforementioned attributes.

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I don't know that I'm ever going to be in a war situation, but that doesn't lessen the impact of these words on my life.
I truly hope that my son will want me to be brave and strong rather than safe.
And even more than these- I pray that he'll want me to be good.

And I pray that I will be.

I’m sure that every community in the world is full of paradoxes and contradictions.

When we lived in Seattle, one that blew my mind was that the same folks who liked to attend Labor Union Rallies with slogans like “Cut a Tree, Save a Job” were also adamantly against cutting down trees because of the impact that harvesting lumber has on the environment.

What paradoxes and contradictions do you see in your own community?

Unlike Bradley at Ethical Exhibitionist, I think Susan Boyle matters.

When Susan Boyle walked onto the set of Britain’s Got Talent, she was 47 years old.

And she looked it.

When she told the judges that she had dreams of being a professional singer, the cameras panned over to select faces in the audience that thought it was a joke. They did their best to suppress their laughter, but it was useless. It was obvious to them that what was about to happen would be an epic failure.

We can’t blame them of course- it's classic talent show stuff to couple a few wonderful acts with an awkward, fumbling fool with illusions of grandeur. And this frumpy old lady with her round face and dated hair captured the image of comic relief. Everyone was certain that they were about to witness a train wreck. They were certain that Susan Boyle’s fifteen minutes of fame would be achieved by butchering a song in front of millions of viewers.

So when she dazzled them instead, the room exploded in joyful shock.

I’ve never seen a standing ovation that began within seconds of a song’s beginning. But here it was, only four notes into the song and the grand cheers began erupting from the crowd and here and there the audience began to rise from their seats in surprise and pleasure until the majority of the room was standing in awe of her performance.

Lisa Schwarzbaum, from Entertainment Weekly is still watching the youtube clip over and over again- weeping for joy each time. In a recap article, she writes that “Ms. Boyle let me feel, for the duration of one blazing showstopping ballad, the meaning of human grace. She pierced my defenses. She reordered the measure of beauty. And I had no idea until tears sprang how desperately I need that corrective from time to time.”

In an age where we often judge people by their looks and their ability to persuade us by how well they present themselves to us, I think Susan Boyle is a much needed wake-up call to the reality that beauty is more than aesthetics.

Within every one of us is a song or an idea that’s unique and wonderful to behold.

The fact that Boyle’s performance is one of the most-viewed videos up on Youtube (over 40 million views, at the time I’m writing this) is evidence that a story featuring something beautiful tucked into the most unlikely corner of this world is theme that resonates with all of us. It's why we also like Rudy, Cinderella, Princess Diana and every other narrative where the average person gets to be a hero. As we hear these stories, I think it causes us to reflect on our own, and we begin to understand that we have something worth sharing as well.

That's why Susan Boyle matters and that's why we want her to win.

Yesterday, I posted a political response to my experience with Slumdog Millionaire.
Today, I wanted to post a religious/spiritual response.

Love Finds A Way

I know that some may find it a bit silly that I cling to the notion that “Love covers a multitude of sins,” but as we see in Slumdog, it can. The main character Jamal endlessly pursues Latika, even though she’s been abused and used- even though she’s been violated and tossed around like some prize to be won- even though she flat out tells him that she wants something “more” and that it’s a fools dream to believe that love is really all they need.

There's something about the relentless pursuit of love that draws us into the story- allowing us weep over the heroes hardships and cheer over his successes. Perhaps it's because we all want to be pursued the same way- we all want to know that there's someone, somewhere that's willing to go through hell just to stand by our side.

It's basically the same story as Finding Nemo, Wallie, and every other fairy tale where the hero will do anything to be reunited with his love. It's the prodigal son and the parable of the lost sheep. And all of these stories are really about Christ. Capturing in story a metaphor regarding the pursuit of the Bride and His love for the Church (and humanity).

Time and time again, the people of God are referred to as prostitutes, adulterers, widows, mourners, oppressed, marginalized, villainous, depraved-

and loved nonetheless.

I think the real beauty of a film like Slumdog Millionaire (and the Christian Narrative) is that no wrong is too big to forgive and no pain is too great to separate us from the one who loves us.

Love will find a way.
Love wins.

So as Jamal persists, despite everything that’s thrown his way and sacrifices everything he’s got in order to find her and woo her back to him, I think his (fictional) story connects to our own. And as we long for someone to pursue us, I hope that it unites our hearts with the One who DOES pursue us relentlessly.

So, I finally watched the film Slumdog Millionaire over the weekend. I suppose that I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoyed ‘Pursuit of Happyness'- with a delighted melancholy regarding the single-minded focus of the hero’s pursuit of his desire and the tragedies that continue to keep him from the woman he loves.

Within the framework of the story, however, were elements of Indian culture that aren’t often considered by Westerners. And I’d like to take a moment to explain my own political and religious response to Slumdog Millionaire.

Today, I'll begin with my Political Response...

When Governments Get Big, They Protect Themselves First

A few scenes in this film made it quite clear that the police and government agents (of this film) were not really around to “serve and protect” all citizens-only the interests of the powerful, wealthy, and elite. As agents of the government, they sat idly while women and children were slaughtered by religious zealots and later arrested the main character merely because a television host assumed he was cheating.

This film was, of course, a work of fiction but it rings true with reality. In most cases, a government’s primary concern is protecting those with the most power. And often, this means protecting themselves rather than the people they represent. Here in the United States, our founding fathers tried to combat this by creating a system of government that respects the rights of the individual rather over the rights of the conglomerate. In our system, every individual is (supposedly) treated according to the Universal Rights that were bestowed upon us because we are human (rather than our station in life or the family we were born into).

But our government hasn’t been content with that and we see that more and more they are gaining power and status. In the name of “protecting” our people, they can now arrest just about anyone at the airport (or on the street) who they deem to be a threat, rather than assuming innocence until proven guilty.

I firmly believe that big governments spell trouble for our republic. And the ones who stand to lose the most are those who are the poorest and weakest. Those with power and influence are even overlooked and mistreated here in a country that’s supposed to treat people fairly- so how on earth are they going to fair when we give the government more rights and control over those they govern?

Stay tuned tomorrow, for a religious response to Slumdog Millionaire!

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Also, please be forewarned...

I couldn’t watch Slumdog Millionaire with my wife due to the violence against children within the film. None of the violence is condoned, but it’s pretty intense. Her maternal instincts set in and she had me turn it off.

Please take this into consideration before viewing the film, even though I'd recommend it.

My generous thanks to Richard Dahlstrom out in Seattle for finding/posting the following quote. He was our pastor when we were living there and he continues to be a great source of intelligent and spirit-filled instruction.

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The following note was found on the body of dead child in the Ravesnbruck concentration camp in Germany:

"O Lord, remember not only men and women of good will, but ill will. But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us, remember the fruits we have brought thanks to this suffering; our comradship, our loyalty, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this. And when they come to judgment, let the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness. Amen. Amen. Amen."

When I read this quote the other day, it shattered me to the core.

You see, for the majority of the world working toward goodness, righting wrong, and acting ethically is either a social or religious imperative. Most of us follow a set of moral or philosophical rules that are supposed to make us better people and most of us also do our best to invite the world to follow suit. Sometimes its through proselytizing our beliefs, or education, or even through force- stopping others from "evil" by the sword or the pen or the law and causing them to end their wickedness and move toward something better.

But that’s not really grace.

Grace is that child who witnesses the horrors of war- sees his sisters raped, tortured, and burned alive in a furnace and then earnestly prays to God that the patience, comradship, loyalty, courage, generosity, and greatness of heart that has grown within him are enough to cover the evil of those who enacted such violence against him.

In other words, it sort of like forgiveness by proxy- unattached to any sort of change of heart or behavior on behalf of those who need it. In this case, grace is not so much that the ill-willed oppressors repent, but that they are forgiven despite themselves, or even in spite of themselves.

Grace is the Son of God, dying on two planks of wood and crying out “Forgive them, for they know not what they do!”

And this is the aspect of Christianity that I find most compelling.

Grace, is ridiculous.

It's completely against human nature.

And yet, it’s undeniably one of the more important elements of Christ’s Spirit and the heart that He has for the world. Without it, I'm afraid, we'd all be sunk.