Last week, I spent six days in Washington, D.C. with the National Student Leadership Conference. It was an incredible experience. But this post isn't about that; my trip did help to expose me more deeply into something I've been contemplating for quite some time.
On a bus from our residence at American University--traveling to a leadership ropes course--I sat alone in the very back, eyes drinking in the blur passing to my left. Only on Wisconsin Avenue can Neiman Marcus and Microsoft be right next door to each other. Only with NSLC can eighty kids from around the States live together for a week in harmony. Only in our nation's Capitol can polar-opposite individuals convene repeatedly and somehow, eventually, wind up carrying on America's tradition of incomparable fortune.
And then it occurred to me: these are juxtapositions. These are the things that I've been fascinated by; the intimately, intricately connected ideas of sometimes overwhelming contrast. D.C. happily hosts any number of startling contradictions on a daily basis, and there's no other city quite capable of doing so so swimmingly. It's symbolic.
We're constantly surrounded by juxtapositions in the 21st century, it's just that D.C. makes you actually consider them. In fact, I believe that human beings encounter contradictions and anomalies more often now because it's 2015. Think about it. Technology especially brings this battle to light: the precarious conflict of balance between good and evil. Various websites have been used to help stimulate popularity of fledgling small businesses, but very similar pages ensnare naive youth into devotion to ISIS or involvement with the horrors of human trafficking. Social media is often used to keep old friends in touch, but Facebook is blamed for a large percentage of American divorces.
A lot of the time, these types of oppositions are negative. But, they're inherently unavoidable in this day and age. In theory, juxtapositions could be efficiently used to kill two birds with one stone, not necessarily harbor controversy.
In church on Tuesday, the speaker talked about how God could have put us anywhere in history that He cared to. He could have created us to live in ancient China, for that matter. I was actually quite caught off guard when Waldron started considering this fact. I was hesitant to think of what life might actually be life in any other place but right here, right now.
But, clearly, God didn't do that. He carefully constructed our present lives the exact way they should be. You and I happen to be functioning in June of 2015, and June of 2015 happens to come with lots of strings attached.
True, we're living in an era of juxtapositions and conundrums and controversies, but we might as well make the most of it.
On a bus from our residence at American University--traveling to a leadership ropes course--I sat alone in the very back, eyes drinking in the blur passing to my left. Only on Wisconsin Avenue can Neiman Marcus and Microsoft be right next door to each other. Only with NSLC can eighty kids from around the States live together for a week in harmony. Only in our nation's Capitol can polar-opposite individuals convene repeatedly and somehow, eventually, wind up carrying on America's tradition of incomparable fortune.
And then it occurred to me: these are juxtapositions. These are the things that I've been fascinated by; the intimately, intricately connected ideas of sometimes overwhelming contrast. D.C. happily hosts any number of startling contradictions on a daily basis, and there's no other city quite capable of doing so so swimmingly. It's symbolic.
We're constantly surrounded by juxtapositions in the 21st century, it's just that D.C. makes you actually consider them. In fact, I believe that human beings encounter contradictions and anomalies more often now because it's 2015. Think about it. Technology especially brings this battle to light: the precarious conflict of balance between good and evil. Various websites have been used to help stimulate popularity of fledgling small businesses, but very similar pages ensnare naive youth into devotion to ISIS or involvement with the horrors of human trafficking. Social media is often used to keep old friends in touch, but Facebook is blamed for a large percentage of American divorces.
A lot of the time, these types of oppositions are negative. But, they're inherently unavoidable in this day and age. In theory, juxtapositions could be efficiently used to kill two birds with one stone, not necessarily harbor controversy.
In church on Tuesday, the speaker talked about how God could have put us anywhere in history that He cared to. He could have created us to live in ancient China, for that matter. I was actually quite caught off guard when Waldron started considering this fact. I was hesitant to think of what life might actually be life in any other place but right here, right now.
But, clearly, God didn't do that. He carefully constructed our present lives the exact way they should be. You and I happen to be functioning in June of 2015, and June of 2015 happens to come with lots of strings attached.
True, we're living in an era of juxtapositions and conundrums and controversies, but we might as well make the most of it.