Newbe... thats me

It's not so much that I avoid journaling (to quite the contrary), it is more so that I have never journaled for you, the reader of this blog. Is it conceited of me to assume a reader will be interested enough to read this blog? I still think the whole concept is sort of perversion of the book of journals that I have come to know and love. Perverted because I will more than likely be writing to be read rather than to express pure thought... but over the next 4 weeks you (the assumed reader) might find some of it interesting and complementary of Will's journal entries because though we are extremely similar in most aspects of personality, our individual selfs are often very different.

so here goes...

Rain has been the theme of my good ole Texas for the past 5 weeks. During that time I worked in a summer program at Pine Cove which is a Christian camp very near to Tyler. It took me a while to forget that home was so nearby as I hauled dead trees, cleared brush, and basically worked to exhaustion every day. The beauty of manual labor is that it gives the worker time to think about many aspects of life that he might not otherwise consider. It was the first week that I used my machete to clear an entire levy of baby pine trees. Two thoughts came from this work:
1. The same machete and swing motion were the primary weapons in much of the Rwandan genocide (and countless other African conflicts). How fortunate I am to have been forced to use the machete for something that doesn't compromise my morals or devotion.
2. I realized that work programs are the American way of simulating the stresses under which many youth in third world countries are constantly subjected. It seems like African boys become men at an unfortunately early age because of these stresses. On the contrary, we American boys sometimes never become the men that we are called to be...equally unfortunate, if you ask me.

and now I eat dinner commemorating the birthday of dear brother willy which we will have the pleasure of celebrating in the Big ole Apple... I'll get him some really nice street food.