Children
Everything Changes, Or Does It?
Nature always inspires me to think deep thoughts. I often find myself really pondering things that maybe I wouldn’t have, had I not taken a moment to stop and look out my window.
I was thinking about the changing of the seasons today. Change is all around us constantly.
Consider what we hear daily. We say things like “nothing stays the same” and “it’s a change for the better”, or “change is inevitable”. There is also the popular phrase “don’t be afraid of change”. With so many things changing around us, isn’t it a wonder that we have a never-changing God? He also gave us his unchanging Word in the Scriptures, for us to learn more about Him. Continue reading
Movie Psychics: Villains, Freaks, Heroes
Psychics and mediums in the movies are traditionally depicted as shrewd, flaky or simply evil. To this day it remains the exception to the rule to find a decent film or television show that genuine psychics will be able to relate to. Very few films in the archives offer a reasonably authentic representation of the ordinary psychic’s true life experiences.
The range of stereotypical stock characters in film is almost never-ending: from the typical dumb blondes and computer-hacking geeks, to corrupt Catholic priests, zany black cops, Las Vegas mobsters, flamboyant gay men, conspiring politicians, sex-obsessed teenagers and bombastic corporate executives with fat cigars.
Of course, psychics and mediums also make the perfect stereotype. We are ideal to be cast in the role of the satanic villain, or merely as an odd source of comic relief. For example, Whoopi Goldberg’s madcap portrayal of Oda Mae Brown, the fraudulent medium in Ghost (1990), was so well-received after the film’s release that she won a Golden Globe for her hilarious antics, as well as an Academy Award!
Hollywood relies on these stereotypes to increase box office success. Portraying misrepresented characters in a one-dimensional manner has a much wider audience appeal. Sadly, it also leads to ignorance, misconception, prejudice and discrimination. Continue reading
All That Cumbersome Impossibility
If you can change just one thing about the world we live in, what would it be?
The typical response from most people would probably be something along the lines of a standard beauty pageant response, such as ‘world peace’ or ‘global warming’.
Sure, these are all noble causes, but do they solve more than one problem?
What if there was an often overlooked and a very basic adjustment we could all make, something that could potentially revolutionize the society we live in? I mean, what would happen if we all simply gave up our attempts at trying to control, manipulate and coerce others into being what we expect them to be, or to behave in ways we expect them to? It may not solve all our problems, but it might just get us much further than we currently imagine possible. Continue reading