Jesus: "Did I Stutter?"

I'm totally addicted to Pinterest and was browsing through the Geek section today - one of my favorites - when I found this image (sorry about the language):

Judging by the word choice, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this wasn't created by a church-going Christian. And when I thought about that, it made an even bigger impression on me.

Let's face it: when people leave the church, it usually isn't because of something Jesus did - it's because of something the people in the church did. People leave because they feel hurt, unloved, betrayed, abandoned, all sorts of reasons. But if you talk with a non-believer, or someone who practices a different faith, most of them still have respect for Jesus and his teachings, even if they don't follow him. There's a popular quote attributed to Gandhi that says: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ." He's right - so many of us don't act like Christ as much as we should, myself included. With all of the talk about LGBT rights and gay marriage and President Obama's recent announcement of supporting equal rights for all citizens, I've been thinking about what it means to follow Christ and to know and love people who practice a lifestyle different than mine. 

I came to this conclusion: I can love my friends and be okay with them loving whomever they want to love because at the end of the day, Jesus loves them, too. I don't have to agree with it or practice the same things they do but I should (and do) continue to love them, without judging, the same way I want people to love me. 

So when I saw this message today, I thought about the fact that it probably was made by a non-Christian, and the fact that they seem to understand the teachings of Christ better than we church-goers do. When Jesus said "Love your neighbor as yourself" he didn't condition it with "... unless they're gay, then don't worry about it" or "... except for people who are practicing Muslims; they don't like me so I won't like them, either" or even "... but if they've done something to tick you off, by all means talk about them behind their backs." No, Jesus quoted Leviticus, where Moses hears God say, "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD." Period, end of discussion. Did I stutter?

International Quirkyalone Day

I first learned about the concept of the Quirkyalone in an Advanced Composition class I took in college (I was an English major, we had lots of classes with ambiguous titles). The course revolved around a textbook of essays, including Sasha Cagen's People Like Us: The Quirkyalones which I immediately loved.

A Quirkyalone is the term Cagen coined to describe herself, a perpetually single romantic. On her website she defines a quirkyalone as "a person who enjoys being single (but is not opposed to being in a relationship) and prefers being single to dating for the sake of dating. It’s a mindset. Quirkyalone is not anti-love. It is pro-love. It is not anti-dating. It is anti-compulsory dating." I love that she promotes the idea of being content with oneself whether you are in a relationship or not. Since the essay was first published in 2000 it has become a world-wide movement, including books, meet-ups, and even a holiday - which just so happens to fall on Valentine's Day.

You can learn more about this movement at the website, quirkyalone.net. And if you think you might be a Quirklyalone, you can take the quiz here and find out! (I'm a 98, Very Quirkyalone, in case you were wondering.)
 

Marty

TCM is celebrating their 31 Days of Oscar right now, which means all the best movies are on TV, and I was finally able to watch a little black-and-white film that I love. I've only seen it once before, one weekend on campus when I was alone in the dorm, and have been trying to find it playing ever since. When I found out it was Oscar month I checked the list and sure enough, it was playing! I even set it as an event on my phone so I wouldn't forget to watch it.

The movie is Marty, a 1955 release staring Ernest Borgnine as a lonely butcher who still lives with his mother. All 5 of his siblings are married, and all the neighborhood ladies tell him he should be ashamed of himself for still being single. He goes out one night and meets a nice girl, and even though everyone wants him to get married no one approves of her--she's too college-educated for his mother and not pretty enough for his best friend. In the end he ignores both of them and calls her up to go out again because he knows what a great girl she is.

There are a lot of things I love about this movie. First of all, the characters are plain, everyday people. It's not like Ryan Reynolds is playing the down-and-out guy next door, because no one really believes that. I could believe Borgnine as a sensitive, 35-year-old bachelor.

Second, the match made sense. As much as I love a good romantic comedy, there are way too many films where the average guy gets the hot girl. Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up, Kevin James and Amber Valletta in Hitch, Adam Sandler and anyone who's ever played opposite him. It frustrates me that in today's media a man can be accepted just how he his, but a woman has to be perfect. How many movies do you know where an average woman lands an out-of-her-league partner--without having a major makeover first? (Note to self: write a novel with this premise, adopt it into a blockbuster movie, make millions.) In this film, the woman who plays Marty's love interest (Betsy Blair) isn't especially pretty, but he likes her anyway and doesn't ask her to change.

Betsy Blair as Clara in Marty

Which brings me to my third favorite thing: Marty's views on marriage. While they're out dancing he tells Clara (Betsy's character) how well his parents got along, and that even though his father was "ugly", his mother adored him. He says something along the lines of, "If you're going to be married to someone for 40 or 50 years, you've got to be more than good looking." That is such great advice.

If you're flipping through the channels and see Marty on, be sure to watch it. It's one of the most realistic and uplifting romances, even in its simplicity.