Some days, you need forty-four sunsets.

the crushing weight of total depravity can lead to insanity. i must move on to unconditional election. it's true: there is not a single damn reason for my salvation. not one.

I wanted to listen to something beautiful and undeserved, so I went to church and called my girlfriend.

One of my students was responding to a prompt that I put up: "What motivates you the most?" She wrote about how her mother was her biggest motivation. Here's an excerpt from her writing: "She doesn't need to tell me how much she loves me because all she does is something bigger than that word." I need to do more than I speak.

Today, we were reminding ourselves how great our class plant, Uncle Bob, is. We talked about how our lemon balm plant could be turned into herbal tea, that it can mitigate fever, anxiety, and even stress. One of the most amazing things about our plant is that it helps improve the memory of Alzheimer patients. As the excitement of our sharing began to quell, a lone hand rose. The student, a small, quiet, contemplative boy with a purpose behind every question, asked through his glasses, "Mr. Chun, can we ship plants to Mexico?" I told him I wasn't sure what the law said about sending live plants across the States into Mexico. I asked him why he wondered about such a thing. "Well, my grandfather has Alzheimer's and I wondered if we could send it to him." "Oh." "Do the leaves cure Alzheimer's?" I fought back my emotion and told him the research says it helps the symptoms, but has not been known to cure the disease completely. His expression did not seem to change, but my heart broke at my disappointing response. I quickly picked up: "I don't know if we can send an entire plant, but let's send him some leaves, so he can at least have some tea. It can help." I felt helpless. He gave me a courteous smile.

There's anger in my joints, and fight in my knuckles. Come close and hear them speak.

Wealth can't buy everything. Character and hunger are two of them. I'd rather have my kids grow up in the gutter and come out with some character and hunger, than be raised in the lap of luxury not knowing what the hell either of em were if they smacked him up side the head.