Freedom of Choice?

I’m starting to believe that our lives may be already written out for us. If you proposed this idea to me, even just about a year and a half ago I would dispute it strongly. But the more I think about things that happen in my life and about who I am, and about the lives of others, there are so many more things that have shaped and made me who I am that I have absolutely no control over.

I can argue that I’ve made the choice to be me, that I’ve made my decisions in life that determine who I am. To a certain extent I can say it’s true, but on the other half of that equation I have to admit that there are many things I have no choice over that makes me who I am. I didn’t even get to choose my name.

At birth, here are some things that have already been determined about me:

—Parents. I am born to my mom and dad. Everything has been passed down to me. Whether it be their genes, their values, their work ethic, their morals, their values, their beliefs, their character, whether I agree with them or not, I still have been shaped by them. (Thank God my mom is not Britney Spears or my father is Charlie Sheen! Can you imagine? Eek!)

—Time Period. My life from birth to death is in between the 20th and 21st Century and the technology and the events that occur during this time frame all shape my way of thinking. The fact that you’re reading this and I am even able to post this on the internet is because we live in this time period. It would have never happened if I was born let’s say the 17th Century. The word “blog” didn’t even exist and I would probably be sharing my thoughts on a letter and it would take a galloping horse for you to receive it.

—Location of Birth. I am born and live in the United States. We can clearly see the cultural differences of someone born in another country. I could have been born in Africa or Asia or Europe or South America and my life would be completely different.

—Gender. There is an identity in gender and I did not get to choose whether to be male or female. I won’t comment too much about this, but my life would be vastly different if I were a girl. What if I was hot?!~ I wonder... Let's say I was born a girl and I can see myself, would I have a crush on her? Or a crush on myself? Weird! HAHA

—Birth Order. I’ve been reading about this and it’s so interesting how our birth order determines our personality. Being the eldest child, there are characteristics that come with that and from research it seems to suggest that the first child is awesome! haha :P

Another point I would like to add are friendships and relationships… I did get to choose whom I want to be friends with, but there are people that I've met that I did not get to choose to meet. There are people that come in and out of our lives and that initial encounter was out of my control. Looking back on my relationships it seems like, when two people meet for the first time it happens along the lines of “We were in the same class” or “We attended the same church” and it’s not like I chose for them to be there at that time.

I don’t know why I write all this. And I don’t want to sound fatalistic and suggest that we have no choices in life, but I just believe that there is a sovereignty that guides and that there is an author to our lives and the events that take place in history.

Goodbye!~

Tumblr and Now This

Hello!

So I decided to start a blog. Yes I have a Tumblr, but Tumblr is very much image driven and although I love the story telling aspect through imagery, it's not much of a writing community. So... this is where I will write and tumblr is where I will share what I think are "cool" images and things I come across. Oh I love the internet! So many possibilities!

Pride

It’s interesting the types of clients I encounter. Sometimes you come across a client who think they know what they are doing and they tell me exactly how to design. They tell me their “brilliant” concept, they order me to use certain colors, they tell me how it should look, what typeface it should be in. These are the worst types of clients you can have. Because they really are not the client, they are the designer. And you have to ask them why they hired me in the first place, when they think they can do everything themselves and are unwilling to reason. And although they do not know much about design, they think that they do and that’s the worst part.

I thought this was just common in the area of the visual arts, because for some reason people think that they are brilliantly creative because they took an art class in college or own photoshop. But I talk with my dad and he tells me stories about how his patients tell him how to treat them. They diagnose their own problem, they give themselves a prescription and the solution, and they order him to carry out the task. And that's just ridiculous. Cause what do they know right?

But I also think this is how alot of us treat God and is our attitude towards Christ. Rather than have Him tell us what’s wrong with us, we diagnose our ourselves. We order Him around. Or worse, we say there is nothing wrong with us. Rather than have Him save us, we try to do good things to try and save ourselves. And we consider ourselves brilliant for doing so.

Content & Form

My bookshelf consists generally of two types of books. One being on the subject of design and the other on Christianity. While the books on design tend to look great with every page being so visually well thought out and a pleasure to look at with even the portfolios and margins being considered, many of the books on Christianity look really boring and may even go as far to use the word hideous. Insensitive to eyes of the reader, the book cover is an eye sore, and even inside the pages, the text is typeset usually too big and the margins nearly bleeding to the end of the page. But what I absolutely love about these books and why I keep them on my shelf is it’s content. The content is SO rich and wonderful! I tend to lean heavily on how something looks, for it’s my job to interpret content and give it form for someone to engage in. But I truly believe that content is king! Ideally I would want the form to look great and the content to be great, but in the end content wins. I can look at a piece of design and it may look great! It may make me want to drool and engage in it immediately. But if it’s not saying anything or pointing to a greater idea, it’s just eye candy.

That same idea goes for people. For they always say not to judge a book by its cover. The exterior is merely a facade and not always a true representative of one’s character. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best when he said he had a dream that people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. And if I’m honest with myself, I make judgements all day everyday based on how people look, without really getting to know somebody for who they really are. And that my friend, is absolutely foolish. For I may be passing up diamonds in the rough, and exchanging it for fool's gold.