Make a difference in the world

In a shocking change of events, something is bothering me.

We all know that there is a huge political uproar going on in Iran right now. I will be honest, I don't really know what is going on. I know that there was an election and people feel that the results might be rigged and that there have been deadly protests. Anyways.

So people are showing 'support' for the cause in many ways, one of which is changing their Twitter icons to green. Other people are wearing green. I think support causes is great (who doesn't?), but I feel that this is an overly simplistic way to support a cause (mostly because it doesn't help or do anything).

Perhaps this all started a few years ago with LIVEstrong bracelets. Granted, the bracelets raised millions of dollars for cancer research. People donated a dollar and got a clear conscience (that word doesn't seem spelled right). Just like now people turn their twitter icon green or change their twitter location to Tehran (in an effort to confuse officials, like that is going to work). These are simple things that make us feel like we are making a difference. Heck, look at this list of bracelets you can now buy to support various causes (like I love my cat is a REAL cause). John Deere has a bracelet. Why on earth do people need to support John Deere? I have nothing against the bracelets, just against people spending a dollar and feeling like they are making a difference while we have people around the world ACTUALLY making a difference.

ACTUALLY make a difference. I wore a ONE bracelet for about 3 years. The ONE organization is an organization I believe in a ton, but I also supported a charity along with it. I didn't simply just pay a dollar or join a group on Facebook and consider myself a supporter. People need to go out and make a difference. Charities doing it one dollar at a time are doing it the right way, people paying a dollar to feel like a contributing member are not. Maybe you don't have a lot of money, then donate time. Maybe you don't have a lot of time, then donate money. Find a cause, get behind it, and ACTUALLY make the world a better place.

And don't even get me started on the ribbons people put on cars...

Twitter me this...

I have a beef with people that hate Twitter. I don't care if people join Twitter, but many people seem to hate twitter for no reason. Much of the folks opposition against Twitter is completely unfounded and shows that they simply don't use it. I don't give my opinion on women's deodorant because I don't use it, why should people who don't use Twitter speak out against it so much?

Twitter serves a purpose. Like any service, you don't need to use it. I enjoy it because I like to see not what my friends are eating for breakfast, but instead what friends and other people (not Aston Kucher or however you spell his name) are reading and discussing.

My lovely friend Jessica Underwood tried to turn me onto Twitter over a year ago and I didn't catch on because it just didn't seem right for me. Many Twitter users start, but then fade (lack of nicotine I assume). Now I am hooked, and I enjoy it.

I love when people that speak out against Twitter actually try it and realize they were wrong. Bill Simmons from ESPN is probably the most famous people I have seen that was very against it until he tried it, and then he loved it.

I won't even recommend that you (if anyone even reads this) tries or uses it, but like anything else in life, perhaps save you opinions to things you actually know something about.

Only 30 days!?!?!

Where on earth have we gone as a society? This will be a less fun (not that any are fun) post, but this is on my mind.

Let us recap. A few years ago (I don't feel like researching stats) Michael Vick was arrested on dog fighting charges. Hopefully all 3 people that read this know that story. So Vick funded and participated in dog fighting, and is said to have killed dogs. He received something like 2 years in prison and likely will never play in the NFL again.

Donte Stallworth drives drunk, KILLS SOMEONE, and only received 30 days in prison.

I love dogs. I love people. But why FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, do we value dogs lives more than we value people's lives? The guy that Stallworth killed was someone's friend, father, husband (no idea), employee, or something else.

Here is my thought. I think that we let drunk drivers off because most people (not myself) can see themselves doing what Stallworth did, and not what Vick did. We love our dogs, and could never fund or participate in dog fighting. Most people drink, and sadly way too many drive drunk, especially here in Wisconsin. We don't view drunk driving as something 'we control,' although it is TOTALLY SOMETHING WE CONTROL.

Anyway. Just bothers me that you can drive drunk, kill someone, and get 30 days in jail. If Donte Stallworth hit and killed Katie and then received 30 days in prison I would be livid.

Random Weekend

The weekend took a different turn than we would have thought. The weekend started with us planning on going to the Wisconsin Humane Society to get 'wedding puppy.' The Humane Society had some amazingly cute puppies heading into the weekend, but by the time we fulfilled our weekend duties they were all gone, so no puppy yet.

We went to my Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. As someone that has been married for like 15 days I cannot even imagine what being married for 50 years would be like. They had 50 years worth of pictures out, and they were amazing. To think what has happened since 1959. To think of what happens in peoples lives during 50 years of marriage. I love being married (all 15 days of it so far), and I pray that we are blessed enough to even live that long, but holy cow that is a long time.

Katie and I just started watching Friends. As possibly my favorite TV show ever, should be fun to share that with Katie. Sad thing is that now she will find out that none of my jokes are original.

Instead of starting to train a wedding puppy, we started putting the house together. We made a lot of progress actually. We cleaned like crazy in the morning, and then I ripped up the flower beds while Katie continued to clean inside. You would not believe that amount of Ralph hair Katie vacuumed up.

Alright fine. Pretty boring. But I am over it.

Financial planning

One of the debates in the Marquart house right now is setting up our finances. Luckily, Katie and I agree and have the same vision for the future (a good thing for a married couple). Our main goal is to have as little debt as possible, which we have done a pretty good job of so far. We enter marriage with only three debts: my car, our house, and our student loans. Having no credit card debt is amazing, and we are truly blessed to be in that position.

Our main question right now is where to get our advice. I am naturally skeptical about financial advice because I don't like getting advice from people that have something to gain (this is true in many aspects of life). For example, if you meet with a 'financial expert' from Northwestern Mutual I bet they say you need more life insurance. If you meet with someone from Baird they will tell us to invest.

I was recently turned to Dave Ramsey by two of my favorite people (Josh and Jessica Brown). Dave Ramsey is a lot like me in that he favors paying off any debt before you really start saving because by not paying interest, in the long run you are saving. Makes sense to me to pay off things at 6.8% interest (student loans) instead of saving money at 3% interest.

As I sit here, I don't know what to do with our wedding money. Haven't counted it or anything, but there is enough there to need to make a choice. Pay off the car and put the rest to student loans? I wish I could get some HONEST advice and not advice from someone that is trying to maximize their commission.

Evangelical Disenchantment

Over the past year I have drifted from church. This is mostly because of my choice to live with Katie over the past 10 months. We knew that traditional religious folks would not like our choice. We knew they would jump to their own conclusions and assumptions, and we were right. When I started volunteering with Elmbrook's high schoolers, I was basically told I couldn't because of my choice. I was also informed that since we live together, our marriage is likely to fail. That discussion is for another day (and maybe an interesting post), but today, I discuss my my return to the church.

The other morning I decided to listen to Blackhawk's (my old home church) podcast of the previous week's message (or as some call it, a sermon), and I was amazed that the message was EXACTLY what I needed. Crazy how that works out.

The message started with Pastor Chris discussing a book he finished calls Evangelical Disenchantment. This is a book I plan on reading soon (assuming my library has it). Pastor Chris then moved onto discussing the sermon on the mount. I would recommend listening to Blackhawk's message if you are interested because it did an amazing job of discussing what it means to be the salt of the earth. This discussion was reassuring because I went from someone that had extremely strong faith, to someone that questioned theirs. Someone that always had a Bible around, to someone that doesn't even know where theirs is now.

The message also hits on how to spread the message. That is something I have always done. Christ has never been my issue, Christians have been. I believe Christians need to be normal in that they still watch sports, listen to good music... I don't believe that Christians should live in bubbles, only talk to each other, and judge from inside their bubbles.

Like most posts, this got off of topic. Sometime I will learn to keep my momentum and just roll, but I haven't learned that yet. Meanwhile, I hope by the grace of God that He has something in store for me. I didn't get the job I was a finalist for, but I did sign up to be a Big with Big Brothers and Sisters. Back to being a contributing member to society.