Mr. Ken Allen

Look at me - two days in a row! Lisa, you should be proud. This post is of no real significance however it really made me chuckle.

Meet Mr. Ken Allen. Ken Allen is an Orangutan that used to live in the San Diego Zoo. Today I read about Ken Allen for the first time.


Apparently Mr. Ken Allen wasn't your average primate. He was an escape artist. No matter what zoo keepers did, they could not keep him in his cage. One of the zoo keepers said, "He never seemed to mind being led back into his enclosure - he just seemed to enjoy the challenge of finding his way out." A psychiatrist actually said, "Ken Allen appeals to everyone's sense of breaking out. The irony of it is that he doesn't really want to leave. He breaks out, but doesn't go anywhere." He would simply wander around the zoo looking at the other animals. Zoo keepers often dressed as normal visitors at the zoo to try to catch Ken Allen sneaking out, but Ken was too smart for that. Eventually the other orangutans began to follow Ken Allen's lead and break out too. Ken Allen was eventually dubbed Harry Houdini. He was loved by many and eventually there was a fan club, t-shirts, bumper stickers, and songs created as a tribute.

Sadly, Ken Allen died in December 2000, but let's not forget the lesson. Break out! Take a moment to enjoy the world around you. Enjoy the challenge. Try something new. Be a leader. Spur others to action.

...Maybe this post has some eternal significance after all. Thank you, Mr. Ken Allen, for the life lesson. Who knew such wisdom could be gained from an orangutan. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. We are all God's creation.

Today I choose to live.

I don't understand true desperation. Here in the United States, I have everything I need. We are a blessed people. Here I have food. Shelter. Love. Hope. Many places in the world are not that fortunate.

I teach World Literature. Each day I post a current event from CNN for my students to see. I do this because I know that teenagers in particular are egocentric and I want them to realize that there is a big, big world out there. Today I came across a video of Haiti - a year after the earthquake. They are still in devastation, living out of tents. They are doing their very best to just live. Nevermind excess. Nevermind love and hope. They are struggling for life. I don't know if I will ever truly understand that devastation. At least I pray that I don't. The reporter spoke with a man who worked with computers and lived in a nice apartment. Now, he was living in a tent making paintings to sell in the street. He described the devastation and ended the broadcast with, "The country can do nothing. The government can do nothing. Only God can save us now."

Imagine... Imagine that level of heartbreak. Imagine that level of hopelessness. I do not believe my mind is capable of such a task.

"Then the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send YOU to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the children out of Egypt? He said, Bit I will be with you and this shall be a sign to for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses saidt o God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I am the I am. And he said, Say this to the people of Israel, I am has sent me to you" Exodus 3:7-15

Now I would be a fool to think that we can all run to Haiti and bring the country back to life. But we can do our part here. We can pray. We can love. We can hope. We can be their life. Brennan Manning said something along the lines of, you have two choices when you come across a person each day... you can be life or you can be death. Today... I choose life. Life for Haiti. Life for my family. Life for my friends. Life for my coworkers. Life for the man in front of me that refuses to turn on his directional. Today I choose to live.

Beautiful?

And just like that it is January. I have started many additions to this blog though none have made it to the final cut. It really has something to do with the fact that I'm so easily distracted. Or maybe it has something to do with my many excuses. Oh.. I can't write today - I'm hungry. I'm tired. Andy's home. I have to work. I can't possibly open up my computer. Scrapple smells and he may sit near me.

Actually, that was my excuse until a few minutes ago... He does smell. And he is sitting on my feet.

Regardless, here I am. I will write about the very first thing I think about. Guilt. I feel guilty. I have any unfinished projects and very little time and motivation. I'm floating and not really living. Just here. And there. But not anywhere in particular for any one reason. Also - I cannot seem to finish the book Eat, Pray, Love. Not sure why. I keep fighting with it. Moving on to something else and then meandering my way back. (I just smiled when I wrote the word meandering.. I like that word) (See what I mean about easily distracted!) Anyway, I picked up the book again today and found a quote that I had written on the back cover.

"You were given life; it is your duty (and also your entitlement as a human being) to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight."

In this time. In this period of my life that feels so... blah (for the lack of better word), I will choose to find something beautiful. Even if it is the slightest thing. So... first post of the year, I shall.

1. I have a very handsome husband who loves me unconditionally.
2. I have a cute, albeit, stinky dog who probably loves my husband more than me but keeps me company and sits on my feet from time to time.
3. A job. Many people do not have one and I am incredibly thankful that I do.

...I think I will start small. I am hungry. Distraction. Crap. Oh well. Forgiveness is always necessary when you are desperate to become the person you are supposed to be.