life

Chris Knight's avatar

 Something I read on a news/politics discussion forum last night that has stuck with me almost 24 hours later:

“The earth isn’t going to produce justice.”

Isn’t that the truth?

As much as things are wrong and we want to make them right, the sad fact is that this is a fallen and corrupted world.  No matter how much we long for it and try to bring it about, there is no lasting good.  There might be some temporary reprieve, it seems.  But it never lasts.  Wickedness will always prevail, at least until such time as Providence sees fit to directly intervene in our affairs.  Indeed, it seems that the more we strive for good, the more that effort is corrupted and brought to ruin.

What do we do, then?

Do the best we can.  Accepting that that’s the best we can do.  Deceive none.  Let your “yes” be yes ...

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And hey, I’ve got a dog too.
The Tramp.  Charlie Chaplin’s classic character.  Seemingly forever making his way from one set of experiences on to another.  A life of un-sedentary misadventures.  And that’s where I’ve wound up once more, also.
I’ve had to find out the hard way that my training and experiences in regard to working with adults in the mental health field, do not necessarily translate into something that can also work with some children.  And neither is my academic background as a student of secondary education pedagogy, plus time spent teaching middle schoolers, very adaptable toward helping young people with severe special needs.
There is much more that could be said about what happened but I’ll keep those thoughts to myself.  I believe that I was giving it my best, and I can hold my head high about that.  I’m a very hard worker, I always give
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Chris Knight's avatar

Actually I’ve had it for a very long time now (I think 2006).  I just haven’t done anything with it until this week…

Some friends suggested that I “increase marketability”.  So I’m putting myself out there in a way I might have not done before.  In assembling this I’ve become a bit astounded at all the experiences that have been racked up over the past decade or two.  In spite of having manic depression – or maybe because of it – I’ve wound up with a pretty impressive skills-set and collaborative history.  I also uploaded and included a portfolio of some of my video work, bits of which have never been seen by a wide audience until now (I’m particularly fond of the “Wacky Dead” clip).

Anyway, if you want to see the professional side of me, here’s my LinkedIn page.

 

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So for like the third or fourth time in my life I am entering the field of education.

I promise that I won’t read “The Call of Cthulhu” to second graders again.

(No, seriously, that’s what happened.)

Looking forward to taking young minds full of mush and molding them into critically thinking members of society.  Or playing a small part in it anyway 🙂

 

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Chris Knight's avatar

I am not a wise person.

There are many who possess far greater wisdom than I can ever contain in the few cubic inches of mind absent depression or mania.  And those who admit to knowing me will testify, Dear Reader: I have shared many matters I wrestle with on Facebook, hoping that among beloved friends some can lend a measure of that wisdom.
At first, that’s where this was meant to be: posted on Facebook.  But maybe this time I should cast a wider net.  Perhaps some of you who read this blog can provide the answers I seek.
Here it is: Should I want to have children?  Why should I want to have children?
Do I have the right to bring a child into this world?

It is no secret that for the vast majority of my life I have wanted to be a father.  To be entrusted

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Chris Knight's avatar

In the wake of last week’s tragic incident in Tuscon there have been reams of pages written about human nature, with one spin or another on the subject.

I haven’t read anything that is as poignant and beautiful as what Monsignor Charles Pope – pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian – has composed on his blog hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington.

Here’s an excerpt “Life is Worth Living: On the Strength and Resilience of the Human Person”…

One of the rights our modern age demands is the right to declare that certain lives are not worth living. In utero testing sometimes reveals the possibility or even the certainty of birth defects. Abortion is often recommended to mothers who carry “defective” children and sometimes that recommendation becomes pressure. It is said that almost 90% of families who receive a poor pre-natal diagnosis choose to abort.

And yet there are so

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Matthew Warner is the thinkin’ dude behind Fallible Blogma: his journal of faith, politics and fatherhood from a Catholic perspective. I have been rather enjoying Matthew’s insights, and one item in particular is well worth passing along to all two of my own blog’s regular readers. It’s a list of seven steps to take for a holier life, as observed and articulated by Mother Teresa (in the photo). You’ll have to visit the link to see Matthew’s compilation in earnest, but they’re seven measures that I’m gonna commit to trying to keep in mind on a daily basis…

1. Slow down
2. Make some room
3. Open your eyes
4. Put great love into the small things
5. Do not tire
6. Remember: It’s faithfulness, not success
6. Leave the rest to Jesus

Good things to remember, whether or not you are Catholic. And I very much appreciate ...

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Chris Knight's avatar

In no particular order, today I…

…saw the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace (it kicks seriously crazy cool boo-tay!!!)

…filmed a lot of footage for a commercial that I’m making for a new client.

…played Classic Battletech and had my derriere handed to me (especially after the legs were shot off my BattleMech).

…was told during rehearsal for the Theatre Guild of Rockingham County’s production of Oliver Twist that I had a great British accent and that I was channeling the perfect persona for my role as Mr. Sowerberry.

…got to meet Cecil L. Cline, the project manager for the Saturn V rocket program (he also worked on the Polaris and Poseidon missiles and the C-5A Galaxy transport plane in addition to many other engineering marvels) and received an autographed copy of his book A Soldier’s Odyssey.

Not too bad a way to fill up a ...

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Right now TNT is running Titanic. I was just telling Lisa how I saw that movie on the day after it came out, and how these teenage girls were leaving the theater in tears before the show we were going into started. I told the ladies in line with me then “Wow, must be pretty powerful.” And then those ladies were in tears as we were leaving the theater.

Me? I cried once during Titanic. It was during the first time we see the ship going full-speed underway, and something about those engine rooms, how incredibly accurate they were to the real Titanic‘s power plant, watching those steam turbines in all their grimy, beautiful detail…

…I cried at that. I didn’t cry at the romance.

“You’re heartless!” Lisa said.

“No,” I replied. “I’m just a historian.”

This is gonna be some household when the kids come along, ...

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“Trees will tap dance, elephants will ride in the Indianapolis 500, and Orson Wells will skip breakfast, lunch, and dinner before State finds a way to beat Houston.”

— Dave Kindred
writer for The Washington Post
April 4th, 1983

It became, and remains to this day, the defining sports moment of the modern era.

It was twenty-five years ago tonight, on April 4th, 1983, that North Carolina State won the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship, in what has become regarded by many as the single greatest basketball game ever played and one of the biggest upsets in the history of athletics.

It also produced some of the most memorable sports images to be ever televised or photographed.

What can be said about that game that hasn’t already over a quarter-century? Nobody was expecting the Wolfpack of NC State to take down Houston. Guy Lewis’s Cougars – dubbed “Phi Slamma ...

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