Society = Jenga!

I got to go to the state house today!

We didn't stay for the Governor's state of the state address, but I was there for a coalition of libraries meeting, and was kind of just inspired the whole time. I just love being in that beautiful building, and it's dripping with nostalgia, from wandering around the top three floors for two hours my first TeenPact ever, to the prayer walks, to the pro-life and pro-marriage bill hearings, and even memories aside, I just kind of love it there. 

When I was sitting in the hall of flags during the meeting, studying the plaque for September 11th and puzzling over the Latin inscription over the flags' case, I just felt quiet confirmation, that at some time or some point I would be working here. I don't really know when or how or what, but I knew I would be there. It was the same feeling I had during the impromptu visit to Washington last spring. This building was for me.

It's a funny thing to look forward to. To tell myself that maybe there's a place for me in politics someday? Who knew. But to make it in politics you need to play the system. Talking briefly with Jake today about working in politics made me start thinking about how fragile this world is. I do my school and keep track of extracurriculars and study for the SAT because I'm playing in the system. And yet, the system could be here one day and gone the next. Do you know what I mean? 

I'm reading the memoirs of a Polish Jew who survived the Holocaust (All But My Life, Gerda Weissmann) and it's a stark theme of the book. One day her life was like mine. The next day she had no hope of a future. I've just begun reading through Lamentations and it's been interesting to contrast it with the events of the Holocaust. It's been even more poignant to compare it to the world I know today. Our world is fragile, and it could change in a flash. Are we prepared for that? Do we constantly acknowledge the fact that all we know could be gone at any time?

I say this because when I think of our government (once again, the ongoing Abraham Lincoln discussion with my mom and Jacob) I can't help but think of how precarious it is. It's been building on itself for so long . . . it's like a Jenga tower. How tall will it get before it's so removed from it's foundation that it topples over? We think it's stable because it's all we've ever known, but one day we'll wake up and things will be completely different. And can I justify a career in politics when I feel so strongly that it's going to burn in my lifetime?

It just confirms for me that careers are overrated. Society may crumble, but the God who rules over history and the people who are stuck in it will always be around. Am I serving them? Am I serving God? Or am I just serving myself? Such is the trap of the career mindset.