Monday, October 27, 2008

Great Things Are Yet to Come


With economic hardships surrounding all of us, regardless of our city, our job title, and our socio-economic status, I cannot help but turn to God for guidance, peace, and strength. With local food banks not having enough food to feed families who have lost work and with families that are fortunate enough to still have work feeling stretched due to rising prices and living costs, I go to bed nightly praying that things do no get worse.

This Wednesday I will attend the 7th Annual Charleston Leadership breakfast with 9 other members of our staff at The Citadel Foundation. I am so excited to be seated with 9 Christians from my office who are all there for the same reason...to lift our city up in prayer. Aside from our table of ten, hundreds of Charleston community members will have one focus that morning, regardless of home church, denomination, and personal prayer requests. WE will be together lifting up this City, OUR city, to the Lord who holds us in His hands and I cannot help but to believe that there are greater things yet to come, and greater things still to be done in this city.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hotel Rwanda

Last night was the first night in a while that I could actually cuddle up on the couch after a home cooked meal and finally watch the movie I've had for over a week now. Since it's debut last year, I've been intrigued by the movie Hotel Rwanda. I have put off seeing it however due to the graphic scenes that I knew I'd see and just the overall tone that I knew it would cast upon my heart and mind. Without any further delays or procrastination, I sat down last night with a blanket, pillow, and Rob and started the movie.

Starting the movie was simple, watching the movie was not. I wish I could say that I watched the whole thing but that would be a lie. I'd guess I lasted about an hour, maybe even less. I couldn't sit on the couch comfortably wrapped in a blanket and watch people lose their lives by machete. There was one scene where the Hutu's had about 10 Tutsies gathered on the side of the road awaiting to be killed one by one right in front of each other. What made me literally nauseous was that while the Hutu's waved their guns and machetes over their head with wide grins and excited eyes, the camera focused in on one of the Tutsi men, quietly sitting with his head in his hands and you could see the complete emptiness in his soul. I could see the desperation of their situation and I could not fathom having my mother seated to my right, possibly sheltering a small child under her legs for protection, and knowing that I would die, we would die, and we were all going to have to watch it happen. No human being should ever have to witness such acts, however this is the reality of many.

I wanted to keep watching out of respect for their situation but I just couldn't do it and I am disappointed in myself. I need to watch that stuff and I need to be educated on the reality of such places and I failed. I shielded my eyes and I turned my back. One of the most powerful lines in the movie comes from an interaction with an American reporter and the main character (a native from Africa in the movie). When the war has broken out and the massacre is surrounding their hotel, the African says to reporter "thank you for filming the killings as it will allow people to see what is going on here and they'll intervene." The American reporter replies without any feeling or remorse "In all honesty, no one is going to intervene. People will see this on the news and then they'll go back to their dinners and to their lives." (Insert the sound of my stomach hitting the floor here.)

As we turned off the movie not even half way through, I looked at Rob and asked "what do we do?" I want to do something. Delivering medical supplies is no longer enough to me, but what can I do? I am a 29 year old, white female with no military experience and nothing to contribute to such genocides, but I cannot be one of those people who will see such slaughtering and turn back to my dinner and back to my life. I am heartsick over this and I cannot just turn off my "I care" button. And I can't help but wonder what if we all cared?

Friday, October 10, 2008

NKOTB






This past weekend 5 girls from SC, DC, and Texas embarked on a Girl's Weekend to Chicago for some much needed "girly" time and a little light hearted fun. Staying on the Magnificent Mile in downtown Chicago with 4 of your girlfriends is kind of like letting a sugar-deprived 6 year old loose in Wonka World. The sights of shiny store windows, the smell of coffee and corner bakeries, and the hustle and bustle of the fast paced Chicago lifestyle can be pretty overwhelming! Luckily for my bank account, my recent trip to a third world country helped put the shopping spree that lay in front of me into perspective (although I slipped up in Forever 21).


With shopping, amazing food, and lots of laughter in toe, we headed out on Saturday night for the main event...the New Kids on the Block Reunion Tour! Holla at your girl! Although what started off as a fun night to laugh about and be somewhat embarrassed about, turned into 2 of the most exciting hours of my life (sad but true)! NKOTB is back ladies and gents and I don't care who knows that I am a fan!


These boys sang and danced, possibly even better than they did in their prime, for over two hours straight. What that meant for their committed, faithful, adoring fans is that we sang, screamed and jumped up and down for over two hours straight. As a light show kicked off the concert and began to spell out the letters NKOTB (see photo above) I was instantly back in the sixth grade. When they started to arise out of the floor in the opening moments, I thought my heart was going to burst and I am pretty sure my vocal cords nearly did just that. I was young again and I was in love again with Joey and Donnie. Bald or not, Donnie still rocks and Joey still has the best hair ever. Period.


Thanks NKOTB for letting 6 girls (we picked up a 6th friend for the night thanks to a Craigslist posting we posted) feel young again. You gave us a chance to forget about everything life has taught us over the last 17 or so years and for one night we got to be little girls again without a care in the world, with smiles plastered all over our faces, with tears streaming down cheeks (Tracy and Mary;), and you let us through "coolness" right out the windows of the Allstate Arena. You're still hot, you can still sing, and 4 out of 5 of you still have full head's of hair. Rock on NKOTB!!!!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Me, working out??? What next, World peace?

That's right folks, Brittany Meyers has offically started working out again! After taking a "work-out" hiatus for the last 7 years, I've finally turned over a new leaf. The craziest part is that I actually love it! My body actually craves more of it and this week, having a stomach bug and not being able to go to the gym after work has felt pretty lame:(

I'm trying to recruit a local trainer to host a "boot camp" session once a week for Citadel employees on campus during our lunch hour. If you have any connections, shoot me a comment.

If a bootcamp happens plus my weekly sessions, there will be no excuse to not have a "Gun show" during '09's beach season.