Best DP Week Ever

This last week of Dennis Prager was the BEST EVER!!! Want to know why? It's because I CALLED AND GOT ON THE SHOW!!! AHHHH!!! I'm still so super excited about having actually talked to Dennis. 

I called on this weeks ultimate issues hour which was about God’s interventions in our individual lives. Do you believe that God intervenes in our individual lives? Or do you think he intervenes in nation's, but not individual lives? Prager mentions that he is agnostic on the issue; He just doesn't know. He says he has evolved in the long run to not knowing because both sides make sense and neither side reflects on God’s knowledge or love for us. Just because he knows and loves us doesn’t mean he will intervene. Prager says it is clear that God has intervened in SOME people’s lives, but that doesn’t mean he has intervened in everyone’s life. He says one reason he feels like God may not intervene is because there are so many innocent people who die everyday. Why are some more deserving of God’s intervention? He believes that God sees all and knows all and in the afterlife there is an accounting. One thing he mentions in the middle of the hour is that maybe people who have a good life have a easier time feeling like God has intervened, than the people who have lead terrible lives. He also asked if it could be possible that God has a plan for all people, but allows it to be thwarted by evil and natural events such as cancer or tornados?

I called in to agree with Prager. When he took my call I told him about my sickness and how I survived even though I was given very slim chances. When I came out of it, everyone told me that God saved me for my son. I told him about my friend from school, Courtney, and how she had a similar situation and died despite having three small children. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and he had to go to break. I wanted to tell him how I struggled for so long with "why me and not her" and how I had come to resolve it by stopping to think that way. When he came back from break, Prager said that he believes God intervenes in some people’s life and maybe that was the case with my life, but not my friends. He stated he didn’t know why God does what he does. He mentioned a Hebrew saying “If I knew him, I’d be him.” Which Prager followed up by saying "I so understand God that I cannot understand God’s ways." I was very emotional when I called and had to really try to hold back tears. I was disappointed in myself for not using my time better and telling Prager right away that I agreed with him. I was so nervous to get on the air that I became long winded. Still, I am so happy that I was able to get on during that hour. Its subject really hit a chord with me and afterwards it prompted me to write an open letter to Courtney. Prager’s response and the saying he recited touched me as well. The only way I was able to move on with my life was to stop questioning God and his motives which is exactly what “If I knew him, I’d be him” means to Prager and myself.

The Male/Female hour was about THIS article on how people date today. Today’s dates are setup online or through text and many people don’t spend time one on one like they used to. Having been with Adam for over ten years now, I cannot really understand today’s dating culture. I know if I were single I wouldn’t appreciate someone reaching out to me via text. Two days after our first date, which was a blind date on a Friday night, he called me on the phone. I have no idea what we talked about that night, but we spoke on the phone for well over an hour. We scheduled a second date for that Wednesday, but I ended up getting sick that week and we were not able to go out again until Saturday. We had a our second date on Saturday, met up again on Monday and then saw each other every single day from there on out. In our first year together I missed seeing him one day because I was away visiting U of K. Other than that, it was years before we spent any time apart. We didn’t live together until we bought our first house, but he ALWAYS went out of his way to see me. Sometimes he would drive all the way to my house after getting off work, buy me flowers, and wake me up by crawling through my bedroom window before my Mom got up for work and I had to go to school. He was thoughtful and romantic always leaving me notes and doing anything he could to see me. Today’s dating culture is just one more reason why I am happy to be married and not single. Having a boy, I hope to raise him with same type of characteristics that his Father has. I want to him to always call the girl, not text just text her, to open doors, buy flowers for no reason, and most importantly make her feel special. They say kids learn by example and if that is the case, Landon has the world’s best example in his Father.

Prager starts out the Happiness our by saying he wanted to address one of the most basic elements in being happy. He states if you teach this to your child, then this alone is more valuable than sending your kid to Havard. His main point was that you will never be happy if you always do only what you want. He states that it is a complex issue because while only doing what you want will not bring you happiness, neither will never doing what you want. The idea that he says people should teach their children is to understand that usually their wants and their happiness are at conflict with one another. All kids do is want, more, more, more. Prager says it is a good idea to teach your children to do one thing a day that they don’t want to do. He says by nature we are lazy, but we need to fight our nature which is called self discipline. Prager suggests doing the things you don't want to do first so you can do the things you do want to do later. Disciplines eventually become habits and habits become second nature over time. I think being disciplined and doing things you don't want to at least once a day is good thing and not just for kids. Prager gives the example of eating healthy food instead of the food you'd prefer to have. I think this is a great example and something I struggle with everyday. Whenever I eat "bad" food such as fast food I always end up being unhappy. Knowing how unhealthy it is and knowing it how unhappy I am afterwards should be reason enough for me not to eat it, but sometimes I just WANT it and its hard to control the urge. Maybe consciously thinking about the reason I want it and how I will feel afterwards would help to me not give in. This doesn't just apply to food. I know there are many times I come home from work tired for the day and just want to sit on the couch and veg for the rest of the night. Some nights I do and I always feel unhappy at the end of the night when it's time to go bed and I haven't done anything all night. Other nights I will get up and do one thing, like the dishes, usually once I've gotten up and done one thing my mood starts to change and I want to do more. Even though at first I am doing something I don't want to do, eventually my mood will shift from wanting to sit on the couch all night to wanting to get things done. I am always so much happier when the day is over and I feel like I have accomplished as much as possible. I very rarely ever derive any happiness from sitting in front of the tv, Entertainment, yes. Happiness, no. Obviously this can move into many other aspects of your life. I honestly don't think this hour was anything revolutionary, but I'm not sure I've really spent a lot of time thinking about it so directly. We've already had to start dealing with Landon wanting EVERYTHING. He is big into the "mine" stage as well and he wants everything to be his. After this hour, I will be sure to make an effort to explain to Landon that just because he wants something doesn't mean it's a good thing. Just telling him that he can't always have what he wants isn't the best explanation, although sometimes it will apply. I think teaching him that doing what you don't want to do is more rewarding and will lead to happiness more than his immediate wants and desires. It's something I will try and remind myself of more often. Sometimes it may work and I may get off the couch, other times I may still give into my wants, but I will try.