The Holiday Sweater and what it means in modern America

Picture this: Its Christmas evening, you have enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship over a delicious Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. You and your extended family that you only see semi-annually has gathered around the tree with anticipation of exchanging gifts. Your aunt loves the blouse your mom gave her. The cousins are delighted about the new Hot Wheels Death Tunnel play set they received. Now its your turn to open your gift. Now you specifically remember asking for and dropping many not-so-subtle hints about the new 13h generation Ipod you have been wanting, so naturally this is all you can think about as you unwrap your gift. The wrapping paper comes off along with the ribbon and bow. You open the box and...its a reindeer sweater. Although you force the fake half-smile of appreciation, the disappointment cannot be masked and your Christmas is ruined.

For some reason the two gifts that are the object of scorn around Christmas are fruitcake and the holiday-themed sweater. To me the holiday sweater is not only a thoughtful gift, it actually symbolizes everything that is good about the United States of America. There is no other country on Earth that has enough wealth to freely exchange such magnificent, intricately woven tapestries that adorn the upper half of the body quite like the holiday sweater. Images such as snowflakes, reindeer, Christmas trees, and Santa Clause represent a childlike innocence that, no matter how ugly this world gets, we return to this one time of year. When you dress yourself with one of these warm and comforting garments you are sending a message to a dying world, saying "I believe in something unseen, and I am not afraid to let the world know it!" You are also letting this world know that you refuse to be ruled by its ever-changing and often ridiculous sense of fashion.

With this in mind, next time you receive a holiday-themed sweater for Christmas deny the impulse to get upset that you did not get that new flavor-of-the-week electronic that will be obsolete in three days. Instead, think of your most cherished childhood Christmas memory and relive it every time you wear the sweater.

As always thanks for reading and tell all your friends to read this! May God bless (as only he can) your merry Christmas!

"Change" A perspective on change

Anyone that knows anything about anything has no doubt found out by now that our next president is going to be Barack (insert middle name of your choosing) Obama. Whether you voted for him or not is now irrelevant, what matters is that there is change coming. Change can mean many things to many people. Some fear it, others embrace it, and still others feel indifferent about change. Change can come in the form of things that you once knew now being made different, it may also mean that some things will not be the same as they once were. Now this void of sameness might be all well and good for a while, but what no one has addressed is what will happen when this samelessness becomes the norm? If change means that the subject which is changing will be unlike before, and change becomes a regular fixture, then the only solution is to start making things unchanged in order to accommodate this constant state of change. What I mean is if you are used to things changing, the act of making something change is just routine, and therefore is no change at all. In order to maintain this ever changing change mentality we must make the subject something else, then maintain it, only to make it different once all have adjusted to this differentness. I am not trying to make an argument for or against this change, it is just something to think about.

As always, thanks for reading and tell everyone you see to check it out!

Introduction and Intention

Hello friends, my name is Justin Cunningham and by what I believe is more than coincidence, you have found your way to "A Mind on Display." The purpose of this blog is simply to perform the task stated in the title of the blog, to put my thoughts out into the vast array of knowledge known as the Internet for your consideration. In the posts to follow over the next several years, God willing, I will cover any and every topic that could possibly be fathomed by the human mind, and possibly some you never even thought imaginable. We will cover news, sports, politics, religion, music, pop culture, and so many other topics it could take the rest of my natural life just to list them all. The relevance? That would depend on the reader. Some will find nothing of value in these pages, dismissing them as pure nonsense and wonder "Why have I wasted that moment of my precious God-given life on such foolishness". Others will have life-changing revelations as a result of the words in the posts to follow. The latter will not be because I have some incredible mind or Divine insight, quite the opposite actually. It will simply happen as a result of a regular person stumbling upon another regular person who happen to say the right thing at the right time. With that being said if you have a thought, question, or topic you would like to see discussed, do not be afraid to post a comment. If you have a negative comment, however, I suggest you keep it to yourself in order to avoid appearing foolish in the eyes of others. Have a blessed day and thanks for reading!