Decisions, decisions....

I know that its been a while since I've written anything down here, but I think that I'd be kidding myself to think that anyone's been holding their breath. =)

A lot has happened in these past few months. Winter term ended, I had another brief relationship (that I thought would last longer than it did), and I went to Israel as part of the AIPAC Campus Allies Mission to Israel. I suppose that I really don't have much room to complain. Who get's to go to Israel?  For free? Still, as Spring term was ending I found myself unmotivated and "burnt-out".

I've decided to take the Summer term off and focus on my LSAT and GRE. I've been thinking about what I want to do after I graduate and have known that I wanted to pursue graduate studies for some time. However, which degree(s) I wished to pursue has been something I have deliberated about extensively. Lacking any information to dissuade me, I have decided to pursue a dual degree - a JD/MPA (a law and masters of public affairs/administration). I'm not doing this because I don't think I could get a job otherwise, but because I want to get my hands into civic administration and clean house. I am appalled at what has happened to my home town in California, not to mention the state itself, and my country. Hopefully, and godwilling, things work out.


The photo you see above of some Ethiopian children, Dave Smith from UVU, Greg Smith from BYU, and myself at what's called an absorption center in Israel. There was an extensive Ethiopian Jewish community in Ehtiopia that was being systematically destroyed until Israel's Operation Moses and subsequent operations brought them to Israel. They are provided housing by the state, educated, and their children cared for until they can integrate into society. Being with these children was one of the highlights of my trip.

There is a very similar center in Ashkelon with these innocents that is subject to the hateful bombardment of rocket-fire from Hamas in the Gaza strip. It is angering to think that these people, who miraculously escaped the hatred of the regimes in Ethiopia and Sudan, should be subject to the death-threats of radicals who hate them because they exist.

The world needs to wake up and see that Hamas and other groups like them cannot be reasoned with.  They will not abandon their primary goal, which is the systematic genocide of any group that won't bow to their twisted rule.