acceptable snobbery

it's struck me recently that we've become a society of like or dislike. now, facebook really has nothing to do with it - but the opportunity to casually boast about that which we like or dislike has become second nature to many.

so, I've made a decision - I'm going to like more things. no, I'm not going to click 'like' more often.

what I am going to do is this: cherish more.

my life, my family, my friends, my experiences...but more than that.

instead of necessarily categorizing the items in life to like or dislike automatically - I want to like more/ cherish more. things that may not be in my scope of natural-likeness.

it's become acceptable snobbery to align ourselves with this genre of music or that, this type of movie or that, this book or that, etc.

we shut out the things we don't like. closed-minded souls we are.

but I want to appreciate more. see the hidden qualities. grasp the texture of an unknown tapestry.

so, you listen to your country music, watching Twilight and reading it as well - and I'll be standing there silently applauding your horrible choice in entertainment but appreciating it anew all the same.

the stories we live

so, I'm reading this book by Donald Miller called, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It's actually the book I was helping to promote in a past blog post.

following that post, I had to do far more apologizing than I thought I would - apparently people (few as they may be) gave me far more credit than I'm due. a few actually took me at my word and believed I had co-authored a book with Donald Miller, which I still feel horrible about to this day, though I laugh quietly about it as well.

enough about that.

as I'm reading this new book, the concept of 'story' has been slapping me in the face - mostly because that is what the book is about.

here is a snippet:

"The ambitions we have will become the stories we live. If you want to know what a person's story is about, just ask them what they want. If we don't want anything, we are living boring stories, and if we want a Roomba vaccum cleaner, we are living stupid stories. If it won't work in a story, it won't work in life."

thoughts? reactions?

ignorant or enlightened?

possibly somewhere in between.

I am on a journey. I am attempting to be honest with myself.

admittedly, there are many things I do not know about which I would care to know more about.

thus, this post.

I am asking for recommendations of books, articles, blogs, etc. What would you suggest?

What are the things that changed you, formed you, stretched you to become who you are now?