Responsibility costs
mood: 
mellow
mellowmusic: Chet Baker, "How High The Moon"
But the trouble with deep belief is that it costs something. And there is something inside me, some selfish beast of a subtle thing that doesn't like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them. It is so, so cumbersome to believe anything. And it isn't cool. I mean it's cool in a Reality Bites, Welcome to Sarajevo, Amnesty International sense, but that is only as good as dreadlocks. Chicks dig it to a point, but you can't be all about it; you also have to want a big house and expensive clothes because in the end, our beliefs are about as enduring as seasonal fashion. In the end, we like Ethan Hawke even though we don't know what he believes. Even our beliefs have become trend statements. We don't even believe things because we believe them anymore. We only believe things because they are cool things to believe.
—Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz
Intended to post this snippet last night, but got too tired and sidetracked. Now I've read further on and have different bits to wrestle around (probably in writing). This is still weighty enough to stand on its own, however, so the rest will just have to keep for a while.
Miller's tone shifts pretty abruptly from profundity to humor, and sometimes I have trouble tracking with him and knowing whether/when he's joking. Not having more context doesn't help (he "bookends" that second paragraph with a short, more serious one along the lines of the first, which is a context clue), but the last chunk I posted was pretty huge and I didn't want to overwhelm.
Oh, and I get lazy typing.
It is funny how it is always the Americans' fault.
My alternate phrasing of this would be: Can you imagine how little of the world would be in poverty if they truly believed in God and kept His law over multiple generations?
Spot on
Along the same lines of your alternate phrasing, I'd try "the Church" in place of "they" and see how it works. America isn't under orders to care for the poor of the world. The Church is.
And maybe the point that's being missed here is the intent of his book. It's a confession. He's not attacking you and yours, he's talking about his own. The entire book is written in that tone - not what YOU need to do and learn and be, but what I need to do and learn and be. When Don talks about Americans, he's talking about himself. Many of us have identified with his voice. I would never give his book to someone who I thought would hate it - it's not a book to change what you think, it's a book to help you understand and express the way you think.
That's what I've found it to be, anyway. And I hate to sound defensive...but I guess I am. I've met Don, he's a friend of friends, and I hate to hear people who don't know him talk bad about him.
n the end, we like Ethan Hawke even though we don't know what he believes. Even our beliefs have become trend statements.
In my experience, people do adopt beliefs (or here in DC, causes, like Freedom fot Tibet) because they are cool and trendy. It's not cool and trendy to get too into it (that would indicate a 'lack of balance' ie, putting something before your happiness, which is, as we all know, insane and unthinkable). but yeah, beliefs are fashion statements.
Yay!
Re: Yay!