Basically I am taking today off. My wife and I are meeting a friend for lunch at a new restaurant. I had a craving for a blackened fish sandwich so my wife called the restaurant and asked about the menu. It was not on the menu but the chef said he could whip something up since Mahi was on the menu tonight. Then we are going to the middle school concert my son is playing in. By the time we get home after his wrestling practice it will be time to start dinner. Work will always be here. A relaxing day with family members is highly recommended for the soul.
Cowboy Christianity
Gay Marriage Poll Gets Annulled. The conservative American Family Association hoped an online poll would sway legislators against gay marriages, but a funny thing happened on the way to the altar. By Daniel Terdiman. [Wired News]
I cannot help but laugh at this. Gay activists have always been more passionate about this subject so it should be to no ones surprise that they found out and encouraged each other to participate in the poll. Oops! It was not exactly what the American Family Association expected and it makes them look foolish.
Individual versus Team sports
We had an interesting conversation at the dinner table tonight. I asked my son what his wrestling partner needed to do to improve. My wife broke in and said he needed to change wrestling partners if he wanted to improve. That surprised me! She saw her first wrestling match a week ago. She then gave us a lecture on why he should pick a heavier partner but not to heavy. She had some interesting points but there is no reason to rush into major changes. This is his first season. Watching my son wrestle and play hockey has been an enlightning experience for me. Naturally I enjoyed wrestling because I was good at it. A less obvious reason was that I was responsible for winning or losing. Recently I have heard several people echo the same comment on responsibility. A loss in a team sport leaves you with fuzzy feelings about responsibility. I think my son has begun to to enjoy wrestling for the same reasons. He enjoys winning. He enjoys being responsible. The success he has had at wrestling has giving him a lot of self confidence in his ability to check the bigger guys in hockey. I think I see the benefits of a team sport much better than when I was growing up. The teamwork required on a sports team is very similar to that required in the business world. The process on humbling yourself to the team's needs develops great character and great teams. I wish I knew this when I was in high school.
WWJD and John Kitna
At the 5th and 6th grade celebration the small group discussion was about what does WWJD really mean? I was surprised to find that this was a much harder subject for the kids to talk about. They answered the small group questions easily but the discussion between the leaders and the kids quickly lost its focus. Later when I was reviewing the night with a couple of the leaders I mentioned that Jon Kitna wears a WWJD bracelet. Jon Kitna is the quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals. I can imagine that the pressure on a professional quarterback by the media and his teamates to deliver wins is tremendous. Life is probably pretty confusing and lonely for a professional quarterback. Sometimes the difference between being a hero or a goat hinges on one play. In a week most people will have forgotten the play and the game. I believe Jon wears the bracelet to remind himself who he is and what his goals in life are. I cannot help but think that the bracelet helps him get his feet back on the ground and be the man he always has been and always will be. The key to being a great player and person is to humble yourself to the game, your opponents, the coaches, and your teammates. It is not about doing less but about doing more by focusing on the good things in the game and life. Humbleness allows you to see the world clearer and make the right decisions. The key to unlock the humbleness inside us is to imagine what Jesus would do. I think this works for Jon both on the field and off.
Environmentalism as religion
I have been asked to talk about what I consider the most important challenge facing mankind, and I have a fundamental answer. The greatest challenge facing mankind is the challenge of distinguishing reality from fantasy, truth from propaganda. Perceiving the truth has always been a challenge to mankind, but in the information age (or as I think of it, the disinformation age) it takes on a special urgency and importance.
We must daily decide whether the threats we face are real, whether the solutions we are offered will do any good, whether the problems we're told exist are in fact real problems, or non-problems. Every one of us has a sense of the world, and we all know that this sense is in part given to us by what other people and society tell us; in part generated by our emotional state, which we project outward; and in part by our genuine perceptions of reality. In short, our struggle to determine what is true is the struggle to decide which of our perceptions are genuine, and which are false because they are handed down, or sold to us, or generated by our own hopes and fears.
As an example of this challenge, I want to talk today about environmentalism.
I believe the world has genuine problems and I believe it can and should be improved. But I also think that deciding what constitutes responsible action is immensely difficult, and the consequences of our actions are often difficult to know in advance. I think our past record of environmental action is discouraging, to put it mildly, because even our best intended efforts often go awry. But I think we do not recognize our past failures, and face them squarely. And I think I know why.
I studied anthropology in college, and one of the things I learned was that certain human social structures always reappear. They can't be eliminated from society. One of those structures is religion.
Today it is said we live in a secular society in which many people—the best people, the most enlightened people—do not believe in any religion. But I think that you cannot eliminate religion from the psyche of mankind.
Today, one of the most powerful religions in the Western World is environmentalism. Environmentalism seems to be the religion of choice for urban atheists. Why do I say it's a religion? Well, just look at the beliefs. If you look carefully, you see that environmentalism is in fact a perfect 21st century remapping of traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs and myths.
Michael Crichton
Remarks to the Commonwealth Club
15 September 2003
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The Last Word on the Ten Commandment display
The Ten Commandments display was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court building. And, there was a good reason for the move. You can't post Thou Shalt Not Steal, Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery, and Thou Shall Not Lie, in a building full of lawyers and Politicians without creating a hostile work environment.
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In praise of cowboys
One of the accusations aimed at President Bush by his detractors is to call him a “cowboy,” as if this is some mark of shame, implying something sinister or simple-minded. I keep wondering why. Have you ever watched a rodeo?
How many times have you seen an arena full of rodeo fans take to the streets following a competition and set fire to cars or hold an impromptu riot because they felt dissatisfied with the final outcome, as Michigan State students recently did? There is no booing of officials when scores are announced.
I've never heard of a contested call by any competitor, even when it meant the difference between winning and losing…. Cowboys don't whine. Cowboys regularly loan each other equipment and even horses, frequently $50,000 to $100,000 animals, when a fellow competitor's ride didn't arrive in time for tonight's roping or bulldogging or whatever.
When 'The Star Spangled Banner' is played, to a man and woman they rise to their feet and put their hats over their hearts in respect.
They don't wear T-shirts bearing offensive sexual messages.
When a cowboy (or cowgirl) is injured, the rest hold fund-raisers and donate time and money to help him or her and their families through a rough financial time.
Headlines never seem to carry news of a world-champion bull rider or calf roper beating up his wife or being arrested for molesting under-age girls.
And they, too, have their groupies and some even have failed marriages, sad victims of the vagabond lifestyle necessary to follow the rodeo circuit. They seem to know who their fathers are and most often seem to be married to the mothers of their children. They thank their families for their successes. So, I have to ask: What's wrong with being described as a “cowboy?”
It seems to me to be high praise in a world full of folks with questionable moral standards, technicolor hair, bodies adorned with rings and tattoos in startling locations and no respect for anything of value or worth.
It seems our “cowboy” president is in some pretty good company.
Sure beats being a Frenchman.
Presidential Quote For The Week
We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
John Adams
Leo Tolstoy. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” [Quotes of the Day]
Blaise Pascal. “We are generally the better persuaded by the reasons we discover ourselves than by those given to us by others.” [Quotes of the Day]