Month: November 2015

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a game?

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It’s just a game…

Or so we say.

Sometimes my sense is we’ve got the games and the non-games all mixed up. We discern some activities as a form of play or sport — and other activities as serious and life altering — when maybe they belong in the other so-called category. Once again, we have made something more important than perhaps it should be.

I look at the reactions of last weekend — a typical fall weekend featuring a full slate of college and pro football, the start of hockey and the NBA, and including baseball’s annual World Series. Then I look at the downcast reactions of those who lost the game…

From NY Mets manager Terry Collins and pitcher Matt Harvey, both disparagingly blaming themselves for allowing the Kansas City Royals to tie in the 9th inning and eventually win the Fall Classic… to Steelers QB “Big Ben” Roethlisberger after a tough loss, saying he “let this team down” and “this one is on me”… to all the anger and frustration in the Duke/Miami college football match up, in which an 8-lateral, loose, last-second play with all sorts of errors and inefficiencies (absent a meddling marching band) led to a suspension of the officials.

I get it. I mean no criticism of any of the above; I would be equally frustrated, as we are a competitive people. And as one who also enjoys winning, I understand the deep disappointment. I simply wonder if that disappointment has gone too far in us — and we’ve made games into something more than they actually are. We see it in adults. We see it in our kids. We see it in ourselves.

Let me not act, however, as if a game has no value…

Sports are of great value because they are a venue in which God can work on us to teach humility, hard work, and determination. They are a place where we can learn teamwork and selflessness; we learn to support one another. Also, when we fail, we can turn around and try again. We learn, too — hopefully — to turn around and congratulate the person next to us, knowing no one wins forever — and some will never win; not everyone gets a trophy. Sports are a venue in which we can see the manifest reality that life is not “all about me.” The value is actually in the humility and hard work — not in the winning.

That’s hard, I think, for most of us to handle — especially when we see the economic impact of sports and the big business it’s become. Note how “fantasy football,” for example, has even crept into our presidential debates. Millions of dollars are now exchanging hands there; hence, you know that some will declare a need to regulate or be involved (and, uh, get a piece of that). My point is that our games have become far more than games. No, it’s not just a game.

I think of Kansas City Royals pitcher, Edinson Volquez. Volquez started two games en route to the Royals championship last weekend. Yet nine days ago, hours before his first World Series start, Volquez’s father, Daniel, passed away in the Dominican Republic after struggling with heart disease. His family made the decision not to tell Edinson until after he was pulled from game one. Edinson then flew home to the funeral before returning to start Sunday’s final game.

Upon his return, Volquez was greeted overwhelmingly compassionately by his teammates… “Wow… I’ve got a lot of people that really care about what happened to me.”

Said teammate Eric Hosmer, “I know he’s going to be thinking about his dad and we’re all going to be thinking about it. We’re all going to try to do it for everyone on this team — everyone that’s lost a family member on this team. We’re all in this together.”

Teamwork… selflessness…

The Royals were determined to play hard and make people proud — utilizing the humility and hard work that helped them reach this moment. While no doubt winning was their desire, something tells me, too, the Royals realized what was a game — and what was not.

Respectfully…
AR

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election day

a570af34Today is election day. (For the record, another way to look at such is that there are precisely 371 days until next year’s presidential election. Yes, you did hear me sigh.)

So what’s on the ballot across the country?

Kentucky and Mississippi are each choosing a new Governor, Attorney General, Sec. of State, Auditor, and Treasurer among other state offices.

Ohio has three state issues on the ballot. The most notable one seems “Issue 3,” which would legalize the medical and recreational use of marijuana. Different than in the few states which have previously specified the legal use, cultivation and sale of the drug, Issue 3 would create 10 facilities, known as “Marijuana Growth, Cultivation and Extraction” (MGCE) facilities, with the exclusive commercial rights to grow marijuana. The unwritten asterisk next to the issue is that the 10 facilities will be owned by private investors who have contributed to the campaign. Those benefitting include singer Nick Lachey, basketball legend Oscar Robertson, former Cincinnati Bengal Frostee Rucker, in addition to several others, including a local radio personality and a descendant of President William Howard Taft.

Some believe Issue 3 would grant a monopoly to the producers. Ballotpedia (an excellent, factual resource, by the way) suggests the ballot initiative is more properly called an “oligopoly” — meaning “a system where a few firms are in limited competition with one another and entry into the market is also limited and difficult.”

Note that our Intramuralist audience in Ohio may also be interested in “Issue 2,” which is a constitutional amendment regulating ballot initiatives concerning monopolies. Issue 2 was created in response to Issue 3, in regard to the creation of the 10 facilities which exclusively control commercial production. Should both issues 2 and 3 be approved, Ohio Sec. of State Jon Husted has stated that Issue 2 would invalidate Issue 3. Issue 3 supporters deny such a claim.

Ah, if only legislation and governing was clear and easy.

(…and I wonder why, more and more of us seem to be leaning Libertarian as we age…)

Colorado, no less, is facing a unique school board election in Jeffco Public Schools; such is the largest district (based on enrollment) in the state, located in Jefferson County, a far west suburb of Denver. Following the implementation of a merit pay plan and proposal for to review the AP U.S. History curriculum, many protested against the board during the 2014-2015 school year. Accusations of censorship, wasteful spending, and a lack of transparency were also directed at the current board. From this far out analysis, we cannot tell whether or not the accusations are baseless, valid, or somewhere in between. The bottom line is that the entire school board is up for grabs — and — the current board is being recalled. For lack of better ways to articulate it — and recognizing that our perspective is distant at best — it is difficult to discern what is good and true and right.

Texas has seven state ballot initiatives… including multiple property tax amendments and extending the right to hunt and fish, recognizing such activities as preferred methods for wildlife management.

The State of Washington offers six state ballot measures… more about marijuana and even an initiative addressing penalties for animal trafficking.

In other issues, states, and cities…

Again in Colorado, they will decide two tax issues in regard to marijuana-related issues.
Connecticut schools will hold elections for 42 seats.
Iowa is hosting a special election for the State House Rep. of District 5, which is currently vacated.
Portland, Maine is debating an initiative to raise the city’s minimum wage.
Maine is also voting on whether to increase penalties for violating campaign finance disclosure rules — and whether to adjust political ad disclosure rules.
Portage, Michigan is debating whether they, too, will decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

Lots of issues… lots of votes. We the people can decide.

Thank God we can still vote in this country. Thank God, too, at least still today, we are a representative democracy.

Respectfully… and off to vote…
AR

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neighbors

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I’ve realized I’m not always very good at something. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not down on myself. I am instead wrestling with the realization that there is something I passionately desire to always do well, and yet, I routinely fail in its application…

What’s the greatest commandment? What are we each most called to?
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And the second?
Love your neighbor as yourself.

I get that we are not all adherents to historical scripture. My sense is we are each responsible for how we respond to such. What strikes me, no less, is even for those among us who choose not to embrace the teaching, so much of what’s there we still tend to believe… (i.e. thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, etc. etc…) Each of us embraces some aspect of the scriptures, even if unintendedly so.

What I wrestle with this day is the concept of “loving my neighbor as myself.” I then think of two questions…

First, who exactly is our “neighbor”?

I don’t think it’s a stretch to extend our “neighbor” well beyond the isolating definition of simply the person who physically lives next door. The idea seems more that it’s someone nearby, not living in our specific household, who thus may not share the same circumstances, lifestyle, or beliefs that we have embraced. That makes sense to me. Therefore, our neighbor seems more encompassing of all people. Such leads me to question #2…

What’s our consistency like?

We seem to live in a day and age when we are encouraged to only embrace the likeminded… to only love and respect those who think and act like we do…

We are encouraged to identify all sorts of person as our adversaries, enemies, and opposition. And every time we engage in such a discourse — falling prey to such a seductive lingo — we justify labeling a person or people group as something other than a “neighbor.” If they aren’t a “neighbor,” then we don’t have to love them.

Note that at the 2nd most recent presidential debate, CNN’s Anderson Cooper said the following:

“Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said, ‘I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.’ You’ve all made a few people upset over your political careers, which enemy are you most proud of?”

With no candidate suggesting the answer was a radical terrorist group (which truly desires to take our heads off and thus seems to actually qualify), let us not find too much fault in any one candidate; it was a foolish question. No person — simply because they do not share your political or other core beliefs — is thus your “enemy.”

Yes, even the intelligent justify the inconsistency.

But still don’t let me pick on either the candidates or the questioner; my realization this day is I am not much better…

Too many times I have muttered something mean or sarcastic under my breath when exposed to a seemingly stupid statement… too many times I have thought the worst when a slow car has pulled right out in front of me… and too many times I have been disrespectfully steaming, furious at a Facebook or Twitter rant that has seemed so incredibly frustrating. Sometimes I’ve even ranted right back — loud enough for others to see and hear!

It’s not always what I’ve said; it’s sometimes what I’ve thought.

If we are going to “love my neighbor,” so-to-speak, we must quit justifying our disrespectful responses. Discussion and dialogue surrounding tense topics is fine. Disagreement is totally acceptable. But the allowing of differences of opinion to evolve into disdain of one another is where we totally fail in in loving our neighbor well.

Always wishing for something better and more… respectfully…
AR