Sacrifice Seen Through the Olympics Category:Sports Views:
189
I’m not into cycling at all (and know very little about it), but today I watched some of the men’s Olympic cycling race. The announcers were commenting about how it’s not strange for quite a few cyclists to drop out of the race (evidently a lot of people made a large fuss about the number of cyclists who dropped out of the Athens Olympic race). The announcers gave the current example of one South African cyclist who was at the back of the pack (it was near the beginning of the race) and dropping back and they said he would probably drop out soon as his job was to set the pace for the flat part of the first loop (I believe that’s what they said) and to help out his teammates. I know some athletes act this way, however I was still nevertheless astounded to hear this. Perhaps this man had no chance of actually medaling, but regardless of that, this man still sacrificed his chances for an Olympic medal and for fame to help some of his teammates do their absolute best and perhaps recognize their dream of getting an Olympic medal. I find it particularly interesting because cycling is an individual sport - it’s not your typical “team sport” like basketball or volleyball, yet with cycling I saw more sacrifice than I see on many “team” sports. Sometimes I think the United States would do even better with some sports if we exhibited the same type of sacrifice in our team sports, if we didn't care who got the glory, only that the team as a whole succeeded. If only the rest of us could say we sacrificed like that for those in our lives.
Pet Peeve: poorly written NRT album reviews Category:NRTeam Views:
185
One of my pet peeves: people who write album reviews on here and put no thought into them. It's most likely just to rack up points, but I wish people took album reviews seriously. People, if you haven't heard the whole album, if you've only heard one or two singles, please don't write a review.
Why does most art portray Jesus as white/Caucasian? He was born in the Middle East and I'm pretty sure he looked like everyone else. I just got this email advertising this "Portrait of Jesus" and I'm pretty sure I don't want it hanging in my house or church. In college I once visited an inner city church that was predominantly black, and up front they had this large painting (I think it was a painting) of Jesus...and He was black. I had never really considered it before, but that started me thinking about the race we portray Jesus in.
And in addition to the whole "what color was Jesus and why do we portray him in our own skin color," I have issues with art depicting Jesus anyway. I don't want to have a physical picture of Jesus in my mind when I think about Jesus, at least not a physical picture that is based solely on how an artist chooses to paint Him. Don't get me wrong, I think some religious art can help you have a better understanding of Jesus or reflect on a way someone else sees Jesus in his or her own life, but I'd be fine doing away with religious art that means nothing and has no purpose.
On Sunday after church, as our church shared a meal together and discussing Facebook, I heard a dad comment, in front of his 9th grade teenage daughter, that he had seen his daughter's profile and either knew her password or had looked at her profile when she had forgotten to log out. I also remember reading a local Christian publication in which a teenage wrote to a columnist, a local pastor, and commented that his parents had installed some type of internet program that enabled them to read the emails that he sent. The pastor was in favor on this program and stated that he thought the parents should keep these measures in place. I was incensed when I read the pastor's response and seriously considered writing him a letter, however I didn't and now I regret it. I'm a recent college graduate so obviously it's been some years since junior high and high school, yet oftentimes I still relate to and resonate with issues that teenagers are going through and this was definitely the case in this situation. I thought back to my high school years and the emails that I sent to my friends. Those emails were a safe haven for me to process life and develop friendships. I had a hard enough time trusting my parents during my teenage years and if I had discovered that they had read my journals or gone through my email account, the little trust I had in them would've been shattered. Of course, this is all in perspective because I obviously lack adolescent children of my own and perhaps I will feel differently when I reach that stage in life, however I am close enough to this teenage girl's stage in life to understand her frustration with them viewing her facebook profile and doing whatever other snooping they were doing.
Parents need to understand limits. Yes, they need to watch their teenagers as it's a slippery time in life with many dangers, but I would have had to censor my emails if my parents were to read them, not that they contained inappropriate material, simply that my parents had not earned my trust for those inner aspects and thoughts to be revealed to them. I don't know the solution to the tumultuous teenage years, and let me tell you, I definitely gave my parents grief, but I see some parents approaching it the wrong way and I just want to tell them, excuse me, but that's not going to work. Talking in front of your kids is another issue that I wish parents would cease. You know, your kids have ears, even if you think they're not listening, or if you don't care what they hear you say, but badmouthing or complaining about your kids to other parents with your kids in hearing distance is not appropriate. It also causes, at least for me, the teenager to also distrust the other adults since that will simply be another person who doesn't understand their life. Do teenagers a favor; be there for them in life and don't always be passing judgment because they have enough grief and don't need home and family to be another threat in life.
starting but not committing Category:Misc Thoughts Views:
175
I guess with writing this I am finally caving in to writing blogs on here. I waver back and forth...one, I get points for doing so, which I'm sure is motivation for everyone to blog. Even though I have a regular blog, people who actually know me read that. And sometimes...sometimes you just can't say what you want to when people who know you are reading it. No one knows me here like they have on other message boards. Sometimes it's nice to be unknown.
clearspoken's Blog
