Life In A Canoe

I heard a really good analogy this week about marriage being like a canoe. The idea is, when people get married, they get into the same canoe.

The thing is, not just marriage is like a canoe. All of life is. Granted, we aren’t all in the same canoe, or maybe only in the same one for a short period of each day. But if you are part of a family, a work force, a team, a club, a church, you are in the same canoe as those people with whom you share that common goal or desire.

If you know anything about canoes, you know they are not particularly steady. In fact, movement inside the canoe can create a lot of swaying and tipping. If one person leans left, a proper response from the other people in the canoe must follow or you end up in the drink.

I know because that actually happened to me. Literally.

I was a young teacher working at a school for missionary kids, when one of the families gave me a weekend with them and another family at a nearby lake. The place was beautiful. The lake was ringed by volcanoes and deep! It had presumably been created when one of the volcanoes erupted years ago.

At any rate, someone suggested all the young teens and I go out onto the lake in the canoe. I’m not big on water sports, but I agreed. The ride out away from shore and back was going fine until one of the kids decided to jump into the water and then get back into the canoe. (Or maybe he’d been swimming along side and decided to get in. I’m not clear on that detail). All that movement and change of weight affected the balance of our canoe.

When the young man decided to get into the canoe, he started a quick chain of events. First, someone jumping from the canoe and climbing in, creates movement. The rest of us compensated for all the rocking and swaying by shifting our weight accordingly.

At some point, he gripped the side of the canoe and hoisted himself up. Lots of lean which caused some of us to compensate by shifting our weight to correct the balance. Problem was, when he was back in the canoe, we were still shifted in the opposite direction. The canoe did a perfect roll and dumped us all into the lake.

By this time we weren’t far from shore so we managed to drag the thing in. But I got a first hand look at what it means to be in a canoe together. In that instance, it wasn’t pretty.

Later I learned that our leaning to counter the guy jumping into the canoe was actually an over compensation. Once he was in and not pulling us to the left, all of our right leaning had no counter balance. And over we went.

All this to say, what we do inside our canoe affects the other people in our canoe. There are no Lone Rangers. Those folk are all in kayaks.

The Folly Of Moral Conviction

Christophe Hitchens, who died in 2011, was only 7 months older than I am. I heard him in a debate a year or so before he was diagnosed with cancer. Before I learned of his illness and before he subsequently passed away, I wrote this post in response to an article about one of his books. The interesting thing, I think, is that what I said about Mr. Hitchens is true about all of us. So I’ve decided to re-post this edited version.

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Columnist Michael Gerson recently wrote a piece that appeared, slightly abridged, in my local paper, “The Atheist As Moralist” (this link appears to give you the entire article). The subject of his commentary was Christopher Hitchens, famed atheist who had recently published his memoir, Hitch-22.

In essence, Mr. Gerson saw in Christopher Hitchens’ constancy and courage and “delight in all things human,” something worth commending. He had, after all, lived, and apparently died, clinging to his moral convictions because he disdained deathbed religious conversions. “The idea ‘that you may be terrified’ is no reason to ‘abandon the principles of a lifetime,’ ” Mr. Gerson reported him saying.

These moral convictions of his were the repudiation of tyranny—even “celestial tyranny”—and the championing of the underdog. And for this Mr. Gerson held Christopher Hitchens up as one who accomplished what his beliefs could not—the provision of a moral compass.

How sadly empty! To praise a man for sticking to his guns, even in the face of terror and encroaching death, is meaningless unless he’s holding to something worthwhile. You might as well praise a terrorist suicide bomber for his example of “courage, loyalty and moral conviction.”

The fact is, Christopher Hitchens could be as dedicated and sincere, as tenacious and unswerving in his beliefs as he wanted, but if those beliefs were wrong, his conviction was foolish, not admirable.

In addition, by including God in his hatred of tyranny he exposed the fact that his real hatred was having an authority over him. He didn’t want God to have the final say—or any say—when it came to Christopher Hitchens.

But perhaps he was closer to faith than even he realized. When asked what positive lesson he’d learned from Christianity, Mr. Gerson reported him to say, “The transience and ephemeral nature of power and all things human.”

Human power and life on this side of the veil is indeed transient and ephemeral. In his letter included in Scripture, the apostle James says our lives are just a vapor. The prophet Isaiah says that we are like grass and the flowers of the field, withering and fading away. The apostle Peter quoted that passage in his first letter.

Here’s the thing. Christopher Hitchens had apparently put all his trust in humanity. He delighted “in all things human—in wit and wine and good company and conversation and fine writing and debate of large issues.” But in the end, he realized it was passing. His moral convictions were grounded in vapor. He’d invested his life in nothing more solid than dry grass that shrivels in the desert wind.

And he refused to rethink his options. After all, he was a man of moral conviction! Did that make him a great example for the rest of humanity, as Mr. Gerson seemed to think?

Hardly. It made him a sad figure, a wasted intellect, a man destined to get what he most feared—the wrath of a Sovereign God—and what he most desired—to go it on his own.

As long as Christopher Hitchens had breath, he could repent. If the thief dying next to Jesus could turn from his sin, so could the atheist determined to resist God’s rule. May God penetrate those hard hearts and bring them to their knees so that they will know God’s kindness and mercy. That continues to be my prayer.

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus by Nabeel Qureshi is one of the best books I’ve read, and actually I just finished re-reading it. I first heard about the book a few years ago on some radio program, but I forgot the title and I’m very poor with names. So I looked in my church library for a book about a Muslim converting to Christianity. I found one and was ready to head for home but our church librarian saw what book I had and recommended Nabeel’s book. I read the other one too, but this one I devoured.

I’m not big on re-reading books, but I had the opportunity to be a part of the launch team for the third edition of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus. Honestly, I’d read the book so fast and close to the time that I read the other book, I really didn’t remember a lot of details. But I remembered I loved it.

How thankful I am that I have had the opportunity to re-read this book. Not only is it a wonderful autobiography told in Nabeel’s easy style, but it’s also an apologetics book, one designed to illumine his own struggle, to guide other Muslims who may also be searching for the truth, and to inform Christians about things we should know in our desire to talk with people of other faiths and other cultures.

In addition, there are some other excellent essays that weren’t in the first edition and there is an afterword talking about Nabeel’s ministry as a Christian, and ultimately of his battle with stage 4 cancer that took his life last year.

The best part, in my opinion, was when Nabeel, at the end of his struggle to cling to the faith that he loved, that defined him and gave him a place in a family and culture that was fundamental to his life, turned first to the Quran and then to the Bible for comfort. I love how God directed him to the very passages he needed to read, how he realized at once that these verses were life, that they offered him exactly what he was seeking.

I will say, a part of Nabeel’s struggle puts me to shame. As a devote Muslim, he had a prayer life that compares to no one I know. Not that his prayers were efficacious. Much of them were nothing but repetition he learned as a small boy.

But he had the practice of turning to God, of spending time with Him. And I think this above all else drove him to make probably the hardest decision a person can make—he did just what Scripture talks about, literally: he denied himself, took up his cross, and followed Jesus. To the point that nothing was going to be in first place in his life above God. Not his beloved parents or sister, not the Muslim community or the standing of his family in it, not his friends, his years of study to become a medical doctor. None of it.

So why does this put me to shame? I don’t wrestle with God in prayer the way Nabeel did. I turn to Him, but stay on my face before Him? I wish.

And I have to wonder what my life would be like if I had to give up everything for Christ. Would I take the step Nabeel did? Would I have the courage? Would I have the faith?

I find it so encouraging that this intelligent man with four, going on five, advance degrees, who was heading for Oxford, went about studying first Christianity, then Islam, in such systematic ways until he arrived at what is true. But ultimately he had to step out and put his trust in Jesus Christ who would forgive Him of his sins, who would show him the true love and grace of God the Father.

Nabeel shares many insights, and not all are for people who want to share their faith with Muslims. Some are just universally true, and that makes this book such a good read for people who want to understand Christianity more, who want to understand Islam more, who want to be able to talk to people of other faiths, other cultures.

In short, I highly recommend Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, 3rd edition, with all the excellent articles in the appendices. Read it, share it, tell others about it. It’s a book that is life changing because it’s about a changed life.

The Power Of Forgiveness

I’m convinced that Christianity is different from all other religions.

I was reminded of this distinction when I read the cover story of the June 2016 issue of Christianity Today: “A Fragile Forgiveness” which gives a snapshot of the people who lost loved ones in the Charleston church shooting a year ago.

I’m not saying that people of other religions or of no religion at all can’t forgive. It’s just that they don’t have a reason to forgive. Society doesn’t blame anyone for holding grudges any more, and certain segments of society even look down on those who forgive as if that’s a weakness.

For example, take a look at the comments to a YouTube video about an African American who was falsely accused by a white police officer, went to prison, and came out with intent to get even—until he became a Christian, and until the repentant and punished former officer became his best friend. Here’s a small sampling:

• This man must not love and respect himself.
• Slave forgave his master
• He’s just thankful the cop didn’t murder him
• this black guy must be SETTING THIS WHITE GUY UP! AINT NO WAY IN HELL I’ll BE FRIENDS WITH THIS GUY.
• I swear I am ashamed of this stupid a[_ _] coon!
• The first thing I would’ve done is make that pig suffer. In a slow and torturous way

There are many, many more such comments.

The families of the Christians gunned down in church by a racist killer stand in sharp contrast.

They aren’t alone. Other believers have extended forgiveness to people in ways and at times that make their actions seem almost unbelievable. Here’s one such individual I wrote about a few years ago. It seems appropriate to reprise the article to illustrate what the love of Jesus Christ can do in a person’s life.

– – – – –

I heard another story of incredible forgiveness today. A well-known Christian writer and speaker and apologist, it turns out, had a horrific childhood. His father was an alcoholic and in his between sober and drunk stages, was violent. His mother had a medical condition that necessitated the family bring in outside help. The man they hired began to sexually abuse this boy between the age of 6 to 13. When he finally worked up the courage to tell his mother, she didn’t believe him and whipped him for lying.

I’m referring to Josh McDowell, the author of Evidence That Demands a Verdict, and over a hundred other titles. This man who has been so vocal and passionate about the truth of God’s good news—His love and forgiveness—once considered Christianity worthless and identified himself as an agnostic.

What changed?

Josh McDowell met Jesus Christ.

Apparently his radical change came because of a college paper. He set out to examine the historical evidence for Christianity in order to disprove it, but instead he found compelling proof of its veracity.

He embraced Christianity, was discipled by a pastor for six months, enrolled in Wheaton College, and eventually attended Talbot Theological Seminary here in SoCal.

But the key turning point in his life, he said, was when he forgave the man who abused him. His was not a secret “in the heart” forgiveness. He actually tracked the man down, went to his home, and told him that what he’d done was wrong and hurtful, but because of Josh’s new life in Christ, he forgave him.

Of all the powerful forgiveness stories I’ve heard–Christ forgiving His crucifiers, Stephen forgiving those who stoned him, Corrie ten Boom forgiving the Nazi concentration guard, Elizabeth Elliott forgiving the indigenous people who killed her husband and four other missionaries with him, Kent Whitaker who forgave the person who murdered his wife and son–this one ranks right up there toward the top.

In all honestly, apart from Christ, this kind of forgiveness seems next to impossible. It doesn’t even seem all that desirable. Our culture wires us to be much more inclined toward revenge than forgiveness. Maybe it’s more than our culture. It’s probably wired into our nature. We want pay back.

If the guilty person is remorseful, then forgiveness doesn’t seem quite so hard. But if they remain hardened and unrepentant, forgiveness seems like an unacceptable concession.

The thing is, it’s not our job to play judge. God is the One who is ready to judge, according to 1 Peter. He is the Judge who is right at the door according to James.

For us to step back and refuse to do what isn’t our job in the first place, helps us, and it doesn’t change the fact that God will take care of the other party—either by covering them with the blood of His Son or by meting out judgment at the end of the age.

Let me reiterate what Josh McDowell experienced. Forgiving the man who hurt him, and his parents for allowing it, removed a weight he’d been carrying. It freed him to love.

Paul identifies an unforgiving attitude as a scheme of the devil.

for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. (2 Cor. 2:10b-11)

Wow! Part of Satan’s plan of attack has to do with taking advantage of our lack of forgiveness.

That alone is sobering enough, but of course Jesus also taught extensively on our need to forgive our brothers. Understanding our own forgiven state seems to have a residual effect–it turns us into forgivers.

It makes sense. When we get the immensity of what we’ve been forgiven, we understand how cheap and petty we are to hold something against someone else.

The person Jesus died for, I’m going to squeeze a little more? To accomplish what? If that person is redeemed by the blood of Christ, am I asking Christ to do more than die for his sins? If he is not redeemed, am I saying I can punish him more adequately than God can?

My lack of forgiveness accomplishes nothing, but its negative effects on my life don’t end. A lack of forgiveness calcifies and turns into bitterness, resentment, hatred. Those things eat at our souls.

Josh McDowell is living proof that forgiving others made a great deal of difference in his life. God saved him and taught him what he needed so that he could be free and could heal from the hurt of his childhood. It wasn’t instantaneous, and God continues to heal all these years later. He healed and He is healing. And forgiveness is at the center of it all.

For more about Josh McDowell’s story you might be interested in Undaunted:

For the first time, Josh fully reveals the dramatic spiritual transformation that occurred when he faced his past head-on and put everything entirely in God’s hands. It’s a story of overcoming shame, grief, and despair and embracing real love for the first time. It’s a tale of divine grace: when the worst that life can throw at you happens, you can come out on the other side with a faith that is full, free—and undaunted.

Power Elements Of Character Development

I’m excited to announce that the second volume in my Power Elements Of Fiction series, Power Elements Of Character Development is available as a Kindle ebook. It took me longer than I anticipated to get this book put together and published, so it’s with some sense of relief and joy that I can announce its release.

Here’s the little blurb describing the book:

Power Elements Of Character Development, second in the series Power Elements Of Fiction, offers practical instruction for fiction writers about how to create engaging characters. This manual covers such topics as the character arc, a character’s inner as well as outer goals, qualities that make a character compelling, how character development fits with plot, how setting affects character development, character flaws, character voice, well-developed minor characters, realistic antagonists, and more.

This guide provides helpful reminders to the seasoned author, tips to help the intermediate writer raise the level of his storytelling, and instruction for the beginner. The occasional writing exercises offer writers an opportunity to apply what they are learning to their own works in progress.

Finally, Power Elements Of Character Development includes a list of resources for authors who wish to dig deeper in any given topic.

In total, this manual is a succinct blueprint for fiction writers to create characters that intrigue, entice, and compel readers to follow their story.

If you’d be so inclined to share this post with anyone you know who writes fiction, I’d be ever so grateful.

Internet issues

Technology is wonderful, but it also comes with a caveat: you can’t live without it, or so it seems.

This week I’ve done what I’ve needed to do for sometime-I have a graded my operating system. However, I learned that by doing so I also needed to upgrade my Internet connection.

So in the works I have a technician coming out on Wednesday to bring me into the 21st-century with my technology, or at least a little bit into the 21st-century. I wouldn’t say that I am close to being up-to-date or cutting-edge.

All that to say I have my doubts about putting up regular posts here at A Christian Worldview of Fiction between now and then.

Posting using the phone is not ideal but perhaps it’s better than nothing. At any rate, today I simply wanted to alert people to the fact that there might not be new posts for a few days.

“And my God will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ.”

Of course I don’t always know what I need. I know what I want, and I know what I think I need, but God actually knows. So what he supplies, I understand to be sufficient for my needs.

My current needs then apparently are to go without technology in order to gain technology. 😊

From The Rag Bag – 2014

Just bits and pieces of this and that today.

Good news on the Christian fantasy front. Accomplished author and all-around nice guy Jonathan Rogers is re-releasing The Wilderking Trilogy, his middle grade fantasies about the feechie folk. They’re being published by Rabbit Room Press, the independent publisher that is putting out Andrew Peterson’s final Wingfeather Saga novel later this year. If you’re interested, you can pre-order Jonathan’s books from RRP.

I’m sad the blog tour for Donita Paul’s One Realm Beyond is over, though I still have a number of sites yet to visit. I love blog tours! 😉

Sticking with the genre for a bit, the nominations opened this week for the Clive Staples Award for Christian Speculative Fiction. Readers can nominate a book at either the award site or at SpecFaith. Already we have twenty-eight books that have been nominated. I hope readers will consider taking a look at that list and turning them into to be read books.

And now to the Olympics. I haven’t seen much of the Sochi games. To be honest, it’s a little hard to get excited about winter sports when we’re having days with temperatures reaching the high 70s. One of the highlights for me came early when snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won the first US gold medal of the games. As it turns out, Sage is related to Gerry Jennings, a good friend, former colleague, and former neighbor of mine. She told me about him over a year ago–excited about his chances of making the Olympic team. And now he’s won gold!

I saw a Facebook notification about the women’s gold medal hockey game and hurried in to turn on the TV–just in time to see them receiving a consolation speech, having just lost in overtime. So was it disappointing that I’d missed the game or relief that I hadn’t spent two hours watching a game we lost? A little of both.

I’m about ready to call it quits as far as Yahoo! mail is concerned. That’s been my public email where editing clients write me. But there’s some glitch going on, though I downloaded a Yahoo! optimized edition of Firefox. I can read emails, but I can’t reply. I can type the H in Hi, but as soon as I try to add the i, a chat box opens. Yea, somethings not right. I keep holding out, hoping they’ll fix whatever is the problem, but no such luck.

The California drought persists in the southland. In our next-to-rainiest month we’ve had about an inch of rain, if that. Supposedly this week we had a chance of some rain. Tuesday was indeed cloudy, but today winds off the desert brought high temperatures and clear skies. It just feels so wrong, especially when so much of the rest of the country has been struggling through such a hard winter.

On the writing front, I’ve made some small progress on the prequel to The Lore of Efrathah, but of course the real news is Power Elements of Story Structure, my writing instruction ebook. Just the other day, I got an email from Amazon–an ad really, for books in the education category, and Story Structure was the first on the list. I have to admit, that was . . . kind of a cool feeling. Sort of like seeing your book on the bookshelf at the book story, I imagine. Of course, I have no idea how many people Amazon sent that particular ad to. But it was nice to think that people I don’t know might see it and consider buying it.

Speaking of the book, if anyone has read it and would be willing to write a review, I’d be very grateful. I understand those are a big help in selling books on Amazon.

I think I’ve hopscotched from one topic to another enough for one day. Blessings on you.

Gotta Love The Dodgers

No, there’s no metaphor here or any symbolism or spiritual lesson behind the scenes. I’m a sports nut, and I’m enjoying cheering for the Dodgers. They were the first major league team in any sport that I followed, so it’s fitting.

I admit, I went through a period after the latest strike and a series of steroid scandals in which I lost interest in baseball altogether. It didn’t help that the Dodgers experienced a change of ownership that could not uphold the proud tradition of the team.

Steroid scandals are still plaguing the sport, but at this point it seems the current crop of Dodgers are not connected with the ongoing league investigation. Most of them are too young. They’ve only been in the league for a few short years.

Well, “most of them” is probably an exaggeration. To be honest, I’m still getting to know who’s on the roster. I’ve only been following them for about six weeks–sort of that turn-around point when manager Don Mattingly said the season started anew for the guys in Dodger blue.

The fact that Mattingly was still the manager was a minor miracle as the media pundits had him on the way out unless he had a particularly good series against . . . I forget which team. I think the Dodgers might have been swept.

But to the surprise of all those sports talkers, the new, new ownership–a group of sports lovers which includes Magic Johnson–stuck by their manager. They recognized that no one on the team had given up and that Mattingly hadn’t been playing with the line-up he expected due to a rash of early injuries.

As some of those players who had been on the DL (disabled list), returned to action, a new-comer burst on the scene, too–a raw talent with all kinds of enthusiasm named Yasiel Puig.

Those in the know call Yasiel a 5-point athlete. He is fast, has a strong arm, can hit for power, can hit for average, and plays defense. But he’s still a bit of a diamond in the rough, which is why he was in Triple-A. Sometimes he misses his cut-off man. Sometimes he tries too hard to hit home runs. Sometimes he makes base-running blunders. But he also gets key base hits and makes spectacular catches in right field. Sometimes he throws runners out or steals bases or stretches a single into a double.

He plays with abandon–at least he did until the All Star break. Now he’s settling in a little and seems aware that the world is watching. He’s a good human interest story, having come from Cuba by way of Mexico. His is a rags-to-riches story, and we still love to hear those.

But the Dodger success has more to do with the changes Don Mattingly made in the bullpen, so that the games the Dodgers had been losing in the late innings, they now are winning. And it has to do with improved defense, and key hitting.

Shortstop Hanley Ramirez has figured into both those last factors. He came off the DL days after Yasiel Puig joined the parent club. When was the last time a shortstop was a clean-up hitter? It’s new to me, but Hanley is managing to hit better than .380 in that spot. He’s either driving in runs or getting on base or moving runners over.

But from top to bottom the Dodger line-up can hit (in July the team batting average is .292). And now, after struggling through April and May and a good part of June, they are actualizing their potential. And they still have an ace up their sleeves.

Arguably their best player who isn’t a pitcher, Matt Kemp, is once again on the DL. After nursing a pulled hamstring for far too long, he finally sat down, healed, and had just come back. Oh, I forgot the shoulder thing. He re-injured the shoulder he’d had surgery on, so sat for a short while to heal that. Then he came back for a couple days and was smoking! I mean, home runs, key base hits, his usual outstanding defense.

Everyone was wondering how the Dodgers were going to juggle four outfielders who all deserved to start. And then Kemp slid into home. Well, he actually slid into the catcher’s shin-guard-covered leg blocking home plate, and broke his ankle.

But he’ll be back. And the Dodgers, full of confidence now, don’t look like they’ve got a mind to slow down. They just might be the best team in baseball. Since the All Star break they’ve won 10 of 11 games. Since the beginning of Don Mattingly’s season reboot, they’re winning 80% of their games. That’s unheard of in baseball.

The thing is, they’re winning in all the ways there is to win. They’ve dominated teams offensively, they’ve won pitching duels. They’ve even won ugly–ever heard of a team striking out 20 times in a game and WINNING? Yep, the Dodgers managed that just the other day. They’re winning at home. They’re winning away. They’re beating teams in their division and those outside. They’re beating AL teams as well as NL teams.

This time of year I’m normally getting excited about the start of football. But pardon me for staying focused on baseball a while longer. It’s pretty fun to be a Dodger fan these days. 😉

March Madness

What’s mad about watching college basketball? Here are my random thoughts about the tournament so far.

The Pac-12 has once again shown how underrated a conference they are. Too many of the media pundits fall in love with one line of thinking–this year that the Big Ten is by far the superior conference. Of all people to be the voice of reason–surprise, surprise, it’s Charles Barkley who said more than once that the teams out west don’t get the respect they deserve.

I’m looking for at least one Pac-12 team to make the elite eight.

I don’t fill out my brackets like everyone else. I pick winners round for round. I mean, if you don’t have the right two teams playing each other in round two, how can you possibly predict a winner?

Last night I finished the night 11-5. Like many others, I missed on New Mexico vs. Harvard. I saw the Lobos play in the Mountain West final and thought they looked impressive, but I remember UCLA losing to Princeton some years back, so I know it’s unwise to take an Ivy League team for granted. Of course, New Mexico may simply have been experiencing the letdown that naturally comes after achieving a goal. You feel relieved, not hungry.

I lost all three of my upset specials. I chose Bucknell over Butler, but Butler won by 12. Then I picked Montana over Syracuse, but by over 40 points the Orangemen demolished the Montana Grizzlies who didn’t have their leading scorer due to injury. My third miss was taking Valparaiso over Michigan St. I saw the Spartans play in their conference tournament and thought they could be upset. But it wasn’t to be. Michigan St. won by eleven.

The game I’m second guessing myself about is Pittsburgh vs. Wichita. I wanted to pick Wichita. I started to write them into my bracket, but then I remembered Pittsburgh’s reputation for tough defense. I went with the number eight seed, and I was wrong! Wichita pulled off the minor upset.

Glancing at today’s scores, it doesn’t look like I’ll fare quite as well with this half of the bracket. As long as UCLA wins, I won’t mind.

Yea, March Madness! 😀

Olympics!

After I lost the start to my original post, I decided I’d save that one for another day and send you all to your television sets to enjoy the Olympics. It’s a great time.

I’ve loved the Olympics for as long as I can remember, even before I had the privilege of attending a few events in the 1984 Summer Games held in Los Angeles.

My favorite so far this year are the women’s and men’s indoor volleyball matches. I’ve also enjoyed the water polo. The announcers explained some things that I’ve never understood before, so the game makes more sense to me now.

I watched cycling on the first day–just because that was on, and it was The First Day! I would watch all the US basketball if I had cable, but it’s probably a good thing I don’t.

Gymnastics–I watch, but I hate every recital of the horrible injuries these young people have sustained on their way to reaching this phase of their career. It’s horrible hearing about their concussions, torn ligaments, broken collarbones, sprained ankles, knee surgeries, and more. If any other kid had the collection of bruises and medical issues these athletes have, we’d be calling social services to investigate whether or not they were subject to abuse.

To make matters worse, the media praises “pushing through” or a quick recover. They make heroes of the kids that take the punishment in order to win.

But a good spanking to help shape their character? My no! How can you suggest such a thing?

Just a little inconsistency there.

So gymnastics isn’t my favorite sport, to put it mildly.

I’m sad that the media builds up athletes to be heroes before they’ve done anything. There’s the girl that was to win the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics all around who didn’t even qualify. And the men’s team slated for the gold medal that didn’t even get on the podium.

Then Michael Phelps and the anticipation that he would come away with the most medals of any US athlete ever. So in his first event, he barely qualified for the final and didn’t medal.

Or how about the man the media has been building up to replace him–the one whose time is now, but who couldn’t keep the French swimmer from overtaking him in the relay?

The question is, what happened? The implication is, you let us down. But it was the media who built the expectations and made us viewers think these are scripted sure things that we have but to sit back and watch.

Well, no, the other athletes who have worked and dreamed just as much as the media darlings just might have something to say about the outcome.

It’s time the media started reporting instead of trying to predict.

Now go, watch, and enjoy. 😀