[No real spoilers.]
Despite all of its shortcomings, the Hunger Games series does a phenomenal job of painting a picture of gross injustice so simple that children can grasp yet so deep that adults are affected deeply emotionally. I watched Catching Fire yesterday and the first third of the movie which shows the oppression of the Districts deeply moved me. I found myself teetering between seething anger and real sadness, evidenced by that funny feeling in my nose that I get when I want to cry. I remember thinking to myself, "I hate injustice."
Then the realization hit me: This injustice isn't even real! It's a made up story that I actually paid to watch. While there are millions that are living under similar or worse oppression, we wealthy, privileged Americans pay to be entertained by a depiction of the very real hell that others live and die in. In a very real sense, we are the people of Capitol watching the rest of the world play the Hunger Games. Sure, we watch some Youtube videos about poverty and injustice from time to time and pity those poor souls that were born in unfortunate circumstances, but then we clean our guilty moral palates with a few uplifting, emotionally manipulative videos from Upworthy and have our "faith in humanity restored". We are the feasting elites of Capitol, gorging ourselves with the pleasures of wealth, only enduring the short, periodic vomit-like discomfort of remembering the suffering of the world to satisfy our nagging conscious so that we can continue to gorge ourselves with more pleasure.
While it's easy to laugh at and condemn the thoughtless extravagance of the people of Capitol - embodied by the hilariously over-the-top makeup and fashion - and their disturbing indifference to injustice, if we fail to realize that we are in many ways the people of Capitol, I think that we miss one of the few things that the Hunger Games series has to offer. Hidden in the Hunger Game's adolescent fluff is a rare, surprisingly poignant insight into what wealth might look like to the destitute poor and the oppressed. We feel Katniss and Peeta's amazement of tons of delicious food, their simultaneous disgust and anger at the reality that there are millions of starving people despite the excess of food, and their eye-opening awe of Capitol's bright lights and technology. Further reflection forces us to rethink the things we've always taken for granted, be grateful for the undeserved wealth we have, and love those less fortunate than us.
As Thanksgiving and Christmas near, these are increasingly familiar and popular themes. But if it takes TV specials and the sound of Salvation Army bells for our annual reminder of poverty and injustice, we are no better than the people of Capitol, ignoring the hungry and oppressed around us for all but one month of the year.
As with everything I post, I'm not posting this because I have it figured out. I'm a guilty yet convicted hypocrite, and these were some of my thoughts. Let's keep each other accountable.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Individual QB Rating Distribution - NFC
Links
NFC East
Tony Romo - Rank #8 (5.57 Avg)
Eli Manning - Rank #4 (5.92 Avg)
Michael Vick - Rank #17 (4.86 Avg)
Robert Griffin III - Rank #30 (3.72Avg)
NFC West
Carson Palmer - Rank #18 (4.74 Avg)
Colin Kaepernick - Rank #12 (5.29 Avg)
Russell Wilson - Rank #7 (5.58 Avg)
Sam Bradford - Rank #24 (4.37 Avg)
NFC North
Jay Cutler - Rank #11 (5.29 Avg)
Matthew Stafford - Rank #25 (4.03 Avg)
Aaron Rodgers - Rank #5 (5.88 Avg)
Christian Ponder - Rank #6 (5.86 Avg)
NFC South
Matt Ryan - Rank #9 (5.38 Avg)
Cam Newton - Rank #14(5.12 Avg)
Drew Brees - Rank #16 (4.88 Avg)
Josh Freeman - Rank #22 (4.45 Avg)
Links
Individual QB Rating Distribution - AFC
Links
AFC East
EJ Manuel - Rank #10 (5.32 Avg)
Ryan Tannehill - Rank #3 (6.02 Avg)
Tom Brady - Rank #1 (7.42 Avg)
Geno Smith - Rank #21 (4.46 Avg)
AFC West
Peyton Manning - Rank #19 (4.54 Avg)
Alex Smith - Rank #2 (6.12 Avg)
Terrell Pryor - Rank #29 (3.77 Avg)
Philip Rivers - Rank #15 (5.03 Avg)
AFC North
Joe Flacco - Rank #20 (4.52 Avg)
Andy Dalton - Rank #28 (3.86 Avg)
Brandon Weeden - Rank #23 (4.37 Avg)
Ben Roethlisberger - Rank #32 (3.11 Avg)
AFC South
Matt Schaub - Rank #31 (3.45 Avg)
Andrew Luck - Rank #13 (5.22 Avg)
Chad Henne - Rank #26 (4.02 Avg)
Jake Locker - Rank #27 (3.88 Avg)
Links
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Social Media and Loneliness Desensitization
I signed up for Instagram today, mainly to keep contact with the younger people I've met here in Fort Wayne, as it seems like the younger generation uses Instagram more than any other social media. I started the day with posting a funny status about Instagram (see below) which accumulated likes and comments throughout the morning. It was fun interacting with people on Facebook and my newly created Instagram account, and an expectation of a notification every time I checked my phone built in my heart.
Fast forward to 9 PM. I've been exercising in the gym and watching the Colts-Titans game, all the while updating my Twitter, Facebook, and checking Instagram and the Reddit game thread. It's not unusual for me to update my Twitter/Facebook a lot during games, but for some reason, finally today the thought crossed my mind, "I wish I actually had someone to talk to instead of just posting it for the world to see."
The combination of the narcissistic pleasure of broadcasting my opinions, the tickling of my ego of notifications, and the reality of living alone for the last two years led to a desensitization of loneliness, keeping me from realizing the emptiness of posting stuff on the interwebs apart from real relationships. The magic of social media kept me feeling connected, which has been a lifeline in my life and I'm extremely grateful for, but it also masked the reality of the lack of friendship in my life. No amount of upvotes, likes, or those instagram heart thingys can substitute actually watching a game with friends I love. Sure, one-liners often don't sound as awesome in person as they do written in 160 characters, but life isn't all about getting e-props and followers.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I feel the need to be with people all the time or that social media is bad in any way. I get that I won't have 24/7 companions until I'm married and that much of my experience is just the typical post-college single life, but I guess what I'm saying is that it can be easy to get lost in the excitement and shallow approval of our public personas in social networks and neglect real relationships, which are more complicated and energy-draining but rewarding. It's surprisingly easy to forget to develop our friendships in the grind of real life, as accountability, discipleship, and confession of sins are a lot more difficult than posting quick fun statuses, witty comments, and selfies.
That all said, follow me on Instagram at @fobbymaster. You won't regret it.
Sorry this awful post sucked. I'll try harder next time.
Fast forward to 9 PM. I've been exercising in the gym and watching the Colts-Titans game, all the while updating my Twitter, Facebook, and checking Instagram and the Reddit game thread. It's not unusual for me to update my Twitter/Facebook a lot during games, but for some reason, finally today the thought crossed my mind, "I wish I actually had someone to talk to instead of just posting it for the world to see."
The combination of the narcissistic pleasure of broadcasting my opinions, the tickling of my ego of notifications, and the reality of living alone for the last two years led to a desensitization of loneliness, keeping me from realizing the emptiness of posting stuff on the interwebs apart from real relationships. The magic of social media kept me feeling connected, which has been a lifeline in my life and I'm extremely grateful for, but it also masked the reality of the lack of friendship in my life. No amount of upvotes, likes, or those instagram heart thingys can substitute actually watching a game with friends I love. Sure, one-liners often don't sound as awesome in person as they do written in 160 characters, but life isn't all about getting e-props and followers.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that I feel the need to be with people all the time or that social media is bad in any way. I get that I won't have 24/7 companions until I'm married and that much of my experience is just the typical post-college single life, but I guess what I'm saying is that it can be easy to get lost in the excitement and shallow approval of our public personas in social networks and neglect real relationships, which are more complicated and energy-draining but rewarding. It's surprisingly easy to forget to develop our friendships in the grind of real life, as accountability, discipleship, and confession of sins are a lot more difficult than posting quick fun statuses, witty comments, and selfies.
That all said, follow me on Instagram at @fobbymaster. You won't regret it.
Sorry this awful post sucked. I'll try harder next time.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Speaking at AIV Fall Retreat
As many of you know, I've been super busy the last month with a lot of different things, so I haven't gotten the chance to post. One of those major things that took a lot of my time was preparing to speak at the AIV Fall Retreat [here's a link to my seemingly disorganized outline]. The "Fall Retreat" is what used to be the lock-in, and was held an hour and a half off campus (and only an hour from Fort Wayne!) at a sweet retreat center. I was excited and pretty well-prepared going into the talk, but as I learn every time, speaking is hard. Here are three reasons why speaking is hard and some of the lessons I learned from this experience.
1) Distractions while speaking really screw up your train of thought.
I don't know how pastors stay focused. Every turn of the head, creaking opening of the door, and slight noise from the audience triggers my "squirrel" reflex. On top of that, there's the need to suppress the mental distracted of audience members that are sleeping or not paying attention. It probably would have been much easier had the lights been bright in my face and I couldn't see any audience members, which was kind of what it was like when I spoke at Christmas Banquet. What actually helped me stay focused on what I was saying were those in the audience who were not only listening, but were actually watching me, as for some reason, the eye contact really helped (big thanks to tall Andy W, who seemed to really be paying attention and I would go back and look to for encouragement/refocusing because his eyes were fixed forwards towards me...and because he's so tall he was easy to see.
I can really see now why Pastor Jay always wanted us to be looking at him when he spoke, why teachers often told us to face forwards, and why we were often reprimanded for going to the bathroom in the middle of sermons. Sure, it was about respect and about paying attention, but I think that they probably also did it because it helped them focus and not lose their train of thought thinking about other things. My respect and amazement of Pastor Scott at Northpark has also skyrocketed, as he often preaches right through minutes of an old lady coughing. So out of love and respect for our speakers, let's try to arrive on time (and not have to walk through doors late), look at speakers, and try not to leave service unless you really have to.
2) Not knowing how you did screws with your head.
In the minutes following giving Christian talks or gospel presentations, I often think to myself, "Good Lord, I've screwed up mightily." I mentally go through all the mistakes that I made - the things I wanted to say but forgot and the things I could have said but didn't think of. After the Fall Retreat talk, I really didn't how well I connected with the audience, if the things I said were useful, and if it really benefited anyone. It's always at this point that I really get reminded of the primacy of glorifying God and a glimpse of the reality of the sovereignty of God. I'm reminded that in the end, the audience's response doesn't dictate the "success" of any talk - it's about whether or not I've been faithful to God in both preparation and delivery, and the reminder that I'm there to serve God and not man gives me some comfort. The reality of the sovereignty of God is then made very real again to me, as I have no choice but to give the result up to God, knowing that despite my mistakes and flaws, it's only God that can work in people's hearts.
3) Receiving feedback can screw with your pride.
In those times that I've prepared well, I've generally received positive feedback. And despite my self-doubt, the temptation to be prideful is deadly. I can go quickly from "I made so many mistakes: God work through it despite me" to having to remind myself, "Yes, Caleb, you are awesome and did awesome, but remember that nothing that you did means anything apart from God". Don't get me wrong. Positive feedback is great and I need it (constructive criticism would also be welcome) and it's my own heart that's the issue. Staying humble in the midst of praise is difficult, and I can't imagine the humility guys like Piper and Keller need to continually work on.
1) Distractions while speaking really screw up your train of thought.
I don't know how pastors stay focused. Every turn of the head, creaking opening of the door, and slight noise from the audience triggers my "squirrel" reflex. On top of that, there's the need to suppress the mental distracted of audience members that are sleeping or not paying attention. It probably would have been much easier had the lights been bright in my face and I couldn't see any audience members, which was kind of what it was like when I spoke at Christmas Banquet. What actually helped me stay focused on what I was saying were those in the audience who were not only listening, but were actually watching me, as for some reason, the eye contact really helped (big thanks to tall Andy W, who seemed to really be paying attention and I would go back and look to for encouragement/refocusing because his eyes were fixed forwards towards me...and because he's so tall he was easy to see.
I can really see now why Pastor Jay always wanted us to be looking at him when he spoke, why teachers often told us to face forwards, and why we were often reprimanded for going to the bathroom in the middle of sermons. Sure, it was about respect and about paying attention, but I think that they probably also did it because it helped them focus and not lose their train of thought thinking about other things. My respect and amazement of Pastor Scott at Northpark has also skyrocketed, as he often preaches right through minutes of an old lady coughing. So out of love and respect for our speakers, let's try to arrive on time (and not have to walk through doors late), look at speakers, and try not to leave service unless you really have to.
2) Not knowing how you did screws with your head.
In the minutes following giving Christian talks or gospel presentations, I often think to myself, "Good Lord, I've screwed up mightily." I mentally go through all the mistakes that I made - the things I wanted to say but forgot and the things I could have said but didn't think of. After the Fall Retreat talk, I really didn't how well I connected with the audience, if the things I said were useful, and if it really benefited anyone. It's always at this point that I really get reminded of the primacy of glorifying God and a glimpse of the reality of the sovereignty of God. I'm reminded that in the end, the audience's response doesn't dictate the "success" of any talk - it's about whether or not I've been faithful to God in both preparation and delivery, and the reminder that I'm there to serve God and not man gives me some comfort. The reality of the sovereignty of God is then made very real again to me, as I have no choice but to give the result up to God, knowing that despite my mistakes and flaws, it's only God that can work in people's hearts.
3) Receiving feedback can screw with your pride.
In those times that I've prepared well, I've generally received positive feedback. And despite my self-doubt, the temptation to be prideful is deadly. I can go quickly from "I made so many mistakes: God work through it despite me" to having to remind myself, "Yes, Caleb, you are awesome and did awesome, but remember that nothing that you did means anything apart from God". Don't get me wrong. Positive feedback is great and I need it (constructive criticism would also be welcome) and it's my own heart that's the issue. Staying humble in the midst of praise is difficult, and I can't imagine the humility guys like Piper and Keller need to continually work on.
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