I'm Going With Curling

The New York Times today has published yet another article accusing yet another Major League Baseball great of using performance enhancing drugs, scandalous I know. The horror, the outrage! "Not only has he let his team down, he's supposed to be a role model for children…blah blah blah."

There is scandal in every popular and publicized sport.

Tennis had the temper and media abuse of John McEnroe

Wrestling has its wide steroid scandal, and then the "Roid-Rage" murder suicides and speculations of its own people, such as Chris Benoit.

The NFL has had dog fighting scandals involving Michael Vick, had drunken driving homicides swept under the rug by Donte Stallworth, had children out of wedlock by Tom Brady.

Soccer has had the fan bedlam and extra marital affairs of David Beckham.

Boxing had Mike Tyson.

Olympic gymnasts had the "are-they-or-aren't-they" of legal age scandal in China.

Hell, even figure skating had Tanya Harding.

We put these people, these athletes, on pedestals, raising them beyond human expectations. We pay them exorbitant amounts of money, when most of them came from nothing, and then expect them to be flawless as human beings. Expect their talents in theirs jobs to carry over into their personal lives. It’s a far fall from atop those pedestals.

What our children need as role models are real people. They need realistic ideals that not everyone is perfect, but that imperfections are what make people special and different. They need to know that striving to be the best is ok, but not always expected of them.

If you want a scandal-less sport to idealize, people to look up to, whose antics have yet to grace the covers of our magazines, who have yet been fodder for tabloids, I say go with Curling.

The REAL Decline of Civilazation

A heartfelt apology via text message is an oxymoron.

Are we really so caught up in technology that we have lost all desire for human contact? All important conversations are now by text, by email, by instant message. No one comes to talk to you face to face; no one even picks up the phone.

All conversations are misconstrued, all taken out of context because they miss an important element of human nature. They lack passion. They lack understanding and emotion. The simple rise and fall of the human voice. The tone.

The cool hush when someone is talking about someone or something they care about deeply. The rise at the end of a punctuated statement when there is anger, when there is disdain or resentment.

People sit next to each other, sit across a room and send a text message. They claim privacy. What happened to the intimacy of a whisper? The cool breathe of someone else against your ear, the thrill of knowing people are all around you yet that conversation belongs only to you?

I know couples whose entire marital arguments happen entirely through this method. Are we that lack-luster in passion that we no longer need human contact? Are we becoming that robotic? Are we becoming what we feared?

I often hear of people complain that when they are in need for service, when they need something, albeit a question from a store, they call in and get frustrated when they get an automated system in response. THEY are becoming an automated system in their own lives and don't even realize the irony.

I long for human contact. I call a certain friend, no answer. I get a text later on asking if I called. YES! I did. I "called", on the phone. Generally to TALK. Had I wanted to shoot a brief message designed for texting I would have done so, but no I called, I had needed or wanted conversation. Witty banter, not mindless and thoughtless text speak sent in 140 character increments.

I miss having long conversations with friends. Getting to know someone by staying up all night on the phone, talking for hours about nothing. Hearing laughter, not wondering about the sincerity of a lingering "LOL"

I miss having to argue with someone and hearing the anger or frustration in their voice. Not that I am looking to argue, but if you are going to do it, make me know what, and why, and how things make you feel. Let me know you are passionate. That you feel in general.

I see the decline in civilization approaching. And in the end, I fear we are all turning into robots.

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