Friday, May 23, 2003

While at the gym today, I read two different pieces of literature that seemed to flow together nicely. They are in tension with one another - one speaking of how fake men can be in our world, and the other speaking of the problem of too much transparency.

Piece of literature #1:
How about sports? A few years ago I volunteered to coach for my son's baseball team. There was a mandatory meeting that all coaches needed to attend before the season, to pick up equipment and listen to a "briefing." Our recreation department brought in a retired professional pitcher, a local boy, to give us all a pep talk. The posing that went on was incredible. Here's a bunch of balding dads with beer bellies sort of swaggering around, talking about their own baseball days, throwing out comments about pro players like they knew them personally, and spitting (I kid you not). Their "attitude" (that's a tame word for it) was so thick I needed waders. It was the biggest bunch of posers I've ever met . . . outside of church.

That same sort of thing goes on Sunday mornings, its just a different set of rules. Dave runs into Bob in the church lobby. Both are wearing their happy faces, though neither is happy at all. "Hey, Bob, how are ya?" Bob is actually furious at his wife and ready to leave her, but he says, "Great, just great, Dave. The Lord is good!" Dave, on the other hand, hasn't believed in the goodness of God for years, ever since his daughter was killed. "Yep - God is good, all the time. I"m just so glad to be here, praising the Lord."

Piece of literature #2:
I remember reading No One Here Gets Out Alive when I was in tenth grade, and that made me want to write. I have always, since I was fouteen years old, written things in my journals, and have always been very protective of things that I put down on paper. I have a hard time committing my personal feelings and my deepest, darkest secrets to a place where someone will be able to obtain them . . .

. . . I think the modern, contemporary treatment of rock stars on MTV and the voyeuristic world of Reality TV are a great threat to anyone who wants to retain any sort of value throughout history. My whole life, I have tried to steer clear from "behind the scenes" things. They take away from the power of what you do. If you start explaining your tricks, then you are a !@#$%^ magician. I'm watching all these other people piss away what could be great works of art by going on Cribs. You can be legendary for not doing anything because of this voyeuristic culture that we live in. You can be famous for "surviving" something, or for marrying a millionaire, or for being a victim of a crime. It's a strange time that we are in now.

The first item came from Wild At Heart, by John Eldredge.

The second item came from an article called "The Dead Rock Star", published in the May 15, 2003 edition of Rolling Stone. It was written by Marilyn Manson.

posted by Steve at 3:12 PM
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