Thursday, September 27, 2007
Passionate Responses
The first one had a picture of Al Gore looking at a Birthday Cake with a voluminous amount of lighted candles. The caption read, “You’re putting how many candles on that cake?” I’m sure Al goes for the “candle-less” cakes so as to not melt the Polar Ice Caps.
The other memorable card had a picture with Dick Cheney in a less happy mood than above saying, "Come on Birthday Boy - Get a smile on that face." I'm suprised the card didn't come with a free lesson on "Hunter Safety."
I love to laugh and be in a good mood. However, are there times when we need to get our ire up and make an impassioned stand as well as a statement? I'm thinking of Coach Mike Gundy who decided to forgo the usual Post game press (you can see the press conference at http://www.faniq.com/blog/Video-Mike-Gundy-Rant-Oklahoma-State-Coach-Goes-OFF-On-Jenni-Carlson-For-Bobby-Reid-Criticism-Blog-4301) conference in which his team won 49 – 45 over Texas Tech, to defend a player (Bobby Reid) on his team. Reid had been criticized by a local reporter who referred to the player as being fearful and needing to be fed “chicken” by his Mother.
If you’ve seen the video you know Coach Gundy has been criticized for the emotion (does that sound familiar to those of us in the Churches of Christ?) he displayed while he was defending this young man. I’ll give you my take:
This will probably come as a shock to you but teaching Middle School kids can be challenging at times. For the most part they are fun to be with, goofy like me, and treat each other and yours truly with respect. I would probably say that 99% of the time I’m cool, calm, and collected in dealing with my young charges. There are times when I’m witnessed to bullying or blatant (now I want to do a dialog of Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson)
Cruise – “Danger Colonel?”
Jack – “Yes.”
Cruise – “Grave danger?”
Jack – “Is there any other kind?”
disrespect. Occasionally I’ve chosen to meet these deeds with a raised tone to let students know there will be zero tolerance for such acts. Now before I become known as the screaming elder let me say that incidents of raising my voice in my classroom might occur infrequently at best. With kids it’s best to model strength through politeness, respect, and an even tone of voice. In fact, there are times when I’ve actually lowered my voice to get student’s attention.
However many of my students do not have a strong “father figure” if any in their lives so I try to mirror positive attributes of being a man and yet at the same time letting them know that there are lines that can be crossed that will result in a strong response.
Let’s take it a step further – is there room in the church for a Coach Gundy type response? Are we at times witnesses to “church” bullying, disrespect, and evil? Now, let me say that I’m not advocating yelling and screaming as a response to every instance of these types of acts but there are times when we read in the Bible passionate responses.
I’m thinking of none other than Jesus as he drove people away and overturned tables in the Temple in Mark 11. I think Jesus shows there are times when we need to step up and take a stand against wrong, just as Coach Gundy did in defending his player.
What do you think?
Have a good weekend family.
I think you're right. Jesus is our example, and He was both firm and steadfast as well as gentle and loving.
You have a good weekend, too.
:)
: 10:37 AM I don't blame Gundy for getting riled up. The media needs to be held more accountable for its lack of respect for people and general incompetence and meanness. It has become a major societal problem I believe. Plus he was defending one of his players and a young man at that. Good for him I say.
That said, the problem with Gundy’s rant was two fold. First, he went so nuts that his display became the story instead of the message he was trying to make. However, understandable, that’s just bad communication. Second, when he gave himself over to his emotion so fully, he ended up saying some stupid things that further damaged his own credibility and, again, took away from his message which I think was worthwhile. I’m thinking of the “mother of children” comment and the “I hope your child is treated badly” comment.
On the other hand, I believe that the principle of “everything in moderation” has become a leading logical fallacy in our culture. Truth is presumed to exist in the middle. There is no room for extreme behavior, emotions, positions, etc. For a Christian, that should be disturbing because there is some pretty extreme stuff in our faith. God loves us so much He allowed His son, a part of Himself, to be killed. We are to love people so much we even love our enemies and the people that mean us harm. That is pretty extreme. Love that strong doesn’t come without equally strong emotions (or it shouldn’t) and when those come out in tears or yelling or uncontrollable laughter, it is just one more way we express the love of God.
So, I think there is room for yelling in our lives and room for it in the Church as well. We just have to be careful to not so give ourselves over to emotion that the emotional display becomes the message. Just my 2 cents
Good post.
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