The biggest “controversy” in the news (since balloon boy got old sometime mid-Monday) is that the players union pretty much blocked conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh from being part of a group to buy the St. Louis Rams.
Elsewhere, Americans are up in arms because Oprah dares bring Sarah Palin on her show. (Apparently, a fluff talk show host talking to a FORMER politician is a threat to our national security that we all need to weigh in on).
Turn on your AM radio tomorrow, or any of our three 24 hour “news” radio stations, and I guarantee you’ll hear one of those two stories being hotly, passionately, and angrily debated.
Angry. About whether or not an NFL team they probably don’t like will be bought by a guy they may or may not like. (Keep in mind, whether or not Limbaugh owns the team has very little to no impact on the players, or the fans. The sodas at the stadium aren’t going to become half as big if Limbaugh gets the team. He won’t change the colors to pink and orange or make an 11-year-old quarterback).
Here’s the real problem with both of these situations. We’re watching it all go down as a distraction from the things we don’t want to face in our own lives. Rush Limbaugh is not my problem. Oprah is not your problem. I am my problem. You are your problem.
I have been very convicted lately, as to how most of my choices arne’t good vs. evil (will I speak at an abstinence event this weekend, or will I shoot up heroine under a bridge?), but good vs. trivial.
You and I both have access to almost any book on the planet (good), but it’s easier to just flop on the couch and flip through the stations (trivial). If you live in the Chicagoland area, you have access to any adventure you can imagine--skydiving, indoor rock climbing, even “surfing” on manmade waves in lake Michigan (good), but 99% of us stay in on the weekends, and often get our “taste of adventure” by watching Man vs. Wild on DVR (trivial).
The more I analyze my day-to-day life, the more I realize that the danger to myself isn’t that I’ll suddenly join a street gang or start smuggling guns from Canada. The biggest danger I present to me is that I’ll stay in, play video games, order pizza, and ignore the beautiful (Chicago Art Institute), the authentic (punk rock record stores on the north side), and the tragic which calls out for me to something…anything at all (the murder of Darian Albert.)
I’m not saying that watching a movie; vegging on the couch or taking a day to just chill is bad. What I am saying is that a life defined by avoiding hard things will either wind up a completely meaningless one (sometime, go to a video game store, and listen to the clerks share “memories” of playing games with their “friends”), or one in which I act out, trying to add some danger and excitement to my life (casual sex, drinking, drugs, etc).
I suppose that in a way, Rush Limbaugh (and Al Franken and Glenn Beck and Shawn Hannity) is the problem. And so is Oprah. And so is that chick from Grey’s Anatomy (never seen the show, so just pick one). Because they shout out opinions so we can feel empowered without reading about current events in the world, because they talk so we can feel “improved” without taking action. Because they act so we can feel the “thrill” of romance without the risk of a broken heart, the “authenticity” of friendships and brotherhood without the inconvenience of another human being.
I say this in love, to you, and to me. Go. Today. If you and I get wrapped up in something bigger than ourselves, then we don’t need to smash our TV to bits (or whatever it is that distracts us), because the shows, opinions, and yes, advertisements we used to be so defined by will fade to the background, and eventually won’t matter.
Eventually, the mortality rate always hits 100%. Dying a little each day is pretty easy. Your body will do it automatically. It’s the living that demands intentional choice.
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