Sean Connery, Heroin Addiction, Love Stories, And Other Things That Make Me Question Our Culture's Collective Sanity

Before I start with anything important or serious, I wanted to make a couple of random observations, predominantly about sports, culture, and other things.

First, I miss Sean Connery. Don't ask why Sean Connery came to my mind (it involved a thought process that involved both Daniel Stern from City Slickers and A.C. Green of basketball and virginity fame), but I really do miss him. Then I thought about my favorite Sean Connery movie and known came to mind. Is that weird? Sean Connery just seems like such a transcendent actor that he should just have scads of great, legacy defining roles. But, when I looked it up, he has James Bond, and I have never seen one of his Bond films. With that said, I still miss him, if only as the creative material for one of SNL's best caricatures.

Second, I think there needs to be a readjustment of the scale for fame. I am sick and tired of hearing commercials and promos proclaim something to be "World Famous" when I have never heard of it. I tend to think of myself as fairly tuned in to the culture at large, so doesn't that mean I should be aware of "World Famous" things. Additionally, doesn't something have to be discussable (probably not a word) in order to be "World Famous". Things that don't spark discussion aren't "World Famous", they are simply present or perhaps ever present. So basically, I'm saying there needs to be a rule about when something can be called "World Famous". To echo Bill Simmons, this needs to happen.

As a corollary, MTV and other hype machines need to greatly, greatly reform their use of the word superstar. A superstar must be transcendent, they must be bigger than everything around them, in other words they must be a Super version of a Star. In the world of music, Bono is a superstar, Chris Brown...not a superstar, perhaps not even a full blown star. In basketball, Kobe Bryant is a superstar, Desmond Mason...not a superstar. Have I made my point? And, by the way, those two examples are things I have actually heard either on TV or on the radio.

Third, and the last of my random thoughts, sports radio personalities should be banned from using hyperbole and/or asking any questions where there is an obvious yes/no answer. For those of you who do not know, sports radio hosts have an annoying habit of creating mock "controversies" to drum up discussion. However, sometimes these seem desperate and absurd. Today, I heard a host prompt argument by saying that the White Sox/Cubs rivalry is bigger than Red Sox/Yankees. And the answer, without any hesitation, is no, it isn't. This isn't a discussion. Ever. Never. The pinnacle of this stupid hyperbolic prompting came during the NBA Finals when numerous call-in shows discussed whether Kobe Bryant was better than Michael Jordan. The answer is no. Ever. Never. Kobe Bryant is not, will not be, is not in the same conversation with, could not hold the jock, should not be allowed to move into the same neighborhood as Michael Jordan. I mean, just no. I'm basically saying that this needs to stop, there are more things to talk about, even if we (as sports fans) do continue to ignore almost everything about the larger world.

And just for good measure, I've decided to add a rant about oil and offshore drilling. Our country is addicted to oil. I don't think this can be argued. If you want to argue it, try and I will listen. But I am going to assume it can't be, because I haven't seen anyone say anything convincing against this assumption. Well, lately our lovely political masterminds have once again pushed forward the idea of drilling in Alaska or on the continental shelf. To quote Jon Stewart this is like saying, "I have a cocaine problem....I'm out of cocaine. Let's turn the kid's room into a cocainery." Let me add one more thing, I think arguing about gas prices is moronic and is the equivalent to a heroin addict complaining about the price of heroin. Yes, it is bad that it's making you broke, however its worse that you're ADDICTED TO HEROIN. So this is basically me saying that we (meaning I as well) have an addiction and a problem. I wonder where oil rehab is, I bet its in Sri Lanka.

So on to bigger things, I'm finally going to respond to Daniel's comment from 3 weeks ago (it's a little further down the page, its the only post with two comments). I am timely and efficient. Daniel made one core argument about that post that I wanted to address. Daniel took exception to my characterization of the Bible as a love story. He stated that if the Bible is simply a love story, like a novel, it loses all of its prescriptive ability in our lives. Daniel has a point, if the Bible is read as a novel, it loses the ability to tell us how to live. If it is simply a moral story, a love story even, it becomes a recommendation more than an authority. But that wasn't quite what I meant by love story.

The Bible is full of multiple different literary styles. There are letters like those in the New Testament, poetry like Psalms, ancient historical chronicles, books of law, books of what can best be described as oral tradition (Genesis, Exodus), and the completely un-classifiable (probably not a word) prophetic books. So I guess I disagree with the idea of the Bible as a novel, and if I gave the impression that the Bible should be read in this manor, I did not intend to. When I said the Bible is a love story, I meant it in a larger sense then a story in a book. I meant it as an all-encompassing ideal, like when we talk about the story of our lifes.

The Bible is the raw and often frightening account of an all-powerful deity, who loves his people in a way that we cannot understand. And it isn't love in the sense of romance or even friendship, its something much larger. It is the kind of angry, intense, fierce, passionate, snot-bubble crying, cut the tension with a knife, conflicting, terrifying yet comforting, "I will follow you into the dark", jealous, heart wrenching, soul searching, bottom of the ocean to the top of the mountains, scrambling, scrapping, brilliantly radiating love. Its the love of mother, father, sister, brother, lover, husband, wife, friend, master, servant and every other relationship known to man.

So that's what I mean by love story. I mean that the Bible gives us a glimpse of this love through a multitude of mediums and all the time tells of the greatness of God's love. And unlike many think, the Bible is not equivalent to God. It isn't all powerful, it isn't the only revelation, there is far more to God than the Bible can teach us. The Bible is a sacrament, it is something that helps us come closer to God. Something that allows the veil between heaven and earth (between Zion and Jerusalem to use Hebrew terms) to become thin enough or even lifted so that we can see into the sanctuary of God. The Bible is not how God leads us, it is how we get close to him so that he can lead us. It's good stuff people, real good stuff.

Peace and love,
Ben

P.S. I hope all this made sense. Very few of my thoughts today, or yesterday for that matter, have been too coherent.