Humility and Limitations

At church last Sunday, the pastor preached about humility.  He has been going through the Book of James, and his text last Sunday was James 4:13-15.  In that passage, James criticizes people who have grandiose plans about what they are going to do tomorrow.  James points out that they do not know what will happen tomorrow, plus their life is a vapor.  They should say that, if the Lord wills, they will do those things tomorrow.

The pastor was telling us the customary points about how we can die at any time, so we should not take our lives for granted.  He exhorted us to consider how we are using the time that we have.

The pastor also told the story of a professional football player he knows.  The football player was moving to another location to play for another team.  The pastor asked him whether he was loyal to his current team, and the football player replied that it’s about money.  The football player said that he only had a limited time to play this sport, since he will not be young and fit forever.  During that time, he needs to make as much money as he can to provide for his family.  Plus, money has to be set aside for his family in case he is injured and cannot play the sport anymore.

That story about the football player calls to my mind how humbling life is.  That football player was probably confident—-the sort of person who exudes confidence in a room, and who has confidence in his abilities.  One has to be confident to do a lot of things.  Yet, reality makes him humble.  He knows that, due to human limitations, there will come a time when he will be unable to play this sport.  I would add that athletes are also humble when they train: they discipline themselves and they practice, for they realize that they need to prepare to play the game.  They cannot simply rest on their laurels and expect for their natural talent to carry them through.

I am far from being an athlete, yet I, too, am humbled by life, a lot of times.  Unfortunately, I can also get a pompous attitude, thinking that I’m morally better than certain people in certain areas.  That’s one, but not the only, reason that I need to go to God in prayer: to draw closer to God amidst my imperfections.

The Final Days 10

On page 303 of The Final Days, by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, we read the following:

“[Ben] Stein never knew what to tell [Julie Nixon Eisenhower].  Throughout the spring and summer their frequent conversations had followed a pattern.  Stein always tried to think of something positive to say.  Partly to have something else to talk about, he had given Julie a copy of Joan Didion’s collection of essays, Slouching Toward Bethlehem.  She had liked it immensely.  Tonight Stein counted himself lucky: he could tell her about Sandman’s and Wiggins’ arguments.”

Ben Stein was a speech writer in the Nixon White House.  It’s interesting to me that his name comes up more than once in The Final Days, more than it comes up in later books about Nixon that I have read.  The Final Days came out in 1976, and that was before Stein’s acting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The Wonder Years, the “Moisture Eyes” commercials he was in, and the movie Expelled.

The passage on page 303 stood out to me because I could identify with Stein in that situation.  I’m often not sure what I should talk to people about in social situations.  Often, this is simply me not knowing what to say.  At other times, I don’t want to talk about a specific topic (i.e., politics, religion) with someone, due to bad experiences in the past, so I look for alternative topics of conversation.

Something that I’ve done in the past to form connections with people is to watch a TV show that they like, or to follow their blog.  This can work.  But conversations are much better when the person I am conversing with likes the same shows I do, rather than me watching a show just to have something to discuss with someone else.  Moreover, I have tried to research sports to have something to talk about with people, and that usually doesn’t end up well, since I appear ignorant of sports, even after reading scores.  The reason is that sports just do not interest me.

I’m happy when I come across something that I can share with someone else.  Otherwise, socializing can be a mundane, uphill-battle experience for me.  “How are you?  How was your week?”

Conrad Black's Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full 13

For my blog post today for My Year (or More) of Nixon, I will feature two quotes.  The first is from the book that I am reading now, Conrad Black's Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full.  The second is from Roger Morris' Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician. 

On page 449 of Richard M. Nixon: A Life in Full, Black states the following about Nixon's frustration with Dwight Eisenhower:

"Nixon steadily ran strongly in polls of Republicans expressing a presidential preference, but always said that he was not a candidate for the 1964 nomination.  When Eisenhower enumerated for the press ten Republicans that he thought would be good presidents, and left Nixon out, Nixon let his displeasure be known at a fashionable dinner table.  He knew this would be reported to Eisenhower, who called the next day and said that Nixon had made his point many times that he was not a candidate.  Nixon pointed out that, as reported, Eisenhower was not confining himself to declared, or even likely, candidates, and the former president told a reporter the following week that if there were a 'sudden wave of support' for Nixon, he would certainly be qualified.  Nixon had had about as much of Eisenhower's condescensions as he could take, and referred to his former boss from time to time as 'that senile old bastard,' which was in fact the opinion that he had intermittently had of him since the fund crisis thirteen years before.  Nixon was aware of Eisenhower's qualities and of his historic status, but it was a relief to drop the mask of exaggerated deference, at least occasionally and in private."

On pages 135-136 of Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician, Roger Morris talks about a possible reason that Richard Nixon as a young man loved football:

"Later, reporters were ever puzzled at why he had played football so long and so punishingly at Whittier and, even with the cheers when he finally got in the game, with such failure and humiliation.  In the end, thought Wood Glover, 'He just enjoyed the game.  He enjoyed being around it.'  He found among the football team, even apart from their locker room bull sessions, the candor and freedom from artifice that he had seen in his father, and that was missing in much of the rest of his universe.  If the Milhouses were a tribe of quiet, compelling women, if debate and academics demanded subtlety and maneuver, the football field was a world of men and a kind of raw honesty.  'I think he liked the contact with those people,' Ingrum said.  'And I'm not too sure that he didn't enjoy it more than he did with just the scholar type, because I think he was challenged from a different standpoint.  You know, the athletes don't give a hoot what they say or when they say it...and I think Dick enjoyed the comradeship and the straightforwardness."

So end the readings!

The reason that I love these passages is that they express how artificial and intimidating the social world can be.  There are so many subtleties and nit-pickings and politics and jerks in the world today, that it's a challenge for neurotypical people to get through this jungle, let alone people with Asperger's, or others who feel as if they don't have a social map!  Nixon was happy when he could take a brief break from his need to be obsequious towards Eisenhower and could express what he really thought about Eisenhower and his history of condescension towards Nixon, even if Nixon could only take that break in private.  And Nixon as a young man probably liked football because it was so raw and honest----it didn't have all the nuancing and subtleties of academia, or the repression of feelings from his Quaker heritage.  Rather, athletes were blunt in saying what they thought, and football involved tackling.  You'd think that people with Asperger's would gravitate towards sports.  But my impression is that this often does not happen.  For one, there are many with Asperger's who lack ability in sports (though there are exceptions).  Second, because Aspies are different, they can be targets of bullying, sometimes by the blunt athletes, who may not feel bound by the rule of propriety that says that one person should not bully another.  I'm not saying that all or even most athletes are like this, but this sort of thing does happen. 

Ambrose's Nixon: The Education of a Politician 15

For my write-up today on Stephen Ambrose's Nixon: The Education of a Politician, I'd like to feature something that Ambrose says on pages 456-457:

"[Nixon] continued to read the sports page avidly, and with that marvelous memory of his he absorbed all the numbers.  Batting averages, yards gained per carry, earned run averages, pass completion percentage, the whole never-ended stream of numbers was to Nixon what the Western novels were to Eisenhower, the perfect relaxation.  Through the sports pages, Nixon could escape to a world in which there were no moral qualms and no one's motives were ever questioned.  In addition, Nixon, like millions of his fellow countrymen, was a hero-worshiper, standing in awe of those who could do so well what he could never do at all, playing games for a living, testing themselves daily in the arena."

I myself am not a sports fan, and I am puzzled when people argue vehemently about games that, to me, are of little or no consequence.  I suppose that there have been a few times when I could identify with sports fans, though----with their interest in the drama that accompanies some games, especially when an underdog is posing a serious challenge to the reigning teams.  As much as I dislike sports, I love the movies Hoosiers and Rocky. 

I doubt that I would have bonded with Nixon had I met him because he loved sports, whereas I do not.  I usually have nothing to contribute when I'm in a group of people who are discussing sports.  And, when I try to do research on sports in order to contribute something to the conversation, I often come across as someone who has no idea what he's talking about!  I can't fake loving something that I do not love.

Sometimes, sports fans love to educate people who know little about sports.  They like to tell the less-informed what is going on, get into strategy, etc.  And that can be interesting.  Being an audience to that can allow me to form a bond with another human being.  But, in a number of settings, people who are learned about sports prefer to talk about sports with others who are learned about sports.  I suppose that there are times when many of us enjoy teaching people who do not know much about our fields, but there are other times when we'd like to go beyond the basics and talk with people who know as much as, or more than, we do.

I could identify with Nixon seeking a refuge in sports.  I myself don't seek refuge in sports, but I can understand Nixon seeing sports as a place where people's motives are not scrutinized.  One problem that I have with social situations is that I feel that my motives are scrutinized or judged, and I scrutinize and judge others.  It makes sense, therefore, that people would bond over sports, in which human motives are not as much of an issue.  Unfortunately, my interests, politics and religion, have a solid human element, and so talking about those things with people can tend to alienate them from me (or me from them), rather than allowing me to bond with them (depending on whether or not they share my beliefs). 

Alex Karras

I just learned that football player and actor Alex Karras has passed on.  I mainly know Karras as George, the adoptive father of Webster Long in the 1980's sitcom, Webster.  I used to watch this show on Friday nights, and also when it was in syndication.

I always liked Karras' character.  He was like a teddy bear.  He also came across as likeable and laid-back.  I particularly remember two episodes.  The first one was when Webster was angry at God because he thought that God had killed his mother and father, and so Katherine (Webster's adoptive mother) was playing devil's advocate at the church that Webster and his Uncle Philip attended.  Essentially, she would question God, and George and Webster's Uncle Philip would defend him.  Katherine was asking why God allowed Webster to be sick one time, and George responded that there were many days of the year when Webster was not sick.  George was giving a long, drawn-out answer, with a lot of numbers, and Uncle Philip finally said, "We get the point, George."  Come to think of it, watching this episode this may have been my first exposure to the problem of evil and theodicy.

The other episode that I remember was when George's Greek father was a janitor at Webster's school and was singing to his broom, prompting Webster's friends to make fun of him.  When Webster, George, and George's dad were talking about Webster being embarrassed by his grandfather, Webster brought up the broom, and George said, "Oh, come on, Dad, not the broom!"  I was used to shows in which adults were right and kids were wrong (at least that's how I remember the shows, even if they were more complex than that), but, here, George, an adult, was identifying with Webster.  But Webster still rebukes his friends at the end for making fun of his grandfather!

R.I.P., Alex Karras.

Tim Tebow and the She-Bears

At church this morning, the Pastor Emeritus conducted the service, since our Pastor is on vacation.  In the children's part of the service, the Pastor Emeritus was criticizing those who mock Tim Tebow for praying in public, when there are so many real problems in the world.  The Pastor Emeritus then referred to the story in II Kings 2 of the kids mocking the prophet Elisha, with the consequence that she-bears came out and mauled them (see my post on II Kings 2 here).  The Pastor Emeritus said that God does not like for his children (Christians) to be mocked.  He also said that we should not judge whether or not Tebow was sincere in his prayers, for that is between him and God.

I think that people have made legitimate criticisms of Tebow-ing: that we shouldn't pray for something trivial like a football game, when there are real problems in the world, plus we should not assume that God supports one sports team and not another; that Jesus tells us to pray in our closets rather than flashing our religiosity in public (Matthew 6:5); and that Tebow should pray with his team-mates before a game rather than going out by himself and praying before an audience.

(UPDATE: See Yvette's comment and the documentation she provides that Tebow does not pray for his team to win the game, but rather that he might handle the game in a godly manner and that God might protect the players.)

I also think that it's all right to criticize Christians.  Jesus pointed out the hypocrisy of the religious leaders of his day.  And sometimes people need to talk about their negative religious experiences in order to heal.

But I am trying to get something edifying out of what the Pastor Emeritus said this morning, because I did feel that he was on to something, even if I did not agree with him completely.  First of all, like the Pastor Emeritus, I don't think that it's my place to judge whether someone else is sincere or not.  I'm not being absolute here, for there is corruption that should be exposed, but I cannot judge whether or not Tim Tebow is sincere when he prays.  Second, I don't want to mock people for having religious beliefs, for I respect that religion is how many get through life.  Third, I agree that there are more serious problems than Tim Tebow praying before a football game.

Giants and Patriots

The Superbowl is this evening. I probably won’t watch it. Football bores me. So do most sports. If I had to pick a sport that I halfway like, though, it would be basketball, since it’s faster-paced. In football, it seems that making one little mistake causes the players to start all over again (if that makes any sense).

Most people I know are rooting for the New York Giants. I have a lot of family in Indiana, which is where the Superbowl is being held this year. They like the Giants because the Giants have Eli Manning, the brother of Peyton Manning, a superstar for the Indianapolis Colts. And, of course, because I live in upstate New York, most of the people here are rooting for the Giants. Should I support the Patriots because I lived in Massachusetts for a couple of years? Naaa. I guess I’ll go with the Giants. I’ll find out if they won tomorrow morning, or later tonight before I go to bed!

John Dickinson; Tim Tebow and John 3:16

I have a couple of items for today:

1. I was watching the John Adams miniseries last night with my Mom and her husband. John Dickinson (played by Zeljko Ivanek, whom I know from Heroes) was a member of the Continental Congress who was opposed to the American colonies going to war against Great Britain, for, while he acknowledged that Great Britain was infringing on the colonists’ rights, he wanted to find a peaceful resolution. A lot of times, when he spoke, he was heckled by his opponents, and John Adams engaged him in debate and even called him an imbecile. When Dickinson spoke soon before the Continental Congress voted on independence, however, the whole room was quiet. Everyone—-even his opponents—–let him have his say. Why? One reason may be that, by that point, the colonies’ resolution to become independent from Great Britain was largely a given, so why not let Dickinson give his final warning, before they declared their independence? Another reason is that Dickinson’s speech is good for the movie, in that it demonstrates the risk that the American colonies were taking when they declared their independence and set themselves on the path to becoming a new nation. You can see Dickinson’s speech here.

2. I’d like to comment on Tim Tebow and John 3:16. The speech community in which I largely run—-the one that is cynical about religion—-has criticized quarterback Tim Tebow. They say that he’s parading his religion, when Jesus told his disciples to pray in secret and not in public. They say that the numbers 3-1-6 in Tebow’s plays do not demonstrate that God is affirming Tim Tebow—-for, while Tebow threw a ball for 316 yards, we don’t have the number 316 when those yards are converted to meters, plus why should we assume that 3-1-6 is about John 3:16 , when there are other Scriptures that have 3-1-6? They challenge the notion that God takes sides in football games, when there are so many problems in the world.

But maybe God is affirming Tim Tebow. That does not mean that God is a Broncos fan (even though my late uncle might disagree with me on that!). I don’t think that God cares about who wins football games. But Tim Tebow is acknowledging his dependence on God. He is allowing his faith to inspire him, and to enable him to be an inspiration to others. Perhaps God is honoring that. And, in the process, that encourages us to turn to God—-not so much to win football games—-but to receive strength and to be a means for good in the world.

"Tebow's Religion and Ours"

I’m going to share an article: Daniel Foster’s “Tebow’s Religion, and Ours”, which is on National Review Online. It concerns Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who is quite open about his Christian faith. I didn’t care for the overall tone of the article, but I liked the following passages:

“With very few exceptions — Mariano Rivera comes to mind, as well as Curt Schilling, and post-’Prime Time’ Deion Sanders — athletes’ professions of faith strike most believers, nonbelievers, and agnostics alike as empty ritual, an extended solipsism in which big men with bigger egos congratulate themselves for having God on their side. How could it be otherwise?”

“…Tebow is the last Boy Scout. A leader on the field and off who spent his college years not indulging in any of the worldly pleasures afforded to Heisman Trophy winners, but doing missionary work in Thailand; helping overworked doctors perform circumcisions in the Philippines (you read that right); and preaching at schools, churches, and even prisons. This is a young man with such a strong work ethic that, according to teammates, he can’t even be coaxed into hitting the town on a night after a Broncos win, because he is too busy preparing for the next week’s game. This is a young man who even turned the other cheek at Stephen Tulloch’s Tebowing, saying, ‘He was probably just having fun and was excited he made a good play and had a sack. And good for him.’”