A Liberated Mind

It is with sadness in my heart to report that this afternoon my friend’s mother I have previously written about in my last two posts has passed away after her battle with cancer.  No words can describe how much I hurt for my buddy, and please continue to pray for he and his family.

Thanks for listening over the last few days as I have written about my friend and his mother. Blessings to you each.

S

This weekend my buddy and his mother who is fighting cancer were constantly on my heart.  I wrote this in response to how much I ache for her and her family as they walk through this difficult time.

Enjoy it and be encouraged…

S

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A Mother and Son’s Journey

John’s mother is afflicted. Again.

By Adam and Eve’s rebellion, their desire, and their choice to welcome sin.

John’s mother is suffering. Again.

As the victim of their conspiracy, unfairness, and her silent killer creeping in.

John’s mother cannot overcome. Again.

Her time is closing in, relief is coming, and all she knows will be made right.

John’s mother misses her child. Again.

As she did the first time, the next time, and every time he catches her eye.

John’s mother loses a tear. Again.

It rolls down her thin cheek, hits the bed, and carries with it John’s name.

John’s mother fears the end. Again.

Though she knows a better place; it’s been prepared, and she will no longer feel pain.

John’s mother fights on. Again.

She will never give up, never give in, and always live by His grace.

John’s mother comforts him. Again.

As she smiles proudly at him, holds one last embrace, and lands a final kiss to John’s face.

John’s mother challenges him. Again.

By the way she loves, her spirit, and the way she holds her head high.

John’s mother knows what’s coming. Again.

She is prepared for heaven, her new body, and the look in her Father’s proud eye.

John’s mother is dying. Again.

As she has never been. Though she beat it before, Jesus is now calling her home to Him.

John’s mother will be alive. Again.

Though she always has been. And as she closes her eyes, John knows he will see her again.

It’s Friday.  I am taking a half day off to hang out with my two-year old daughter.  Our air conditioning is cranked at full blast.  We even have naps scheduled for later on this afternoon.

Things could not be any better it seems.

Then I get an e-mail from a buddy of mine that says his mom is back in the hospital, and they have found cancer.  Again.  This time it’s worse because there is lots of it now.  Frankly, it doesn’t look good.

So I called him, and I talked to him for a bit.  

Though I tried to do my best, I pretty much failed as miserably as I could have in consoling him and helping the situation.  I did that thing we all do, and I fumbled the ball as I tried to be encouraging in the face of tragedy.  Even in my sincerity, the words that came out of my rambling mouth were inadequate; nothing could make this right.

Sure, I told him that it sucked and that we don’t truly understand God even if we think we have a small part of that Mystery figured out.  Fact is, we have no clue about anything in a situation like this.

And I told him to call me if he needed to vent and get it all out there.  I am not sure how much that would help, but I said to him, “I am here if you need me to listen”.  The least I could do was that.

The simple fact is that the whole situation is sad.  And unfair.  And crap.

And it’s a part of life.

And there is nothing anyone can do.

But do you ever wonder why this sort of stuff just happens sometimes out of the blue to people you really care about?  This is no celebrity we don’t truly know or an older relative of ours at the end of their long life.  This is a mother, a grandmother of a baby grandchild, and a wife in the prime of her life.

This should be the best years this woman has.

Yet it might all soon be gone.

Just like that.

A gut shot coming out of nowhere.  Without warning.  Hitting harder than anything’s that ever hit before.

Seriously, that sucks so bad.

So after I got off the phone with my buddy, I figured out that whatever I had on tap for the blog this afternoon would have to wait.  I realized I needed to tell that story for a couple of reasons:

First, pray for my buddy and his family.  God knows who you are talking even if you don’t know his name, and he and his family need God’s comfort and grace right now in the worst way.

Second, hug your family this weekend.  Let them know you love them.  Tell them you appreciate all they do and who they are in your life.  Seriously.  Be annoying about it if you have to, but communicate with them what they mean to you.  And make it a point to do this more often from here on out.

Because you know what?  We all take gut shots from time to time, and though we have no idea when they are coming, we need to do our best to be ready for them.  And we need to make sure those around us are ready for them, too. 

Just think about that as you hug the neck of someone you love this weekend, faithful readers.

S

As I sit patiently waiting to receive the new Derek Webb record “Stockholm Syndrome” via digital download, let me just fill you all in on a couple of things I have been thinking about lately.  And granted, I don’t ever want to get too serious or deep on this blog, but sometimes I just have to scratch an itch.  So here I go.

One of the lyrics that DW mentions in the big ‘controversial song’ called “What Matters More” on his new album (which can be purchased here) is based on a Tony Campolo quote that goes like this: “First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. What’s worse is that you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

Now obviously since DW has used a very similar lyric (and yes, he included the cursing), it is going to catch a few people off guard.  But my hope is that the lyric makes people think about the statement – it has certainly made me ponder if I really care about what happens in the rest of the world while I am so comfortable living in it.

At the same time, I am currently reading a book by a guy named Mark Scandrette who is an emergent church leader in California and is all about “walking in the way of Jesus”.

(And just to clarify, I do not consider myself progressive or cool enough to be an emergent – I simply dig SOME of their prospectives.  However, this is neither the time nor the place for that discussion.)

Anyway, one of the things Scandrette and many other leaders in this movement talk about is bringing heaven to earth versus bringing the folks of earth to heaven (my massive paraphrase).  Which, due to my being raised in conservative churches, is pretty much a foreign concept to me. 

And because I have been told all my life to only tell people about the gospel, I am kind of new to this whole concept of showing people the gospel through my actions and personal sacrifice.

However, I like the idea of both.

I think we need to share the gospel verbally (which the emergent folks probably don’t dig), but I also think we need to be missional and love our neighbors and enemies and point them to the gospel through our actions without having to verbalize the gospel to them (which is probably kind of weird sounding to most traditional church folks).

Basically, there needs to be a balance.

Which brings me back to Derek Webb and Mark Scandrette and how they are both making me reevaluate my own faith and how it is played out in the course of my daily life. 

In reality, neither of those guys get it perfectly right – no one has ever gotten it right except for Jesus.  Yet there are cool things I can learn from both lyrics to a song and words from a book.

Some of these things are like how I realize I never want to be pigeon-holed or labeled.  Or how I don’t ever want to fit a norm and have people peg me down as this type of Christian or that type of believer.  And how I understand I need to be more concerned and be less apathetic and indifferent. 

But I have also began realizing that that I need to be more purposeful in both verbalizing my faith and living my faith out in very meaningful ways and visual ways.

Combine all this with the fact that I am studying the book of Ecclesiastes right now, and holy crap, I am walking through some pretty heady stuff.

But the one thing that I truly know is that there is a hurting world out there that needs both the message of the gospel through my lips and the message of the gospel through my hands and feet. 

And at the end of the day, for me at least, it has to be both or it is not truly the gospel at all.

Anyway, that is what I am thinking about right now.  As always, I would love your thoughts.

S

It is Friday, and before I get to an OU prediction for the Big 12 Championship, I need to get some questions off my mind…

I don’t necessarily have the answers to these questions, but that is okay – questions don’t always need answers…

Unless you want to provide them in the comment section below…(hint, hint)…

The first question is something that is really bugging me lately: 

What’s the deal with people lining up in the cold at 4:30 in the morning the day after Thanksgiving to buy stuff they really don’t need to survive and can’t really afford the other 364 days of of the year?

And how did this whole “Black Friday” thing start anyway?  Maybe somebody could give me a history lesson…

Lastly on this topic, how many folks have to literally get injured or killed before stores take a look at this policy and figure out it is not a good deal?  5? 10? 25?  How many?

Moving on (sort of), and I am being serious here, is it possible in this country to discuss the true meaning of Christmas and not offend someone?

Thus, I am all about not having a state-run church, but to what length do we go to in that separation?

And why I am being so freaking deep today?

How about this one then: Is there ever an appropriate time for a man to wear a tank top?  Ever?

Have you ever watched a college or pro basketball game from a court-side seat?  If not, like Ferris said, “It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up.”

Is there anything funnier than watching a two year old try to say “Christmas Tree”?  Not for my money…

And who’s with me is saying that we should figure out some way to do “spring and summer decorations” for our homes?  After all, we already have fall and Christmas decorations, right?  

Speaking of fall, how exactly does wind ”cut right through you”?

And why does this only seem to happen when it is cold?

Moving on to pop culture, what is the best 80’s movie that is still watchable (read: not too cheesy) to watch right now?  Well, the whole “not too cheesy part” cuts out like 95% of the movies made in the 80’s so you have your work cut out for you on that question…

Sorry if I am clueless, but who are Heidi and Spencer?

How massively shocked were my wife and I that Barbara Walters picked Barack Obama as the most fascinating person of the year?  Seriously?  Who saw that one coming?

Can anybody name the 5 Grammy nominations for album of the year that were just announced earlier this week without internet cheating it?  Okay, can anybody name just one of them?

Why does Mariah Carey still have a career?  Really?

And on the random front, soda, pop, or Coke?  If you understand the question, you will probably have an answer…

If cell phones cause cancer, what does it mean for me if I carry around two of them and an iPod all day?  Uh oh…

And lastly, and most importantly, Michael Phelps was named Sportsman of the Year this week by Sports Illustrated, and sort of reliving all of those Olympic moments made me wonder if anybody else was constantly uncomfortable with how low that dude wore his pants while he was swimming? 

Seriously, anybody else freaked out about that like I was?

Weekends are good, enjoy yours…

S

You may or may not be aware of this, but tomorrow is the national holiday known, at least locally, as “Thanksgiving”…

I know, I know, you are probably saying to yourself, “There is a national holiday each year set aside for giving thanks?  That’s crazy”…

Yeah, it is…But even crazier than that is the fact that most of us get the day off from work, we usually gather together with a bunch of friends and family, and then we gorge ourselves with things like turkey, dressing, pie, and mashed potatoes…AND NOBODY SEEMS TO MIND US EATING WAY TOO MUCH…Seriously?

But shouldn’t Thanksgiving be about more than the food, the family, and the afternoons of watching football and falling asleep on the couch?  Shouldn’t we at least try to figure out why we should be thankful?

Because come on, let’s face it – we are a loaded country…I mean, we are absolutely filthy rich here in the United States…We are blessed beyond our wildest imaginations…And maybe we are sort of thankful and sort of appreciative at different times over the course of our lives, but for the most part, I know I often take for granted all the good things that I am given…

But at its foundation, what does it mean to be thankful?  Better put, what is the underlying motivation of true thankfulness?

It is my belief that at the core of thankfulness is humbleness…You know, humility – that mysterious mindset of putting others first and shunning the greatness of power and ego…

Seriously, think about that – truly and sincerely thankful people are humble people…They know they are blessed, they realized how undeserving they are of all the good things they have, and they more often than not will not take credit for what they are given in this world…

These are the folks that appreciate both the blue skies and the rain, the fact they have a roof over their heads, and even the hard times that seem beyond their control…They appreciate those hard times because they always seem to come out better people afterwards, and they are thankful for that…

With that being said, how can there be thankfulness without humility and humbleness?   I just don’t think this can happen…I mean really, it would be very hard to believe that egotistical and arrogant people can truly be thankful…It just logically doesn’t work for me…

So on the flipside, what is the opposite of thankfulness?  Think on that question for a moment…Try to define the antonym of thankfulness…What do you come up with?

One of my friends mentioned ungratefulness when I offered this question up and another said greed…I would say both of those work extraordinarily well…If I am ungrateful, I can not be thankful and if I am greedy, why would I be thankful?  I would just want more…

So yeah, those answers are great – and they both are better than my answer of “unthankfulness”…

But let me be honest: sometimes I need to look at myself and I need to be indicted for my “unthankfulness”…I take my very existence for granted, I rarely offer up pure and humble thanks, and I often attempt to take the credit for the good that happens in my life…I like that control, and thus I like that glory…

But thankfulness calls us each to the opposite – it calls us to distance ourselves from the credit, it calls us to enjoy the good things but not feel like we did anything to deserve them, and it calls us to keep this type of mindset all year round and not just one day out of the year…

Thanksgiving is a great time of year, and it is a holiday designed to make us aware of our blessings and be thankful for them…

But shouldn’t this one day spur us on to have this same type of attitude the other 364 throughout the year?  Shouldn’t we be thankful every day and not just one time out of the year?

My challenge to you is to think on that tomorrow as you gather with friends and family and enjoy the day off of work as you stuff your face…

At the end of the day as your prepare to either shop or work or just relax on Friday, think on the fact that true thankfulness begins and ends with humility and humbleness…

It is with this mindset I know I need to live my life and not just when I eat turkey and dressing on the last Thursday of November…

So enjoy the holiday, be careful as you travel, and be thankful of what you have…And don’t forget to check back on Friday for an OU/Oklahoma State score prediction…

S

I’m so tired of these mortal men with their hands on their wallets and their hearts full of sin…Scared of their enemies, scared of their friends, and always running for re-election…

So come to DC if it be thy will because we’ve never had a savior on Capitol Hill…

You can always trust the devil or a politician to be the devil or a politician…But beyond that friends you’d best beware ’cause at the Pentagon bar they’re an inseparable pair…And as long as the lobbyists are paying their bills, we’ll never have a savior on Capitol Hill…

All of our problems gonna disappear when we can whisper right in that President’s ear…He could walk right across the reflection pool in his combat boots and ten thousand dollar suit…

You can render unto Caesar everything that’s his, you can trust in his power to come to your defense…It’s the way of the world, the way of the gun…It’s the trading of an evil for a lesser one…

So don’t hold your breath or your vote until you think you’ve finally found a Savior up on Capitol Hill…

Watch the video and listen to the song here…

S

So this morning as I was heading to vote, I decided at the last minute to keep a running diary of my observations and experiences over the course of my time spent at the voting precinct…I figured that since I would be voting in possibly the most progressive city in Oklahoma, I would have something funny and sarcastic to say about all of the stuff going on at my polling place…

And I did want to thank my good buddy, Matt, for being so patient with me as I literally Blackberry Messaged him over and over to record my thoughts so that I could copy them into this post…I had a good time doing this, but I don’t really think he did…

Anyway, with that being said, on to the diary…

8:40 - Just rolled up to Monroe Elementary and the little bitty parking lot they have set aside for voters is full…Man, I already have to wait…I can only wonder what the line inside is like…

8:41- Alrighty, thank you old voter guy for backing out of your spot as slowly as you possibly can…Yeah, I don’t have to go to work after this, I promise…HURRY!

8:42 – I am walking into the voting place which is a gym…A carpeted gym nonetheless…This brings back memories of my uncomfortable years as a junior high basketball player when I only played in the waning minutes of games…By that statement, you know what kind of player I was…

8:43 – But I do love the smell of democracy in the morning…

8:44 – Now trying to figure out which of the two lines to get in…Oh, I see…There  is a line for last names “A-L” and a line for “M-Z”…The “A-L” line – the one I am supposed to be in – is shorter…Yes!  And there is plenty of room is this tiny little gym because the workers are basically underneath the basket at the other end of the gym sitting behind tables and then the lines are moving toward them…I might note, too, that the lines are defined by those cheap, plastic orange cones we used in rec league soccer when I was a kid…Man, this is all so very retro for me…

At least the lines are short – I am maybe the fifteenth person in the “A-L” line…

8:45 – Yeah, no big lines at all…Huh…

8:46 – Well, it really does come down to how you define “long lines”…Not real long in my book (like at Disney World), but I am standing and waiting…And I do feel intimidated by all the old people, too…They are scary…

8:47- Then there are the folks with their kids with them in line…I feel so disenfranchised by those parents because my daughter is not with me…

8:48 – And I love the diversity – guys in suits and other folks in shorts and t-shirts…So very diverse…Well, except for the fact that literally everyone in here is white…

8:49 – Man, this is taking longer than I thought…I am growing impatient and may snap at any time…

8:50 - Yeah, sorry I keep messaging you, Matt…This is how I am recording my running diary for my blog later…My bad…Just turn off you BB if you don’t like the constant beeping…

8:51 – The polling place volunteer lady behind the table giving instructions is loud and kind of rude…I may not be able to do this with her looking at me…Swan…

8:52 – Lots of folks not voting for who I am voting for here…I can just sort of tell by looking at them…Okay, that is just very stereotypical of me…I am sure the folks who rode their bikes here and parked outside the gym are ideologically similar to me…And I am sure those stickers for the presidential candidate I am not voting for all over those bikes were put there by someone else and the police are investigating…

8:53 – However, no one in here is chanting “Yes We Can”…I was sort of hoping for that…

8:54 - No fights are breaking out either…No one is even talking to each other as the line creeps along…It is just a lot of calm and patience…How boring is this?

8:55 – Wait!  Someone’s ballot just got spit back out!  Yes!  We are having a problem with the voting machines!  Oh, the humanity!

8:56 - Oh, never mind - the poor sap just stuck it in backwards…Dangit…

8:57 - Getting ready to give them my name so I can get my ballot…And looking at the other line, I realize my line has moved faster than the losers in the “M-Z” line…Fantastic!

8:58 – Officially have the first of my 4 ballots for the day…Just kidding…And yeah, I just typed that at the same time that the loud polling place volunteer lady just made a “this guy voted twice” joke…Not funny, lady…Everyone in here is on edge anyway, so shut up already…

8:59 – At my little voting window now…And looking at my ballot, there is nowhere to write in Nader in Oklahoma, and I am NOT sorry about that in the least…And why am I not voting yet?  Oh, because I am still messaging…

(And just to let my readers know, in Oklahoma the way you vote is you take a black marker and fill in the middle of an arrow that points to the candidate you are choosing…It is very easy…And so rare are the problems that I don’t know why we don’t go with this everywhere…Seriously, I really like the system…)

9:00 – Filling this danged thing out…

9:04 – Well, that was easy…

9:05 – Just turned in my black pen and ran my ballot through the machine…Then I got a sticker – which is awesome…So with my sticker, I am officially a voter now and can gripe all I want about this danged election because I did my part…

9:07 – Back at my car and people are waiting on my parking spot…Impatiently might I add…Can’t they see I am typing a blog post here!

Okay, so then I left…And as a rule, I don’t type and drive at the same time…Thus ended my voting experience…

Let’s recap: Small parking lot with a little bit of a wait for a parking spot, roughly 30-35 folks in line, a 25 minute voting experience, an old-school carpeted gym, a couple of kids, lots of old people, one really loud worker, maybe one or two non-white folks, and total disenfranchisement…I mean complete voter intimidation in every way possible…

Okay, maybe not, but it did go a lot smoother than I thought…And I feel good about it, too…

In fact, as I was driving to my office I saw a big rig with mud flaps that said (and I am not kidding about this) “Barak’s Truck Repair”, which gave me Google fodder for when I got to work (It is a truck repair place in Fulton, IL, if you care)…

I mention that because for some reason seeing those mud flaps also gave me some sort of a sense of calm about this whole deal; for I truly believe that at the end of the day, and no matter who is president, we will be blessed by the God who created us and who sustains us even in the tough times…He is the one who had this whole deal in His plans before time began, and He will not be surprised at the outcome…

And I say all that because to me, my faith is more important than a president, and my security is not found in men but in my Father who has saved me from myself…And no politician could ever do that…And that gives me peace…Those mudflaps reminded me of who truly is in control of this whole deal…

So there you go – Election 2008…I did my part, and I hope you did yours…Now go and enjoy the history of the next couple of days…If nothing else, it should be fun to watch happen before our eyes…

S

This week was a long and winding road filled with travel, phone calls, appointments, and the other normal trapping of the normal work week…But, some stuff did pop up that I thought was worth noting, and now I want to give you a summary of some of those things in today’s edition of quick hits…

And if you haven’t noticed, it is hard for me to blog everyday…My apologies…That is why I try to make Friday entertaining for all…

So on with the show…

The Fall Classic wrapped up this week with the Phillies beating the Rays 4 games to 1…I generally like the postseason of baseball, and if I had one dime for every inning I watched of the World Series, I would, well, have a dime…Just didn’t do much for me…Sorry, Doug…

However, the Oklahoma City Thunder did tip off this week to sold out crowd at the Ford Center…and promptly lost to a pretty average Milwaukee Bucks squad…Come to find out, the crowd was a little too energetic for the Thunder players…What?!?!

And not to sound like a bandwagon fan (although if you ever preface a sentence with that, guess what? Yeah, you’re probably a bandwagon fan), I may not be able to really get into this whole NBA in OKC thing if the product continues to be like it was the other night…Just horrible…

And, yeah, I know – me actually verbalizing that thought was pretty horrible, too…

And in a strange bit of NBA news (which will transition us to election stuff), it seems certain NBA players are urging folks to vote by putting messages on their shoes…Guess we know who Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady are for…But don’t you know the tax implications for you guys if your guy wins?  Love them higher taxes…

Yeah, so about the election: Evidently, lots of folks are voting early this year for the election…Is this new?  Did I just miss the memo on it?  Can someone explain why this is necessary?  I am so confused…

And keep kicking people off your plane, please…It makes you look bad…Thanks…

Speaking of the election (and this will be it, promise), why is the CBS/New York Times poll still 11 points?  Seriously, all of the other polls have tightened a bit, but this one is still double digits?  And I have never gotten polled…Wish someone would call me…

And this week I made the mistake of getting sucked into “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” one night, and just as I turned there he was ripping Bill O’Reilly and saying he had beaten him in the ratings for the third straight night…I was flabbergasted by this, and so I did some research on this issue…Come to find out, MSNBC only counts the demographic of 25-54 as viewers and according to this AP article, “essentially ignores older viewers” which “O’Reilly dominates”…

Thus, while it is true that Olbermann may have won the other night in the demographic of 25-54 year old viewers by a score of something like 1.7 million viewers to 1.6 million viewers, it is categorically untrue that he beat O’Reilly in the ratings…This is because if you add the older viewers in (like a certain aunt of my wife’s who is staunch O’Reilly supporter), then O’Reilly essentially crushes Olbermann by something like 3.7 million viewers to 1.8 million…Almost 2 million more…

But yeah, Keith, if you want to say you beat him, you go right ahead…Now if McCain ends up beating Obama because of the older vote and yet Obama wins the 25-54 year olds, are you going to say Obama won the election?  Hmm…

And just to make sure everybody is aware, I do like O’Reilly…A lot…Hannity I can kind of do without, but O’Reilly is just fine…

Glenn Beck is still the best, though…

Speaking of countdowns, too: it is officially 2 weeks until I see Chris Faulkner in the flesh…Oh, the excitement…

Oh, and if McCain loses, then Palin in 2012…Who’s with me?  Love that quote to ABC News by the way…

And yeah, I still think McCain is going to lose on Tuesday…Alas…And if McCain does happen to pull it out, let us all pray that folks keep their heads about them and not fall into the trap this lady is setting…Seriously, we are all better than that…

Oh sorry, that was more election stuff…My bad…

And on a really random note, I decided this week to do a little research on “Atlas Shrugged”…I had been hearing about this book from libertarian folks I know, and I had no idea what the book was about…After reading this Wikipedia account, I am even more confused now and not sure I am willing to read the book after finding out it is over 645,000 words…For reference, this blog posting is only 708 words so far (okay, now we are up to like 720), and yeah, this posting is almost too long for my liking…

Now multiple this by a whole bunch until you get to 645,000…Wow…“War and Peace” was not even that long…

L. Ron Hubbard has a book on that list if you hadn’t noticed…I don’t know why I mention that besides the fact that Scientology creeps me out…a lot…

So lastly about “Atlas Shrugged” – George, can you explain the draw lots of people have to this book?

Moving on once again, love this cartoon…He he…It does us all to have a good laugh at the press’ expense before the drama unfolds next week…

And to conclude this “Artamene” length blog posting, my beloved Sooners take on Nebraska on Saturday night on ESPN, and I should be a lot more excited about this traditional rivarly than I am…But yeah, can’t quite get all pumped for some reason…Could be because Nebraska is so bad, but still…Anyway, I see this game being somewhere in the neighborhood of OU 56/Nebraska 36…Our defense gives up lots of points once again, but our offense rocks…

Until Monday, enjoy your weekend…

WAIT: BREAKING NEWS ALERT!!!

Evidently McCain is going to be on SNL on Saturday…Seeing that he is the funniest of all the candidates, this may be a good thing for him…I will be watching for sure…

S

Can you recall the first time in your life when your eyes were opened to how unfair life can be?  Do you remember just one time when you have been shaken to your core by the stark reality of unfairness in this world?  Can you think of any of the hundreds of times this truth has cast its shadow over you?

I remember one of the first times I truly realized the unfairness of life…I had just made the “travelling team” in our town’s summer baseball league as a 12 year old, and the first 3 games I didn’t play at all; it was only in the fourth game that I got off the bench and got one at-bat…I was so frustrated and upset that I ranted and raved to my mom that it wasn’t fair…

Well, this was one of many times my mom would look at me and say, “Seth, you know what?  Life isn’t fair”…

She, along with millions of other parents, had to reinforce this lesson through words because unfortunately our teachers of this lesson are our own difficult experiences…

This then leads us to the Fairness Doctrine…And without getting into too much of it, the Fairness Doctrine basically says that if there is an opinion given on the radio then equal time must be given to the opposing opinion…Simplistically, radio must be fair to both sides in the time that is allotted for the discussion…

Regardless of the details, I am more concerned with the thought behind the fairness of the doctrine than exactly what it will mean for radio stations and talk show hosts…

Those who support the Fairness Doctrine want exactly what it sounds like they want: fairness in media…But when you think about it, why should it be fair?  Again, life isn’t fair…

Apart from the obvious reasons certain people are for radio going back to the Fairness Doctrine – the left’s anger about talk radio being dominated by conservatives is the most apparent reason, which has been talked about countless times elsewhere – there are other reasons for the desire of fairness in media…

Frankly this desire for fairness is seeping into all areas of life it seems…

For example, lots of youth sports leagues are not keeping score any longer in games to make things seem more fair…And a court decison last year gave the Univesity of Michigan Law School the right to use race as a qualification for admission…That ruling was to try to make the law school more diverse and fair to minority students, but then is that fair to non-minority students who are just as qualified?  And some people earning lots of money while others do not is even seen as unfair by many - they call for the redistrubtion of wealth.

But, again, if you try and make it fair for some, others suffer…Is that fair?

I think if we all took a long, hard look at fairness, we would all agree that we should try and be as fair as we can in everything we do…But utopia is not ours because it is not possible…Regardless if we attempted to do everything we could to make everything as fair as possible for as many as possible, there will still be those amongst us who will not treated fairly…

And if you think about it, if all we did was try to pursue fairness we would spend all of our time at it, and nothing would get accomplished…

Instead, why don’t we instead encourage competition, imagination, and hard work?  Why don’t we push people to be their best in all they do?  If they fail, it would only be fair to teach them to get back up and try again…

The goal should not be to force fairness and to do our best to make sure people never get hurt…Rather we should all strive to do the best we can in everything we do…Will we lose sometimes, and will that suck?  Sure, but we will also win sometimes, and all of our hard work will be worth it…And folks, that is fairness to its utmost…

Getting back to the Fairness Doctrine, why should this sense of fairness be forced upon radio stations?  Why can’t good old American competition be the driving force to keep on both sides of an argument on the air if both sides have listeners?

The fact is that we need competition in all areas of life…We need to be hard working people who look to help others in there time of need as we encourage them get back on their feet…But, we also need to figure out that life isn’t always fair…

So why try to force it to be? 

S