Cocoon of Silence

A fascinating and challenging read about the impact we all can have in diminishing the impact of hateful beliefs.

The authorities won't be able to stop every "lone wolf" with a gun and a gripe. But we, as a society, can do a much better job of creating an environment where hateful beliefs are never ignored and suspicious behavior never goes unreported.

In 1963, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in a letter from a Birmingham jail, "We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people." That's still true. Hateful people are loud — to disguise their cowardice and shame. But good, decent people are by far the majority, and we dare not be silent. There can be no family too close and no friend too dear for hatred to go unchecked. Allowing it to do so diminishes the better, more noble parts of ourselves. These confrontations won't be easy, but doing the right thing rarely is. There is someone reading this column who knows someone who could be the next shooter. What will that reader do?

On Michael Jackson

I don't thnik that Michael Jackson's impact on music can be understated, and I can't say it better than these words from Andrew Sullivan below.

"There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal
life.

But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for
his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for
so long a walking human shell.

I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again. "

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Confederations Cup..

So, New Zealand's time in the Confederations Cup is over. They played three with 2 (heavy) losses and a scoreless draw against Iraq, and it tonight was the only night they looked like scoring, but fluffed so
many chances. The man of the match would have to be Glen Moss (their goalkeeper), who made a couple of miracolous saves. But to be honest, given what we saw over the last week, I'm not sure that we'll see the All Whites in the World Cup. They play a challenging two legged play-off against Bahrain or Saudia Arabia, but we'll see.

On the upside, the New Zealand women's T-20 cricket team play England in the final tonight.

Silencing your inner critic

I really identify with the article, I'm quite likely to give myself reason to doubt what I've done or doing. The article also outlines some steps to assist in dealing with your "internal critic".

The holiday feeling..

I enjoyed reading this article offering some tips about extending the holiday feeling. I know reentry can be difficult, but here's a few tips to help.

1. Start with a virtual vacation.
Explore the place you are going to online, and build some anticipation.

2. Wash the dishes before you leave. Make the bed. Close the drawers and closet.
You'll be more able to hold onto the holiday feeling if you come hope to a, moderately, clean home.

3. Leave your bad habits behind.
4. Leave your bad habits behind, part two.
Or basically, a vacation isn't just an escape from a place, it's a chance to escape from your routine.

5. Try something new on vacation. Or something old that feels new.

6. Sleep.

7. When you and your dirty clothes get home, hang on to your best
vacation habits for at least a day or two.
This is one that I think I should work on, while you are holiday you are often on a different rountine, and you're able to do different things. One of the things that I was keen to do after we got back from
Japan last year, was to spend more time reading, and I've more or less done that (so far).

8. Be wary of souvenirs.

9. Don't forget that the place you live is also a vacation destination.
I like the idea of being a tourist in your own city. Explore parts you have't been to, or haven't been too for a while

10. Resume your virtual vacation.
Great idea to go back to the website, and rekindle the holiday buzz.

the fixture super-computer

I found this article "Secrets of the fixture computer" (via the BBC) about how the fixtures for the premier league are set to be quite fascinating - I never realised that by changing one - you could impact as many as 48.

For those who are interested the fixture list for the 2009/2010 Season come out this Thursday (our time).

On the Football

It's great to see Australia has qualified for the Football World Cup in South Afrca next year, but in November this year, the New Zealand All Whites have a chance to join the Socceroos.

Currently standing between the All Whites and the World Cup, is the winner of a two legged play off between the two third place teams - likely between Bahrain (or Uzsbekistan)  and Iran (DPR Korea or Saudi Arabia). The teams involved in the playoff are determined on Thursday morning, and the play off held during September, before the tie with New Zealand in November. (See here for the dates).

But before all that the All Whites are playing in the Confederations Cup in South Africa with guaranteed matches agains European champions Spain (tomorrow morning), Iraq, and South Africa, we'll see how they go..  but given their performace against Italy (they lost 3-4) they should give a great account of themselves.  It was sad to see the All Blacks lose over the weekend. At least it doesn't look like they'll peak before the Rugby World Cup in 2011. 

The New Zealand Women's T-20 team are undefeated after beating the West Indies and Australia in the Women's T-20 World Cup (the Kiwi men got thumped by Pakistan overnight too...)

Great Expectations?

I found the piece in answering the question do we expect to much from our leaders a great reminder about why how we act matters. 

If the people who govern us set a fine example then it must help the rest of us. If we see and hear examples of our leaders behaving well despite temptations to do otherwise then it should encourage us all. We'll never have a society free of crime and dishonesty and petty cheating, but we can have one in which the norm is truthful and honest, and in which most ordinary people feel that they are letting themselves and everyone else down if they avoid a train fare, leave out some earnings on their tax return, or exaggerate their insurance claims. Such a society would be much better than one in which everyone is trying to get round the rules when they can and seek maximum personal gain at every opportunity.

This motivates whom I vote for. I want the chance to vote for people who will provide that moral leadership, who will work for a country in which honesty prevails over cheating and will not only govern the rest of us, but will infect us with the idea that behaving honestly is the norm and we should all be doing it. Will there be any such people to vote for next time around? I hope so.

In our growth group at church we've just started reading Paul's leter to Titus where he tells Titus to look for character in those who we lead, as its in actions that words are given context.

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I also like this piece - Sad? Watch TV

Human off the field

A really interesting article from the Australian yesterday placing this weeks stories of Andrew Symonds and Chrs O'Brien together. Symonds whose international cricket career has probably come to an end
(due to his reckless actions), O'Brien whose life was tragically cut short.

The article makes the point that Australia should resolve to end a "mindless obsession with sportsmen as moral leaders and recognise that their principal role in life is to enjoy and entertain." It is a sad indictment on Australia if it is true that while "we have punched above its weight in terms of scientific innovation, these achievements are still a mystery to most of our countryfolk".

I think Penberthy makes a valuable point that we should keep national recognition (through Awards such as Australian of the Year) was "kept sacrosanct for those who have made a material contribution to the
wellbeing of others, rather than giving us the odd feeling of exuberance or joy while we sit in front of the plasma with a tinnie in our hand" (our sportsmen and sportswomen).

I'd also agree that if ever there was a argument for a posthumous Australian of the Year, O'Brien could be it.

A Year to go..

In 2005, when John Aloisi sent his penalty kick into the net Australia was the final team to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. After the Finals, Australia moved to the Asian Confederation, and with a scoreless draw this morning against Qatar, Australia was one of the first teams to qualify for the 2010 World Cup (in South Africa), and the first time Australia has qualified for two consecutive tournaments.

During the qualifiers this morning, the hosts South Africa were joined by Japan, South Korea, Australia, and the Netherlands. Hard to believe that the next World Cup is only 53 weeks away.

The Romance of Sport

Here is two lovely things about sport... the first being Federer making the final of the French Open and having the opportunity to equal Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam titles, the second being that there is another man on the court - another man who will plays a role in the story. As the Netherlands proved last night, in sport anything is possible. In their match against England in the Hit and Hope World Cup, the Dutch needed two runs off the last ball, and they got the winning run off an overthrow. Here's the reason why its hit, hope (and giggle), New Zealand's match with Scotland has been reduced from a 20 over game to a 7 Over match.

Couple of Random Shorts..

I just finished reading Chris Abani's "Song For Night" last night. I linked to an excerpt from his address at the Brisbane Writers Festival last year. The address, along with this book is well worth a read. The story is the journey through a warzone from the perspective of a child soldier.

"Every star is a soul, every soul is a destiny meant to be lived out. They fill the night sky, revealing like a diviner's spread the destiny of those gifted in reading their drift, their endless shift, like a desert, revealing and burying the way alternatively.

I have killed many people during the last three year. Half of those were innocent, half of those were unarmed -- and some of those killings have been a pleasure. But event with all of this, even with the knowledge that there are some sins too big even for God to forgive, every night my sky is still full of stars; a wonderful son
for night." [page 59]

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On my travels through the papers was this piece by Richard Glover about how lives are governed by a web of rules, and this interesting article about research addressing a couple of paradoxes puzzling social scientists.

The first paradox is the widespread perception among Americans that the US is a politically polarized country, when in fact ... research shows that most Americans are neither consistently "liberal" nor "conservative." In fact, among self-declared Republicans, 85% take a non-conservative stance on abortion, affirmative action, or government support for health insurance. Similar counter-intuitive results can be found among self-declared Democrats.The second paradox is that people also tend to think that their friends' beliefs are more similar to their own than they actually are—suggesting that people don't know their friends as well as they think they do. [from Friend Sense]