Hezo Kittie

Pride Comes Before the Fall

Niners coach Mike Nolan was fired on Monday, and Defensive Coach Mike Singletary took over coaching responsibilities for the rest of the season. Apparently he is a devout Christian. Anyway, I was reading an article by a San Francisco beat writer about the influence of religion on sports. He mentioned a story about Bill Walsh's old Niners team. After they won the Super Bowl, one of the players, I believe his name was Bubba, told an interviewer that "God did this". The other players were angered because, after months of training and working and studying and blood and sweat and tears, Bubba basically discounted their hard work and said it was really in the hands of some mysterious creator.

Now, maybe he did mean this. Everyone has a different interpretation of spirituality. Here's my take:

Famous actors, actresses, etc. step up to the podium and after they win an award, many of them first "Thank God". But I see this phrase as, "I may have busted my fucking ass to be the best at this shit, but at the same time I didn't make it to the top alone. Mentors, motivators, teachers, trainers, even luck, all played crucial parts. My successes cannot be entirely attributed to myself."

It always comes back to two critical ideas:

1.) You can't make it alone
2.) There are people out there that need your help

It's this interconnectedness of all human beings with each other that makes Christianity and Buddhism inextricably linked. I can't vouch for other cultures that I know nothing about, but interconnectedness is essential to at least these two.

Sometimes I think I can make it alone in my studies when I think, "This stuff really isn't that hard. It ain't rocket science. I don't need help, I can just use the book for reference." And then the book will help to some extent, but to really understand it requires a TA or professor not necessarily to TELL me what everything means but to guide me down the right path so I can actually put 2 and 2 together.

I guess the second part means that there's always people counting on you and need you in some shape or form. Maybe your friend just needs you to listen to her ranting, and you're one of the few trusted people she knows that won't judge her for it.