I Complain A Lot

My choices for TV tonight were "The Academy" on channel 29, WWE Wrestling on channel 23, something on channel 9 that I can't remember, and "Stand Up To Cancer" on channels 4, 5, and 11 (technically just 4 and 11 for me, since I don't get channel 5 for some reason). Not being interested in "The Academy," wrestling, or whatever was on channel 9, I chose to watch celebrities stand up for cancer.

The title of this blog is "I Complain A Lot," because I think I do...and I don't know why. Some people say I'm a pessimist. I prefer to think of myself as a realist - identifying the situation for what it is (which admittedly, usually sucks - there's that pessimism thing again). This was the predicament that I found myself in while watching the Stand Up To Cancer event.

So then, allow me to share briefly my pessimistic (yet realistic and, I believe, accurate) observations:

1. Celebrities need to stand up for literacy. Man, almost every single one of them stumbled over their cue card lines. Learn to read people! Sound out the words...you can do it.

2. Jack Black made an appearance and said something to the affect of: "I know all of you at home are looking at us celebrities and saying to yourself, 'If those people would just donate 2% of their salaries, they could do way more than I ever could,' so I'm here to get these gravy trains to pony up." Then he went about on a humorous attempt to muscle all the celebrities into donating. He even told someone to get him Steven Spielberg on the line. The bit was humorous, but I still didn't see the celebrities ponying up the cash. The ended the bit by showing Black scream in the face of some other actor, telling him to give. Well? Did he donate? It was meant to be funny, but what are they doing? What are they giving? I don't know, so I can't make a judgment, but I hope it's a lot...or at least as much as they're encouraging others to give in comparison to their own salaries.

3. I always feel like I'm being preached to by celebrities at these things. It's like they've got it all figured out and they're imparting their wisdom upon me. Celebrities, just because you are celebrities doesn't mean you're smarter or more compassionate than me. I realize this feeling might be completely self-derived, but nonetheless, it is my pessimistic (realistic) nature.

4. Can I watch at least one pop culture endorsed charity event without being appealed to by the liberal agenda? Man, I'm sick of celebrities (and people who worship celebrities) telling me who I should vote for and what I should think. Just entertain me. I don't care about what you think...just like you don't care about what I think. Let's keep it that way.

5. The biggest impression that I was left with was the hopelessness of death for those not in Christ. No, this issue wasn't specifically addressed, but allow me to explain: there was such an outcry for people to have mercy and give money for the sake of prolonging life. That is to say that the main drive of the fundraiser was to appeal to the desire to live. This is a legitimate desire, to be sure, but it is ultimately fatalistic - literally. Your life will come to an end, be it by cancer, AIDS, hunger, disease, whatever. You will die. No matter how hard you try to prolong your life, you will ultimately succumb to the pulls of death. No amount of money or good will can change this fact. It is in this sense that our efforts to prolong life are useless (no, I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to prolong life - we should, and this is a virtuous endeavor. I am merely saying that fulfillment and satisfaction that is derived from prolonging life is misplaced and hopeless). Even our best efforts to fight disease and age will not succeed. Death comes to us all.

In one of my seminary classes this past summer, we were talking about "holistic" mission - ministering to the "whole" person - spiritually, physically, mentally, emotionally, etc. The prof used the following example to prove his point: there is a cholera outbreak in the village of Kunkwa somewhere in Africa, and people are dying quickly. Who or what is needed? A nurse? A counselor? An evangelist? Or an engineer? Each of these people would be beneficial, andI think that in the ideal world, all of them are needed. But that's not the answer my prof was fishing for. The obvious answer, if people are dying quickly, is "a nurse." Thus, in his view, we must send nurses. Who would disagree with that? Of course those people need a nurse! But that is not where it ends (or even where it begins, for that matter). To think that all problems are solved by the presence of a nurse is foolish (and to be clear, I don't think my prof would say that). But that is often the case, in missions, and in fundraisers for cancer research - we think that once we meet a person's physical needs, the job is done. Not true. Cancer patients who beat the disease and go on to live long, rich, lives will still die - if not from cancer then from something else.

The problem isn't cancer - it's sin.