The Odd Couple

I read this article at NPR on #MeToo and this

"My working definition, basically, for forgiveness is that it no longer wishes ill or seeks revenges on the person who hurt us, and that it basically untethers us from them and enables us to have a different future from the past."

got me thinking about Heidegger and his idea that some lives are saturated with history. As I read this again, it isn't just the (possible new) future that becomes an option with forgiveness, the past, you know that thing they (das man) love to say can't be changed, CAN be changed...

with perspective. Perspective is nothing but a different way of looking, hearing, feeling, tasting, touching the world and her willingness to remain open to a different perspective opened the future door of forgiveness and closure and in one fell swoop she changed, it is possible, the past and the future.

Perspective requires bravery and openness; there is risk involved.

As much risk as being closed to it.

When Losing Is Beautiful

Want to see something beautiful?

Of course you do. 

This is Geno Auriemma, seconds after his UCONN basketball team lost for the first time in 111 games. It was an epic upset. Consider this about the 111 game winning streak:

111

Consecutive wins

867

Days between UConn losses (Nov. 17, 2014, to Stanford in overtime).

80

Consecutive wins in AAC play.

65

Largest margin of victory, 103-37 against No. 20 South Florida on Jan. 10

61

Victories by at least 40 points

23

More wins than the men’s record of 88, by John Wooden’s 197-74 UCLA Bruins

4

Combined margin of defeat in 2 overtime losses sandwiching the streak

2

National titles

Look again at Geno’s face. 

Do you think he places sports in the proper context? 

Do you think he knows that you can give a valiant effort and still lose? 

And that there is absolutely no shame?

None.

Indeed he does.

Competition can be a good thing. Competition can help people achieve things they didn’t think they could.

Competition can get the better of some.

This is Todd Bertuzzi, seconds away from cold-cocking an opponent and inches away from paralyzing him.

This is Draymond Green kicking an opponent in the testicles.

This is Mike Tyson biting the ear of Evander Holyfield in a “boxing” match.

You might be wondering if this is a dude thing. It isn't.

You might be wondering if it is the professional aspect of sports/competition that creates this. 

The money lure is too much and guys go too far for the big contract because winning matters and personal stats matter…all the way to the bank.

You would be wrong. 

Parents got too far.

Here is Lavar Ball. 

He wants his son to be the greatest. Or is it all of his sons? 

And this is Todd Marinovich. 

His dad was stretching his hamstrings as a baby. 

What could go wrong? 

Competition can be a good thing. Part of competition is losing. For everyone.

Losing with grace and perspective is beautiful, especially in regards to a game where you throw a ball into a peach basket.

Little White Lie

When up went down I lost my ground

All the way down I threw up into a cup

When left went right I lost my sight

When right went left I was again bereft

Of absolute, objective, dead reckoning

Be it large be it small, be it short be it tall

Be it thin be it wide, alone or in a pride

Be it vast be it dense, be it only faintly sensed

I need it I need it I need just one

One unmovable point from which to build my sun

My sun of morals my sun of laws

Go unheard, unfelt, unlived if we hem and haw

Hesitate, vacillate, an infinity of wait

A perpetual DMV line of moral relativity

All because we can’t decide on just one spot to be

All of your subjectivity has landed you here, are you satisfied?

Let’s agree on objectivity, even if it’s just a little white lie

Perspective

Perspective. 

One can never see a thing in its entirety. (You see the front of the font of the word “perspective” above but what might it look like from behind?) 

You are skeptical. 

Click

Vision is limited.

Can one think a thing in its entirety?

You think 2+2=4 but are you thinking it in its entirety or is thinking limited the way vision is?

Vision requires a blind spot. Requires. Vision necessitates blindness.

You are skeptical.

Click

What does thinking (or consciousness) necessitate?