Tom Brady and True Identity
by Russ Masterson
In a little over a week Tom Brady of the New England Patriots will again be in the Super Bowl, already having won three in the past decade. I was reminded of the below clip from a 60 Minutes interview, which has been floating in cyberspace for a couple of years. I think Brady’s honesty about the illusion of monumental success is admirable and only reminds me again that identity is not primarily found in accomplishing but in receiving. (So says the guy striving to succeed…)
All is Grace
by Russ Masterson
I ran into this quote in the front of a book, Devotional Cinema, recommended to me by Phil Morrison, the director of the film, Junebug, which I reviewed over on Mockingbird blog a year or so ago. I’m just beginning the book, but the opening quote is too beautiful not to share. And I think the interesting consideration is that the quote’s beauty is not found in the arrogance of big words but in the honesty and awareness of the moment.
“He did not seem to hear me. But a few moments later he put his hand on mine and his eyes clearly indicated that I should lean closer. He then said very slowly, but altogether distinctly, the following words, which I record here exactly: What does it matter? All is grace.
He died, I believe, just after.”
- Georges Bernanos
Diary of a Country Priest
Character
by Russ Masterson
What if the fullest expression of character is not immaculate behavior but instead forgetfulness of it while considering God’s immaculate love for you and your neighbor.
Here is Love
by Russ Masterson
“Grace and love, like mighty rivers,
Poured incessant from above,
And Heav’n’s peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love.”
- William Rees (1802-1883)
Self-Interest, Waiting for Superman, and The Help
by Russ Masterson
The documentary, Waiting for Superman, is about the decline in American public education when compared to other countries, or even our own history of educational success. The film maker documents the failure of schools but also a handful of schools that are succeeding, including some educators who have started charter schools that are no longer bound by the restraints of teacher unions. Meaning, the schools can hire and fire teachers at will, pay different salaries, financially reward good teachers, and financially punish others, amongst other progressive rights and changes.
Now, according to the documentary, the teacher unions began decades ago when teachers needed to fight for some basic rights and systems to be put into place for their benefit, but today the unions are powerhouse political machines that protect the teachers’ self-interest at the detriment of the students. This self-interest is seen in the inability of educational leadership to create much of any change to the system and the teachers in the system. The unions simply don’t allow it, and they put political pressure on whomever they need to in order to make sure change that will create discomfort for teachers is not allowed. All of this is of course self-interest that eats away at the very good the teachers began teaching for, the unions were created for, and the education the students need. (This is all according to the documentary and not to my personal research so forgive me if I don’t give another opinion on the issue of unions and the cause for our education problem.)
…› Continue reading
Eddie Vedder and Success
by Russ Masterson
Below we see Pearl Jam win their 1996 Grammy. The most interesting, and shocking, comments come from Eddie Vedder, the first band member to speak.
Pearl Jam 20 just released, a documentary directed by Cameron Crowe over-viewing their rise to success. It’s a fascinating two hours of entertainment and education, but I found this clip of Vedder winning the Grammy the most. At first I dismissed his comments as rude — to want to create stellar music for people to hear, then to trivialize an award recognizing that seemed, well, ridiculous.
But I kept thinking about this — Why would he say this? What is he trying to say?
I think he’s saying the award, the pinnacle of the path is not all it’s cracked up to be. He’s saying the pinnacle is just another place. So, if this is true, and you’ve exalted the pinnacle — the Grammy, the money, the fame — you will be disillusioned as it ultimately doesn’t mean anything. There’s a secret only the rich and famous seem to know — that being rich and famous is not better, just different.
The Pearl Jam documentary is a fascinating study on fame and the way people react to it. Some do drugs, some kill themselves, and others say things like Vedder, degrading the award or the success, when really it is the over-exaltation of the pinnacle that deserves our criticism and sadness.
Darkness and Hearing the Music
by Russ Masterson
We drove home from Orlando on New Year’s Eve. We packed the car and pulled out, heading north as the sun set. My wife and little girls fell asleep quickly, and then it was me, the road, and the darkness of north Florida and south Georgia. I had some snacks and my iPod in my lap.
My attention wasn’t caught by the passing cars, fields, or farms that tend to pull my eye and my mind. All I had to see was the one hundred lit yards that my headlights afforded me. I tuned my iPod to Sara Groves, Mumford and Sons, and The Avett Brothers. I listened to Tim McGraw and Coldplay, and in the dark the music ceased to just be background music but somehow became a real voice to an otherwise busy mind.
With the removal of distractions I was able to hear the music better, and I can’t help but wonder if this is why our vision for our lives is so restricted – that we might hear the music better.
Wild Turkeys and Living in the Present
by Russ Masterson
A few nights ago I watched “My Life as a Turkey,” a surprisingly insightful documentary about naturalist-writer Joe Hutto who bonded with twelve wild turkey chicks during their first year of life. (Don’t think calm Thanksgiving turkeys — think wild, huge wilderness birds.) The most stellar commentary came halfway through his year with the turkeys:
“So many of us live either in the past or the future and betray the moment. And in some sense we forget to live our lives, and the wild turkeys were always reminding me to live my life. I think as humans we have this peculiar predisposition to always be thinking ahead and living a little in the future, anticipating the next minute, the next hour, the next day, and wild turkeys don’t do that. They are convinced everything they need, all their needs, can be met only in the present moment and in this space, and the world is not better a half a mile though the woods. It’s not better half an hour from now, and it’s not better tomorrow –- that this is as good as it gets. So, they constantly reminded me to do better, to not live in this abstraction of the future, which by definition will never exist. So, we sort of betray our lives in the moment, and the wild turkeys reminded me to be present, to be here.”
Seeing tomorrow is a blessing, but living there is a curse. Have a Merry Christmas, and let’s not think too much about the new year.
You can view the entire 50-minute documentary at PBS.
Christmas and Behavior Manipulation
by Russ Masterson
We love to manipulate to get what we want. I catch myself doing this with my little girls. At times it is needed, for their safety and well being, and at other times it is for my selfish desires — usually peace and quiet is what I want. Parents use an array of behavior-curving tactics, no matter what parenting philosophy is practiced. We use stern voices, threats, promises, timeout, spanking, and the removal and giving of privileges. As any parent does, I have my views on which practices are better, but I will not dare to blog and enter those testy waters.
But I do have one soapbox with parenting, and with Christmas: gifts are not given because you’ve been good. That’s not a gift. That’s payment. It’s not love. To say, “You won’t receive gifts if you are naughty, so you better be good!” is a tragic tale that feeds our performance-oriented nature and has no lasting power to form liberated kind people. It’s gasoline to the stomach. Santa is jolly, but he is not gracious, at least not according to some of the songs about him. I don’t mind going along with the whole Santa tale — it’s fun as is Mickey Mouse. But the old red man counting all your deeds, watching over you all December, that I don’t care for.
Sure, we give a treat to a kid sleeping through the night, or even a paycheck to an employee performing at work. I understand the need and reality of such economies, but I’m talking about loving relationships. And more specific to the next week I’m talking about Christmas and the gifts under the tree, which are not just material things but also symbols of the giving nature of God to us.
I’ve been telling my three year old repeatedly, “Some people believe you have to be good to receive a gift, but that’s not true. God, and our family as well, gives gifts whether you’ve been bad or good.”
I love you when you are good.
I love you when you are bad.
I love you when you are clean.
I love you when you are dirty.
I love you when you succeed.
I love you when you fail.
I love you when everyone adores you.
I love you when no one knows your name.
I could go on…
Getting Life Right
by Russ Masterson
Recently I heard a man say,
“I catch myself thinking if we can only move into the right neighborhood, get our kids in the right school, so they can have the right grades to get into the right college, to meet and marry the right spouse, to get the right job with the right salary, so they can move in the right neighborhood and get their kids in the right school………”
And then you wonder, what if none of that is the point?
What if we are already all we need to be?
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