Shrinkage

A couple months ago, I got into an argument with a friend of mine about how much I care about the Red Wings success. She would say, "Why do you invest yourself in something so meaningless? These players get payed millions of dollars to play a sport while I am doing their dirty work for little money at all. I wonder what the world would be like without sports."

I turned this around to her and asked, "Well what about authors and actors and actresses? Why do they get to make millions of dollars when all their doing is creating a fictional (or non-fictional) version of what is already out there and/or might be out there?"

It's entertainment, and it's what drives society. Without movies, without sports, without books, without the crazy crap that's on the internet, these generations in society would collapse.

What's wrong with investing yourself in something that you can't control? I love knowing that whether I want the Red Wings to win or not has no impact on the outcome of the game whatsoever. We can all sit there and watch 22 players give everything they've got to the sport that they love. And guess what? When they lose, it's okay for us to be upset. We feel cheated, like there was more they could of done to give us what we wanted.

Tiger's fans have it the worst. Not only do they have to hope for good weather in order for them to even play, but they also have to sit through 162 games. That's three different seasons of the year, partially devoted to how roughly 12 players decide to play on that day. And I say the Tiger's have it worst, because it's Detroit. They'll go 13-2 in 15 games, and then turn right around and lose eight in a row. It infuriating, you just scored 14 runs last night and you didn't even get three hits tonight? But we will dedicate a gorgeous summer evening to them, paying for tickets, parking, hot dogs and beers; and while we're doing it, we will love every second of it.

We escape from the reality that is our life.

If we didn't invest ourselves in something bigger than us, then what would their be to live for? If we think we are the biggest thing that is out around, who cares what else may be there? People do this with God too. They devote their life to Him, knowing that it is all for an unknown. The difference here is that the "championship" at the end of the season for these people, is an eternity at the hand of God, not a 35 pound hunk of metal that has a hundred other peoples names on it.

We become a part of something that thousands of people are equally a part of. No one stands out (except maybe for the girls in short skirts and an Inge jersey, or the family that decorates their entire house in Lions gear), but for the most part, we are all the same, hoping for the same thing. Our rivals are the other team, and then when they leave, we rival the next team. It's healthy, and it's fun.

It somehow happens with music too. People dedicate hours and hours just listening to music and/or playing music. We spend hundreds of dollars to go see famous people making millions of dollars sing songs that we know the words to, when all we have to do is flip on the radio to hear that same song. It's phenomenal.

There is so much variety on what you can invest yourself in, but we all need to be invested in something that isn't ourselves. Escape yourself, and allow yourself to become a part of something that you can and will not be able to control. It's called living.



Take care of yourselves, and eachother.
Dub





"...I dare you to tell me to walk through fire..."