Kia kaha

I saw the movie 'Forever Strong' for about the 5th or 6th time while on a layover in Brazil. It has taken the number one spot on my list of favorite movies. There are some wonderful take-aways in the movie. One of the big ones for me was the way Coach Gelwix related to Rick, the main character in the film. Coach Gelwix to Rick: I'm not concerned about the past, what happened yesterday or even today, I'm concerned with what you can become. Don't waste your years ...like I did (with his father). Forgive your father; when you free him you free yourself.

The 'Pygmalion effect' is a true principle. If what one continuously holds up as a reflection of another is a picture of their weaknesses and failures it has a profoundly negative effect on that person. Yes, that person is ultimately responsible for their actions. Just as the Lord will hold church leaders, teachers, and parents accountable for failure to properly lead or worse, for misleading those youth entrusted in their charge, do you think he will hold each of us less accountable if we, with our influence on those close to us, by our actions and manner of relating to that person, reflect back to them an image, not reflecting their ultimate good and potential, but one focused on their weaknesses and failings? To say we have no responsibility for our influence on another when we are involved in their lives is to deny a simple truth. Like Rick's father,and like coach Gelwix, we do have an effect on those we are close to, one way, or the other.
Regardless of how we have been treated, our own happiness and well being will increase as we reflect the great potential in others back to them, inviting and challenging them to become their best selves.

More gun control?

My prayers go out to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting.  I also have concerns for the future of our country.  A tragedy like the one played out Friday morning in Newtown, Connecticut brings out all kinds of responses.  Like the shooting in the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, cries for gun control appear in nearly every media report on the story.
So here we have another slaughter in a “Gun Free Zone” and the usual suspects coming out of the woodwork to use the tragedy for their own personal agenda. The problem with their logic is that it is neither logical nor rational. Gun control is about control, not guns. If we lived in a Utopian world where no one went hungry and guns didn’t exist anywhere it would be great. But we don’t. We live in a world where angry, deranged people commit evil acts using whatever is at their disposal. In a place where guns are not legal, someone with no respect for the law can walk in and commit horrible carnage because there is NO ONE THERE WHO CAN STOP them. Kudos to Mr. Dupree for objective reporting on this tragedy. Most of the main stream media will not focus on the fact that the worst of these mass shootings occur where only the criminal is the only one with a gun. People don’t NEED guns to hunt or for recreation; they NEED them to protect themselves from the kind of vermin that perpetrate crimes like this one. And yes, they need semi-automatic guns to prevent tyranny from government from getting out of control. For those foolish enough to think that can’t happen, remember Waco, and do a little research on the situation in Mexico, where only police and military are allowed to legally possess and use guns. 
The debate will surely continue.  The truth is, all the debate, dogma, or enacted law in the world won't stop a crazed maniac from wreaking havoc.  A gun, and someone who can use it, right there, in real time, when the crazed maniac begins his attack would.