TWIF (Part 3): World Champions Of Triviality
I find it hard to respect intelligent, humanitarian-minded women who resort to prancing around on stage in bikinis to gain recognition. Nevertheless, Natalie Glebova was dubbed Miss Universe for doing precisely that.
And though the organizers of the world’s largest beauty pageant insist that contestants are judged for their intellects and attitudes as much as for their figures, it is very probable that Miss Glebova has been declared the most beautiful woman in the universe primarily for showing off parts of her body that most beautiful women I know keep appropriately concealed.
Still the fact remains that Glebova is the world champion of her particular silly activity. And though I don’t watch beauty pageants—never have, never will—I must admit that her preening is no sillier than a myriad of other activities whose competitions we follow and whose champions we idolize.
Regrettably, we have formed a culture of the trivial. We all want to be champions of our own silly activity. Just ask Emily Fox, the current world-record holder in the fast-paced sport of cup stacking, or champion eater Takeru Kobayashi, who downed 83 streamed dumplings in eight minutes during an August 13th contest.
Yet these champions are no sillier than Tiger Woods who is idolized for hitting a little white ball with a certain metal club so that it goes into a special little hole in the ground. They are no sillier than Misty May and Kerri Walsh who are recognized for wearing little more than their underwear while batting a cushy ball back-and-forth over a net. And they are no sillier than Barry Bonds, who is paid millions of dollars for hitting a ball with a stick and then running around in circles.
Although it concerns me when young competitors at the World Cup Stacking Championship speak of making a career out of it, I am equally concerned that a majority of American young people long for nothing more than to become kings and queens of their own particular triviality. It might be Hollywood that beckons them; it might be the NBA, or it could be American Idol. Whatever it is, the sad truth remains that America has prioritized entertainment and celebrity over true service and heroism; and our young people have taken the cue.
The tone of this article shouldn’t be taken as condemning, only concerned. I am not against the existence of these ‘silly activities’ that make life more enjoyable for many and bearable for some. I enjoy the thrill of watching Emily Fox stack cups faster than the eye can see and rooting for American athletes at the summer and winter Olympics. I’ve had 15-minute crushes on my own share of movie actresses and even voted online during last season’s American Idol competition. But then, after my niece was born with an extremely serious heart defect, I found myself in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at OHSU; and I met true heroes.
Shaun, Pam, and Colleen. They are nurses. They are heroes. And they symbolize millions of people across the globe who sacrifice, who serve, and who receive small thanks next to the Michael Jordans, Marilyn Monroes, and Elvis Presleys of our day. It often takes catastrophes to remind us of these people. September 11th did. It was policemen and firemen; rescue workers and soldiers who lifted our nation back up. And we honored them for it.
Even so, nearly four years later, my generation is still pursuing triviality at the expense of true service. Everyone wants to be the cherry on top, but no one is making ice cream. It is as if we have completely forgotten the steady, shining glory of heroism, because of the glaring, flashing glamour of celebrity.
Until we take the time to re-examine our ideas of what’s important we will continue to choose lesser professions and America will keep getting weaker. As our culture continues to embrace the trivial we will become increasingly incapable of responding to the significant.
Continue Series with Part Four: The American Idol Syndrome
November 19th, 2005 at 10:29 am
How true, Brett!
While I was reading this, Ecclesiastes came very sharply to mind:
“‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.’
What does man gain from all his labor
at which he toils under the sun? ” (Ecclesiastes 1:2,3)
I am also incredibly concerned at the complete triviality of our modern society. It is quite scary, actually. One of our previous Grace Gems was by J. A. James. He said the following:
“I would not rob the believer of his few
brief holidays, nor condemn as irrational or unchristian,
his occasional oblivion of worldly vexations amidst the
beauties of nature, or the pleasures of the social circle.
There is a time to laugh–as well as to weep.
Still, it may be seriously questioned, whether among
professing Christians, the propensity for amusements
and entertainments has not been growing too fast, and
ripened into something like a passion for worldly pleasures.
The very craving after diversion and amusement, which there
is in some people, shows a morbid state of the soul. It might
be supposed, judging from the representations of true religion
which we find in the word of God, and from the general principles
contained in it–that a Christian has rendered unnecessary, all
such sources of enjoyment, which worldly people resort to. ”
He then goes on to say something which has had a MAJOR impact on my life since I read it:
“The godly Christian is very well content to forego many things
in which the people of the world see no harm.”!!
Truly: “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
In light of such strong words (and to now apply it to what you said, Brett), I think it can be quite safely said that our very career decisions would be made from a point of view of both a willingness to fulfill the second greatest commandment — and to fulfill Mark 8:34!
In Him,
November 19th, 2005 at 9:12 pm
yup. it’s so sad to see our culture spinning off, infatuated by meaningless things! if these girls (in particular) are so wild about helping people, then WHY on earth don’t they do it??? sigh. it’s so true–we are consumed by the worthless, the neither bad nor good. it’s wastful–see Eph.!
November 19th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Ok, the bueaty pagent is dumb. But the sports is not.
The athleats are paid for they’re skills, which 99.9% of the people in the world donot posses, or have the ability to poses. They are paid for their skills and disciplene to stay at that level for 13, 14 years straight.
I do believe to may be over rating the value placed on sports, and how it is a “trivial” thing.
November 19th, 2005 at 11:04 pm
Yeah, America is modern greece, worshipping nakedness and the body. This is obvious by the high value placed on sports, and beauty pageants.
I must say though sports have their place. Sports stars do not. Sports are a great physical activity that can be played by boys who need a break from working all the time, and don’t want to waste their lives with videogames.
Sports are really about competition, and competition drives people forward.
Watching sports on the T.V. though is far more a waste of time than videogames, if I do say so myself.
At least with videogames, you CAN learn something and improve eye-hand coordination.
Some of my greatest think time came during playing games in the past, but I’ve come to realize that prayer is much better for that.
;-)
God Bless guys!
~ John.
November 19th, 2005 at 11:11 pm
Palm Boy: I agree there is a difference between beauty queens and athletes, even though I remember reading a quote from a former Miss America (who was also a star volleyball player in college) saying that beauty pageants are exactly the same as sports; requiring discipline, concentration, exercise, conditioning, etc. etc. etc.
But all that aside, the contrast I was making was not based on the skill level. I think Emily Fox has skills 99.9% of people in the world do not possess. So does Takeru Kobayashi. So do many music artists and movie stars. I was not “degrading” any of the activities because they require little to no skill. They obviously require tremendous amounts of skill.
Rather than telling you why I lumped all these activities together, I’d like to let you try and figure it out and/or have some of the other readers take a shot at explaining it.
Thanks for voicing your concern though! It’s good to have an opportunity to clarify.
God bless!
November 20th, 2005 at 3:30 am
It’s simple. All of those activities are around today for the purpose of mere amusement; Distraction from the reals goals and calling in our lives.
November 22nd, 2005 at 1:53 pm
Yep; “beauty” has taken on a whole new meaning today; people now like to call sexy beautiful in an attempt to make it all seem harmless. Things such as dancing, singing, playing an instrument, and even dressing up and making ourselves presentable for fun are such God-glorifying things to do! It is so sad to see these talents and gifts misused.
November 22nd, 2005 at 5:45 pm
What it all comes down to is people seeking to find their identity in something other than Christ. It is sad to see people throwing their lives away in that manner, but we would be there too if it wasn’t for God’s grace. I pray that these people may find Christ and find the purpose that they were created for.
Blessings,
Ben
November 22nd, 2005 at 10:48 pm
Hm. This is a bit of a tough question. “All things are permissible, but not all are beneficial.” (1 Cor 10:23) This would suggest two things about our pursuit of leisure activities that are not readily apparent to the outside observer: first, the disposition of our conscience, and second, our true aims.
I am, for example, a very amateur chess player. Given an extra couple of hours in a week (not much) I could improve to a point - and beyond that point I would have to put quite a lot of extra time to gain even slightly. I prefer to do other things with my time, among which is keeping up my own blog. In other words, I’ve decided that my current (lack of) skill is all I need, and I would feel that I’d wasted my time doing more - my conscience would accuse me.
If I had a change of heart (say, in advance of a tournament I wished to enter and do well in) I would have the further question of what my goals were - would I be playing for the joy of playing well, wanting to honor God by performing to the best of the talents He gave, or would I be hoping for a class prize and my picture in “Chess Life”?
These are the two questions for the individual believer in any pursuit. These balance the two errors one can fall into - a dabbler may be surprised to discover that God wants more out of a talent thought purely incidental, while a worthwhile skill can become an idol. (Wouldn’t it be terrible to find, in the end, that one’s passion for theology or praise music had actually eclipsed one’s passion for God Himself?)
In the aggregate, yes, it’s certain that there is vainglory in the pursuit of trivialities, but one never knows if that’s the only or the primary concern of any individual life, unless that individual presents evidence. The pursuit itself is not conclusive one way or the other. And if not for those chasing their odd innocent loves, we would all miss out on some good things that bring us a little happiness, and small graces in a large fallen world.
November 22nd, 2005 at 11:43 pm
Excellent, Nighfly. Thanks for gracing us with your wisdom. God bless!
November 24th, 2005 at 6:52 am
I think you hit it on the nail!
Our culture has become fascinated with the superficial. It all goes back to the fallen sin nature Alex talked about in the post about David Ludwig and Kara Borden. Yet the fascination with the meaningless has roots in the innate need of something meaningful. The innate need of God. The problem is seeking God some where else than Christ, as I think some one mentioned earlier.
Another thought comes to mind also. We are supposed to take every thought captive. Is that every thought minus the meaningless ones? I don’t think so….. I think we need to bring meaning to the meaningless. That doesn’t mean entering a beauty pageant or spending thousands of dollars on sports equipment, but it does mean that we have to do everything else in our power with the tools given us, to turn the trivial to the tremendous. NCFCA speech and debate comes to mind. In other leagues students compete for the trophies and the titles on their resumes. Little emphasis is given to using the S&D skills to really accomplish some thing bigger than a trophy. Yet NCFCA has produced students with a drive to do some thing with their skills, forget the trophies! So many students, I could write a book about all that they have done with their S&D skills. Suffice it to say many rebolutionaries. By putting God as the center, NCFCA has brought meaning to the meaningless.
But I digress; this is all to say that the trivial things of this life need the vacuum to be filled. Hey, that’s what the rebolution is all about any way, right?
Petra
November 24th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
Excellent thoughts, Petra. Thanks for writing!