A few thoughts on a few people:
*Governor Chris Christie should call former-Governor Mike Huckabee for a long chat. Huck could teach the not-quite-presidential-candidate a few important things: 1) Huck could share his faith in Christ with Governor Christie. The New Jersey gov attends mass and maintains a few political positions consistent with a Catholic view, but no one really knows much about the depth or genuineness of his faith. 2) Huck could help Gov. Christie to commit himself to a health and potentially life-saving diet to loose a hundred pounds or so. Governor Huckabee did it; Governor Christie can and should do it. 3) Huck could help Christie craft a run for the Republican nomination in 2016. Huck’s been there, done that.
*Steve Jobs is gone, victim of an untimely demise. His death is sad, a huge loss to his family, Apple, Inc., and American culture. We will all miss his creative genius. But what did he believe about God and the afterlife? It’s hard to say. He apparently made some commitment to Buddhism, but there is no public record of his understanding anything about Jesus Christ and what he did for Steve and the rest of us. It’s been therefore perplexing to watch people, even believers, blithely state Jobs is in heaven or, as one Christian posted on Facebook, “RIP Steve Jobs.” But what does “rest in peace” mean? I hope Jobs is in heaven, but based on his public statements, we unfortunately don’t know this. One lesson is clear: a personal fortune of $7 billion and even more enriched talent doesn’t conquer death.
*Pat Summit is the long-time women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee. She’s also the all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history. She announced in August that at 59 years she has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Like Steve Jobs, this is sad in the extreme. And we learn another lesson: lifetime physical conditioning and athleticism do not protect you from terrible disease.
*Floyd “Money” Mayweather, Jr, at 43-0, is pound-for-pound the best boxer in the world today…except maybe for Manny Pacquiao. If you hear Mayweather talk, it’s obvious he wants to be considered “the Greatest,” ranked with Muhammad Ali. But Mayweather will never be Ali. Where Ali fought for social justice, gave up his title as world heavyweight champion as a conscientious objector resisting the military draft, stood for civil rights, and put on a show as a “show,”—knowing the irony, Mayweather is for real in his showmanship. Mayweather actually believes his own mouth and his own press. He is about nothing but excess and narcissism. Mayweather is a cartoon. Ali is a giant.
© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2011
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