11/25
 |
| see the signs.... |
 |
| Steelers |
Today I greet the Underground repping the Pittsburgh Steelers. Because that’s my hometown. And they are undefeated. And tomorrow night, Thanksgiving, they play the primetime game against the arch rival Baltimore Ravens. (One must respect a team named for an Edgar Allan Poe poem.) Because every Sunday all across the country people put on back and gold and wave yellow towels and root for the Steelers. Because they rose to power as the steel industry collapsed and people needed something to feel good about. And hundreds of thousands left the city and created a diaspora that celebrates these games as a way of connecting to a home they never wanted to leave. Because in 1933 Art Rooney, Sr. took his race track winnings and bought a team. And even when the North Side changed from Irish Catholic to African American he never left the family home there because it was, well, home And how he worked to bring a stadium to the North Side so he could walk to work. And the neighborhood’s revitalization began. And when his son Dan took over he left tawny suburban Mt.Lebanon and moved to the North Side. And how the Rooney box was never fancy but alway simple so a dozen or so neighborhood kids could see the game there every week. With hot dogs and hamburgers. And how he fought for the rule now known as the Rooney rule requiring every team with a head coaching vacancy to do a serious interview with at least one person of color. How Mike Tomlin, African American and head coach, has been coach for 14 season and never had a losing season. Youngest man to ever coach a Super Bowl winner. Because when. I watch here in New York City my oldest son is watching in Berlin. And because. Steelers.
Today we are discussing a controversial podcast featuring Dr. Zach Bush who argues we chose the wrong model to understand the world around us. And that viruses are essential to evolution. (https://www.lukestorey.com/lifestylistpodcast/dont-fear-the-virus-your-bodys-immunity-blueprint-humanitys-awakening-w/-dr-zach-bush-304.) Clyde sees his idea as potentiallyn as important as Galileo’s global insight. That we need to move from geocentric to cosmic centered. That we need to reexamine our understanding of germs. And Pasteur. Terracentric to solar centric. Earth or universe. We live on edge of an unfashionable backwater of the universe. Part of a bione. Perhaps some day currency systems based on viruses? Their use as a means of communication? In particular, Bush sees the urban loci of virus hotpspots as related to the base line pollution that already exists. SteveP counters with the examples of new hotspots North Dakota and Kansas that are not urban. And that life expectancy has grown by 1/3. We are living longer. (Except for non-college educated working lcass white men.)
I share the well used quote, source uncertain, …which several have not heard before….if you’re not living on the edge, you’re just taking up space
It is true that global agribusiness and the effort to protect against disease has destroyed sustainable and drought hardy seed legacies…The effort to force baby formula onto Third world mothers moved them away from natural breast feeding and into disaster. And by the way, where are the bees? Terran theory vs. germ theory. The signifcance of agency.
Steve P brings up our Calvinist perspective. That the son of God is in control of everything. There is no decision for good not inspired by God. And any act separate from God is sin. This not a Manichean universe. Prevenient grace is there before we ask for it.
I speak of our responsibility of stewardship, tending creation. And within this responsibility, there is agency. Joel reminds me of my statement that Nazis are humans, not demons, and we are not separable from them as humans.
 |
| our own part |
Steve H believes that action outweighs argument. That doing and being outweighs debate. That Jesus refuses the temptation to win the argument. We need to stop arguing. Stop debating. Just build the world we feel good to be part of.
Steve P reminds us that people who agree to dialogue are already mature. We need to resist being drawn into arguments that cannot be won. In systemic issues, we are either victim, abuser or rescuer. Listening or fighting can both be appropriate at different times. Remember Paul in Corinthians, each of us doing our job is how we heal the world.
A lively exploration as always.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.
No comments:
Post a Comment