Friday, February 24, 2012

Steroids


I just finished watching a movie called Bigger, Stronger, Faster, which focused on drug use. I really liked the way the narrator attacked the issue of steroids because though the focus was steroids the documentary seemed to be searching for something deeper, and the message came to me as a lesson in competition, specifically America’s attitude about competition. The focus of the message was not in attacking the physical aspect of taking steroids, but more so the mindset of taking steroids.
            A big focus of the movie centers around proving that steroids are illegal in the USA yet have not been proven to be as destructive as they are perceived. This got me thinking and brought me to the first important lesson of the movie. That lesson is: anything in excess is unhealthy. Alcohol isn’t necessarily bad but it is destructive when consumed in excess; Vitamin C is great for your overall health but if you take it too much you can poison yourself. The list of examples goes on forever because anything and I believe everything in excess is unhealthy.
            It is a flaw in human nature that more is always better. In the competitive world you can never get far enough ahead. Having things in excess is not just an accepted concept, but it is almost required in the world today. My mom taught me since I was a young kid that no human will ever again be perfect (This was a religious teaching that Jesus was, is and always will be the perfect human to walk the earth). This message resonates in me way deeper than the religious context because it is true. It seems that whenever we see an example of someone that has it all we find that they really don’t have it all; when we see someone that looks to have it all together we see that there is some empty void within themselves that they are trying to fill. When a person feels these shortcomings, they focus on gaining more of what they have or can gain in excess to fill these shortcomings.
The truth is that as humans we are not meant to be perfect and we are definitely meant to have shortcomings. These shortcomings are what keep us even as human beings. These shortcomings are what drive healthy competition. Humans should not concern themselves with being perfect instead they must focus on the pathway towards perfection. The pathway to perfection involves the character of a human being whereas being perfect is all in the perception of a human being.
This leads me to the one reason I will never do steroids (unless it would be for the medicinal purpose of keeping me alive): because it is cheating. The obvious edge that it gives athletes in sports isn’t even worth debating, but even for those not in competitive athletics the only non-medicinal use of steroids is a shortcut to some end that is unhealthy. Steroids are used by people to develop muscles in a way that they could never naturally build. I am a firm believer in hard work as it is one of the highest prioritized value in my life and I completely understand that even people that use steroids work very hard to gain the muscles they get (some people may even say they work harder than people who don’t take steroids, but that it also a by product of the fact that they took steroids so they can work longer and harder).
I can think back to high school when I was in physics class and our teacher allowed us to program whatever formula in our calculators (if we wanted to do the work) because he wasn’t concerned with us memorizing a bunch or formulas, instead he wanted to see if we were able to apply the formulas properly. I thought that this was a great tactic because it helped me as a student realize what is important to focus on in education, which is to apply my knowledge not just attain knowledge. Anyway, there were many times when students somehow got the answers to the tests and spent the night programming the answers into their calculators because they knew the teacher wouldn’t check their calculators as they were allowed to program whatever formulas they want. These students put in a lot of hard work in programming all those answers into their calculators, even more work than I did actually studying the material. The students imputing all the answers into their calculators hard work and my hard work studying was only different in one way, they were cheating.
Sure there were students who got much better grades than me in physics class but I feel that I gained more from that class than any of the students that cheated did. This is because I was working towards knowing everything that I was taught whereas the students were only concerned with showing that they knew everything that was taught. It is the same deal with steroids. If I want to be able to bench press 600 pounds but without steroids I cannot get 500 lbs up and I’ve worked as hard as possible then I should be content in the fact that I did everything in my power to try to put up that 600 lbs, but I feel short. When I take steroids I am overlooking the work I am capable of doing and only focusing on just putting up 600 lbs. As John Wooden said in his book Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court, “Too often we neglect our journey in our eagerness or anxiety about reaching the goal.” As people, and I think American’s are the best example, we are so worried about becoming perfect that we would compromise ourselves by taking a shortcut in our journey towards that perfection.
I want to know what is it that fuels this neglect. There are multiple things that drive people to neglect the correct path (the path that will bring true happiness) towards perfection. The first thing that is so prevalent in the world today is unhealthy competition. Now I am a basketball coach, so I am an advocate for competition and I believe it is the only way that one can improve but there is both healthy and unhealthy competition. Healthy competition arises from doing your best to become as successful as you are capable of becoming but also willing to accept the outcome of your best effort.
What I see within the capitalist mindset of many people today is an unhealthy approach to competition. Unhealthy competition is fueled by the desire to be better than the next person. Unhealthy competition arises when a person directs their attention away from themselves and puts it on the success of others. Comparison is what drives people towards unhealthy competition. Success and happiness will always be a personal matter and can never be determined by another person yet in the world we are always determining what, where and who we are by comparing ourselves to others.
To use a relevant current event we can look at Jeremy Lin. Many people are saying that the Warriors were stupid for letting Lin go last season. When the president of the Warriors was approached with the attack of, “what it the world were you thinking letting this guy go,” he replied that he already had a point guard, Stephon Curry. He then proceeded to ask the person who would he rather have as a starting point guard, Stephon Curry[1] or Jeremy Lin[2]. The person who posed the question silently moved on.
So who is the better point guard and why the heck was the Warriors office so stupid as to let Jeremy Lin go? The answer is that none of these questions matter. The fact is that Jeremy Lin and Stephon Curry both have shown success as starting point guards and who are we to judge the success of either of them. The Warriors are where they are now and the Knicks are where they are now and that is the way it is. As long as both teams and both players are doing everything in their power to be the best teams/players they care capable of becoming than they are both successful. Healthy competition would allow for the success of all parties involved.
Another thing that steers people off the correct path on the journey towards perfection is poor self-image. I think that this is one of the driving forces for steroid use outside of athletics. People want to portray themselves as something that they are not and so they artificially produce the results they want even if it may compromise their character. Whenever I think about self-image I think about the fact that I am not better than anyone but I am just as good as everyone. Poor self-image again is usually developed by comparing ones self to another. The fact is that you are who you are and he is who he is and you will never be him, so there’s no use to pretend or even try to be him. Too many people want to be something that they are not so they will forever struggle with self-image. The only time you can ever develop a healthy self image is when you accept who you are, accept your shortcomings, and walk down your personal path to perfection. You can always try to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes, but no matter how perfectly you followed directions you will end up in a different place.
The last thing that I would like to discuss that drives people to neglecting their proper path is selfishness. Steroids are a drug and when abused can have the same effects on others that drugs such as alcohol or marijuana have on others. The drug becomes an obsession for the person taking it and can lead to the destruction of relationships and trust because the selfish drive of taking the drug.
For example, a wife may not want her husband to take steroids because it is illegal and the husband agrees. After a couple weeks the husband is exhausted like he’s never been after his workouts and seems to be getting weaker, which would all make sense because he is no longer taking steroids. In many cases I feel that the husband would then turn, because of his selfish nature, back to steroids and maybe secretly start taking them again. This was one of the examples in the documentary. A drug like steroids develops a selfish obsession with strength, body image and being better than everyone else. Using steroids for any purpose other than to cure a chronic or mortal disease is a completely selfish act.
I want to talk about America for just one second and think about why steroids are so prevalent in the culture of America as compared to other nations. The obvious reasons could be the wealth of Americans, the emphasis on image in America, or the competitive capitalistic mindset. What I believe is the driving force of Americans to take steroids is their undying desire to control everything and everyone. It is the same reason why America is a country obsessed with war.[3]
Many Americans would consider taking steroids in sport as wrong, but would have no problem with someone taking steroids outside of sports. There was a point in the documentary when they interviewed some military pilots that use drugs to focus and hone their concentration while flying. The comment that one of the pilots made when asked why he thought it was wrong for athletes to use steroids but it was ok for him to use them, his answer was something like, “because in sports there are rules but in war there are no rules.” This is the mindset of American competition in general.
Americans don’t see competition as a sport; Americans see competition as a war. Like Kendrick Lamar says in Ronald Reagan Era, “Cant detour when you at war with your city…When you fight/ don’t fight fair/ cuz you’ll never win.” This is the mindset of American’s that has been taught to us throughout the generations, and it is what I see defining Americans as a society. We have the power to fight unfair and unjust battles and we do just so we can exert our power. We selfishly flex our muscles to the world to show that we are better than anyone else and we are willing to do anything to stay better than anyone else whether it goes against the rules or not.
The steroid issue is one that brings together so many problems and issue that can be debated and discussed. When weighing the reasons for and against steroids for their physical effects, I think anyone would decide to take steroids. The problem I find with steroids are the forces that drive people towards takings steroids and those are to gain an unfair advantage over everyone else, because they have a poor self image and feel they are not strong enough to overcome their shortcomings without steroids, and because people are just plain selfish. I think that it is sad that any culture or persons would defend the use of steroids in any circumstance. I think that instead of producing strong people, steroids instead just exemplify the weakness of the individual.
If any of you reading this have any input on what you feel about the issue of steroids I would love to hear what you think.


[1] Who has had steady and consistent success as a starting point guard
[2] Who just recently exploded and is having a brilliant run of games at starting point guard for the Knicks
[3] Which is one characteristic of a totalitarian government, but that’s for another time.

Friday, February 17, 2012

Random thoughts


So as of late things in Goma have been pretty slow. Our courts are not yet finished because work has been delayed and retooled, the kids are taking exams so they find little time to come train, and the league (championat) postponed the beginning of the season 3 weeks (at least I hope it begins in the 3 weeks) because of disorganization. This time of the year was supposed to be the busiest and most exciting, but TIA and disorganization has turned February (Fevrier) into a lull. I hope that things start falling in to place, as I have been working so hard for everything, so that I can have some interesting and exciting updates for everyone.
So because there is nothing really going on within PJB except for some great ideas, but nothing material as of now, I decided I would use my time to write about current events from the perspective of me. My situation doesn’t allow me to hear about, see, or discuss anything going on in the world to any grand extent. So here are my thoughts, two cents, and knowledge about what is going on outside of Northeast DRC:

1.     JEREMY LIN- Here is what I wrote about Lin last weekend:

 “I will start with this because this morning I woke up at 3 AM to watch the Lakers vs. Knicks on the TV. We arranged specially to have a generator going so we could watch the game. Earlier in the week I had read about Jeremy Lin exploding in his first game starting with like 25 points and 6-8 assists. I wasn’t too surprised because I have always thought of Lin as a very good player. He’s smart (Harvard WHATUP!…… Asian WHATUP!), he can shoot, he can pass, and he doesn’t play out of his element, I actually had been waiting for him to get an opportunity to play because I thought he could be a solid backup point guard for a very good team.
Then I watched the game and found out that this little Asian is on a terror. Four games as a starter, four games with over 20 points, and four wins. Then I watched as he sliced and diced the Lakers for 38 points. Man, I know I’m Korean (and white), but I am starting to feel some Asian pride.
My prediction for the future of this stud: He will continue to dominate, and end up winning MVP. He will be so valuable that NYC will end up trading Amare, Chandler and Baron Davis to snatch up Dwight, and we will see the new big 3- Melo, Lin, and Howard beating out the Heat in the Eastern Conference finals. Then they will play out a hard fought series in the Finals and Lin will hit a 3 with 15 seconds to go in Game 5 to stun the heavily favored Thunder to become World Champions. LIN= Finals MVP.
Last thought on the topic: If anyone sees the shirt that the guy at the end of the game was wearing, “All I do is Lin, Lin, Lin” you have to cop it for me. I need that shirt!”


2.     GOP- So its hard to be political when you haven’t heard anything about the country that you are discussing the politics of in over 5 months, but even if Obama were to go to war with Iran, have an affair with Emma Watson (is there any other woman you know so cute and innocent?), personally torture and interrogate every inmate at GITMO, and kick all immigrants out of the country, I still think I’d vote for him. Rick Santorum? Mitt Romney? I am very ignorant actually on the topic of American Politics, but the GOP should come up with a candidate that isn’t ignorant about every aspect of life. Really it blows my mind how anyone could be so blind, and the sad thing is it is a great deal of American people. Just thinking about having to return to America for the elections makes me think about never going back to America because of how much I hate the politics.

2a. As a supplement to point two I have these lyrics from Joe Budden, “If you closed minded/ I call that an emergency/ blind fold yourself as if there’s nothing more to further see./ Honestly that’s absurd to me/ if the sky’s the limit/ then where’s the urgency/ I embrace life/ I’m so care free/ and I wont judge yall/ if you don’t care to be./ Just know that no matter who you are/ the right system can turn a role player to a superstar.

3.     News Channels- I hate to say it, but I think that the French even do news better than the US. I will never chose to watch CNN, Fox News (I guess I would never watch that channel anyways), MSNBC or any other American news channel after being spoiled over here with France 24, BBC World, and Aljazeera.

4.     Superbowl- There is probably nothing that Eli Manning could ever do to ever gain back my respect, but he did it again and deserved MVP. None of that is important though because Madonna killed it at half time with her incredibly homosexual yet outstanding performance, with the help of my girls Nicki and MIA.

5.     College Basketball- I was able to catch a replay of the Duke-UNC game last week… what an incredible game. Rivers was outstanding, Zeller played like a pro, and Barnes quietly had one of the best performances of the night (if rivers hadn’t gone off). My two cents though, Kendall Marshall could be the most valuable asset that any team in the NCAA has right now. His passing ability and the way he controls the game impresses me more than any point guard in the world right now.
I also got to watch Michigan State beat Ohio State last week, and I have been watching a lot of early season games that I downloaded while in Europe and I have just a couple observations. I think that in this year’s tournament teams that rebound well, have big guards and get out in the break will cause havoc. This year’s tournament will not be like any other years… I guess kind of like last years tournament, but even more so this year. If we look at the success of teams like VCU and Butler in the tournament last year we see Butler, who rebounded the ball (offensively and defensively) extremely well and played great transition defense, and VCU, who had big strong veteran guards and a team that could run with the best of them. I can see surprise teams like Butler and VCU in the tournament again this year, but these mid-major teams are looking to me to be teams like Wichita State, Cleveland State and Temple (Fernandez will fight to the end of his career).
These are just some ideas I have, and we’ll see who even shows up in the tournament, but I am becoming more and more of a believer in teams that rebound and teams that have good guard play. Right now my 4 best teams in the country have to be Kentucky, UNC, Michigan State, and Mizzou because of these two aspects of their games. Sure Syracuse, Duke, and OSU have star studded and very successful teams and coaches, I think that they will fall in their conference tournaments and the national tournament because of small flaws in their games. OSU I think will be an early out because of their lack of depth, their inconsistent guard play, and their sometimes stagnant offense. I think Duke relies too much on the 3 point arch which is a death wish unless they can have a miracle run and finally I think ‘Cuse has all the pieces, good rebounders, quick guards, strong guards, shooters, and shot blockers, but I just don’t see them putting it all together into the complete game yet.
We will see, but right now my prediction for Cinderella’s are Wichita St. and Cleveland St. and my locks are UNC, MSU, and Kentucky. Man I could talk college basketball all the time and be content in life.


6.     Opportunity- “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” At PJB we just got word that one of the girls from our program was selected by Disney and the Jane Goodall Institute to visit Orlando, Florida for a young leaders conference. She will go in April for a week to visit Disney World (or Land, whichever one is in Florida) and attend conferences, award ceremonies, and we even set up two NBA games for her to go see. It is very very exciting for this young girl and PJB as an organization to know that our players are exhibiting what it takes to be considered young leaders of the world.
As I think about how happy I am, and I saw how happy this girl's parents were for the opportunity, it really got me thinking about opportunity. This opportunity for this girl is once in a lifetime. For the youth of Congo going to America is a dream that is rarely fulfilled. You can’t imagine how many people, young and old, have told me that they would give everything just to go to America. Yet I see these same people falling in to the same routine of being late, lying, cheating, stealing, and making excuses for their life. They are being lazy and not making the best of their opportunities.
I think about it and my conclusions before were that these people are never given the opportunity. They are born in to a life where their opportunity is zero, but this is not correct. In every persons life arises opportunity of some cost. It is what people chose to do with that opportunity which determines who they will become. People must take personal responsibility for their life and what they make of their opportunities. That’s why I like the quote above. If life is about finding yourself, then you don’t have any personal responsibility for the way your life turns out, but if you chose to create yourself then you take that responsibility upon yourself to determine who you will become. You determine who you will become by what you make of your opportunities.
I am very proud of this girl because over many conversations I have had with her through the travel planning process I see that she is on board with this idea. She is not taking for granted this amazing opportunity she has and I know in my heart she will milk it for what it is worth. This girl I have been talking about is the same girl that I wrote about in my first post from Goma. She posed the question to me the first day I arrived at the basketball courts, “Will you give us your best?” If you have read my blog you know that it is a question that has really defined my trip to Congo. I am learning more and more that when we give our best  and make the most of the opportunities we are given we can accomplish anything.

So that is my take on what is going on and what has been dominating my thoughts lately. I will update as soon as there are some new happenings at PJB. PEACE!

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Hate and American X


I just finished watching the movie American History X. I have mixed feelings about it. I think that I liked the movie a lot, but I hesitate to say it because of what the movie is. What the movie is hate personified in such a real way that it is sickening. I think that I liked the movie though because it portrayed hate the way that it must be portrayed.
            I like the way that the movie ends with Danny saying, “hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. Its just not worth it.” That is the way the movie portrays hate, which is how it must be portrayed. Was the movie an exceptional story that would only happen in the most outrageous of situations? Yes. Do those situations occur in real life? Yes, but I will never accept that my world can be a world that would ever allow the events that take place in the movie to occur. The only way in which things like the prejudices and violence in American History X can occur is in a place which hatred exists.
            Hate is a force, which can arise in so many situations. Environment, prejudices, conflicts, politics, emotion, and religion all can create or birth hatred within one’s heart. Hatred, real and deep hatred develops deep within someone before it is even noticed. In the movie it shows that its not even just anger that creates hatred, but it grows from ideas and actions taught to us, which are exemplified during times of uncontrollable and illogical anger.
            Many times I would never focus on anger, hatred, malice, because they aren’t things that I like to dwell on. You may say that I hate hate, but in the past couple hours since watching the movie I have been trying to understand hate, and I don’t want to come at it from a love perspective, because I feel like I always try to look at things from the optimist side of things. I really want to try to understand hate because as I mentioned earlier I will never accept my world to allow hatred to manifest itself like I see it in the world today.
            I feel as if my ignorance of hatred comes from my inability to stay or even be mad. I think that it is a learned ignorance in me through being raised shown only love; I was never paralyzed by anger or hatred. I was never given the opportunity and I was never put in the situation where I could be hurt to the extent of hatred, which is paralyzing.
            I see around me what people might call “hell on earth.” I live in a town which recently (within the past 10 years) was almost completely destroyed by a volcano, and what was not destroyed was and is continuing to be manipulated by the ongoing conflict (some still call it a war) among the people of the area. Yet through all the destruction, all the lives lost, all the poverty, all the struggle, and all the hopelessness, I see very little hatred. So what is hatred, and why does it exist in this world that I call home? How can I rid my home of this disabilitating state?
            In American History X, and what I can see a lot of in American society is that fear and anger cripple people with hatred. I think to myself where does this fear and anger come from? The answers, which become known to me through (not true, but to some extent true) stories such as the movie American History X, or even one of my favorites, Crash. This fear and anger come from the preconceived notions of what we don’t know (ignorance), the misinformed assurance of those notions (media, politics and religion), and the absence of resources and motivation to overcome that fear and anger (laziness).
            In the world there are so many examples of people who take what they hear and write it on their heart with permanent ink. Examples are seen in many people’s religious beliefs (which has nothing to do with their faith) and in their social expectations. When these beliefs and expectations that one holds so dear are challenged and discredited is when anger arises and a person can be blanketed with the darkness of hatred. Closed-mindedness fuels hatred.
            I feel that hatred manifests itself not only where love has been subdued but where thinking stops. Perfection is not the only thing that comes from clear eyes and a full heart. When your eyes and mind are clear you are able to think rationally and critically. If a person can think with an open mind, a clear mind then they will never be closed off by anger and hatred. If a person can have a heart full of love then hatred can never make manifest within their being.
            Hatred not only paralyzes life, it destroys it. Hate is destroying the life of our planet. The heart and mind of humanity is closed and clogged with the anger that can only create hate within the being of us all. Humanity must open its mind and heart to the love and knowledge that can abound yet only when it is allowed to make manifest.

“Hate is baggage. Life’s too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it... “We are not enemies but friends. You must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, they must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell and again touch as surely they will be by better angles of our nature.”- Danny from American History X

Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. –MLK

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it”- MLK



Thursday, February 2, 2012

Why Do I Coach? (Part 1)


I want to be somebody to someone. When I stop living for others and start living for myself, my life will loose its purpose and meaning. No day is complete until you can do something for someone without expecting anything in return. It is more important to give life than to live life, but you give life by the way you live life.

I want to give my life through sport not to sport. I want to give my life to coaching so that through my life I can give others the education that I received through doing what I love most, playing sports. Sport has taught me that nothing can be attained until you first lose something. No championship is won until each and every player on a team loses their pride for the good of the team. No progress is made unless one loses their time and effort to growth. Love cannot manifest until one loses their heart to the people and things that they want most. I want to lose myself for the purpose of others.

To lose myself I must give myself, or I must be stolen away. I will not allow myself to be stolen by the things of this world such as material things, money, drugs or pride. These things can come as a thief to steal your soul. I give myself fully so that I may not be stolen away. In this way I can lose myself for the things that will make the world a better place, instead of being lost to those things which are destroying it. These things which I will give my being to include integrity, truth, passion, love, industry, and peace.

As Marianne Williamson said, “as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people the permission to do the same.” As I give to others I give others the example to do the same. As the light of my love shines on all, so all can love in the same way. As people see the joy and happiness that giving brings me they will consciously or unconsciously do the same. This is how modeling is done. This is how to be somebody to someone.

As a coach I am a role model to those I coach but also everybody I come in contact on a day to day basis. This is a large responsibility but one that I am willing to die for, one that I am willing to give my whole being to. Though my success will be measured by wins and losses, my life will be measured by how the world has changed because of my presence. If I live my life to change the world I will win the ultimate crown, and that will make me a success. That success will be the satisfaction in knowing that my mind is clear because I gave you all and that my heart is full because you were perfect.