Day 2 box score

So 2012 is already about at it’s halfway point, so reflecting back on what has passed from the year I decided to put up my stat sheet for the past 6 months. I was struggling hard to write… not find inspiration to write because I have too much of that. What I am really searching for is time and the ability to organize my thoughts, feelings, and experiences enough to present them logically to you all so that you can follow my life. I’m struggling at even keeping up with myself though… so good luck.

Matt’s Box Score:

GP	CV	ME	TVSF	BR	BPW	BGW	JA	JO	MM
130	5(±8)	$1350	7±30	7	14	±150	53	0	∞

            For those of you experienced in statistics I’m sure you can read that box score no problem. For the rest of you I think that I can break down each category for you so you can understand my statistics. Each day I will write for one of the statistical categories so that this blog post doesn’t end up being 15 pages long. I also want to get back into the groove of writing, so if I can write every day for the next 10 days I hope I can get back on track.

More important than understanding the quantity of the stats is to understand the quality of the stats, just as it is in basketball. Kobe Bryant had a couple 40-point games against the Thunder in the past round of the playoffs, but the Lakers lost in 6 games. On the other hand, the Heat are 6-0 so far in the playoffs when Lebron scores 30 or more points, and the Heat are 3 games away from the NBA playoffs. I think that Lebron is having a much more quality playoffs than Kobe had (or has ever had, but that’s another discussion) even though Kobe may have had better numbers in his short playoff stint. So now that you have seen my numbers, I would like to break them down so that hopefully you can understand the quality of my life in the past 6 months.

CV= Countries Visited

            This one is pretty self-explanatory. Since January 1^st of 2012 I have been in five different countries. My brother and me like to try and keep count of the countries we are really allowed to say we’ve been to[1] and here are a couple of our rules:

1. You have to leave the airport
2. You have to remember some part of the trip- meaning that you cant count places that you went to when you were 2 years old because you cant possibly remember that trip.

… And that’s really about the extent of our rules.

            Anyway, according to our rules I have spent time in 5 countries since the year began. At New Years I was in Ankara, Turkey then returned to Goma, DRC where I was living. While in Goma we took two weeklong trips to Kigali, Rwanda. On May 1^st, I moved from my home in Goma back to the states. I flew back to Chicago to spend time with my best friends for a little bit.

            I lived up my time in Chicago with my beautiful girlfriend Sophia, and my studly little brother Aaron. I felt like each day I spent with them got better and better. For the week and a half I was there I felt like I was in a dream.

            After a week and a half in the states I came to where I am now, Shanghai, China. I am here to visit my sister and brother-in-law as well as work a bit as a substitute teacher and basketball coach. I have been here now for 3 awesome weeks, and I’ll take a second to really write about my time here:

Being in Shanghai has been great, but it’s probably not the same kind of experience that a lot of people have when they travel here. From the moment I got off the plane I felt like I was in familiar territory (Even though I have only been here once before for an APAC volleyball tournament). The city of Shanghai reminds me a lot of my hometown of Seoul, its just dirtier, is missing the beautiful mountains, and has infinite foreigners.

The reason I have been so comfortable here though is because of my family here. My sister and Ben (Brother-in-law) have a great little apartment, which I immediately felt at home in. The first day I was here I came in to work with Ben and KK just to chill and see their school, but I was put right to work as a substitute TA in the elementary school.

Now I know I am writing this pretty informally and it might not sound that crazy, but I was the substitute TA for the Pre-Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Borden. The funny thing about that is that when I was 4 years old Mrs. Borden was my pre-K teacher[2]r. So in the first day of me being in China I felt at home even in the classroom I was substituting in.

Anyway, that was just the first day and I could ramble on about my time here in China, but I will move on. Just want to write that I am having the time of my life with my big sis and bro just working, exercising, cooking, and just doing what it do in the Big Shezzy.

            So that goes through my past 6 months of travel and life. In the box score you can see that I have a ±8. For those of you less math literate than me that symbol is plus-minus or the confidence interval.[3] Anyway, I added the plus-minus because I have visited other countries, but they don’t fall in line with me and my brothers rules, and others were within 2 weeks of the 130 day (now 131 day) period that I am writing about. In my travels I spent over 15 hours in the airport in Kampala, Uganda and about 7 hours in the Brussels, Belgium airport. Though this doesn’t count within my rules of visiting a country, I technically visited these countries, so that accounts for a ± right?

            So that’s two of the eight extra countries. In the two weeks leading up to New Years Eve, my parents treated me and my brother to a great cruise and trip through Bavaria and Eastern Europe. The two-week trip included Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. I decided I could count these in the ± category as well because I feel like bragging about my awesome trip. (:P)

            That accounts for six of the eight extra countries, so what are the other two? Next Friday, June 8^th (the last day of this blog series) I will be traveling from Shanghai to Riga, Latvia to coach some basketball. Again, even though I haven’t traveled this yet, I am still counting this trip to again brag about how awesome my life is. On the 8^th I fly from Shanghai to Riga, but with a 15 hour layover in Moscow, where I very much intend to leave the airport and indulge in Kremlin, Vodka and Borscht before getting back on the second leg of my flight from Moscow to Riga. So that will be two more countries that I hope to add in the next week or so.

            I have been blessed to have traveled so much in my life and even more so, so much in the past 6-7 months. Even though I am pretty much completely broke (stay tuned in the box-score for more on that) I have still had great opportunities to travel and live a life way outside of my expense range. I could spend hours and hours and pages and pages on this topic, but I will put you out of your misery now.

Special shout out to the Ju$t Cuz Thugs. HOOODY HOO

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[1] The way my siblings and me grew up in Seoul, Korea gave us the unique opportunity to travel all over the world. As we have each grown up we have continued that same love for traveling and seeing the world. I don’t know when the last time me or any of my siblings have spent more than 8 months straight in one country. I don’t say any of this to brag, but instead acknowledge that I understand and appreciate the great blessing I had growing up to travel and see the world. I also appreciate the love for travel that I continue to have which is opening my eyes to the world.

[2] Think about that… How small a world is it that I would show up in Shanghai and the day I do I am called in to substitute for my pre-kindergarten teacher from my school in Seoul, Korea.

[3] That’s right get on my level or die.

Year's stats

So 2012 is already about at it’s halfway point, so reflecting back on what has passed from the year I decided to put up my stat sheet for the past 6 months. I was struggling hard to write… not find inspiration to write because I have too much of that. What I am really searching for is time and the ability to organize my thoughts, feelings, and experiences enough to present them logically to you all so that you can follow my life. I’m struggling at even keeping up with myself though… so good luck.

Matt’s Box Score:

GP	CV	ME	TVSF	BR	BPW	BGW	JA	JO	MM
130	5(±5)	$1350	7±30	7	14	±150	53	0	∞

            For those of you experienced in statistics I’m sure you can read that box score no problem. For the rest of you I think that I can break down each category for you so you can understand my statistics. Each day I will write for one of the statistical categories so that this blog post doesn’t end up being 15 pages long. I also want to get back into the groove of writing, so if I can write every day for the next 10 days I hope I can get back on track.

More important than understanding the quantity of the stats is to understand the quality of the stats, just as it is in basketball. Kobe Bryant had a couple 40-point games against the Thunder in the past round of the playoffs, but the Lakers lost in 6 games. On the other hand, the Heat are 6-0 so far in the playoffs when Lebron scores 30 or more points, and the Heat are 3 games away from the NBA playoffs. I think that Lebron is having a much more quality playoffs than Kobe had (or has ever had, but that’s another discussion) even though Kobe may have had better numbers in his short playoff stint. So now that you have seen my numbers, I would like to break them down so that hopefully you can understand the quality of my life in the past 6 months.

GP= Games Played-

            I like to think of my life as a game. I know it is cliché, but I want you to read this poem. Ever since I have read this poem I have seen my life as a game:

This is your first game, y child. I hope you win.

I hope you win for your sake, not mine.

Because winning is nice.

It’s a good feeling.

Like the whole world is yours.

But, it passes, this feeling.

And what lasts is what you’ve learned.

And what you learn about is life.

That’s what sports is all about. Life.

The whole thing is played out in an afternoon.

The happiness of life.

The miseries.

The joys.

The heartbreaks.

There’s no telling what’ll turn up.

There’s no telling whether they’ll toss you out in the first five minutes or whether you’ll

stay for the long haul.

There’s no telling how you’ll do.

You might be a hero or you might be absolutely nothing.

There’s just no telling.

Too much depends on chance.

On how the ball bounces.

I’m not talking about the game, my child.

I’m talking about life.

But, its life that the game is all about.

Just as I said.

Because every game is life.

And life is a game.

A serious game

Dead serious.

But that’s what you do with serious things.

You do your best.

You take what comes.

You take what comes

And you run with it.

Winning is fun.

Sure.

But winning is not the point.

Wanting to win is the point.

Not giving up is the point.

Never being satisfied with what you’ve done is the point.

Never letting up is the point.

Never letting anyone down is the point.

Play to win.

Sure.

But lose like a champion.

Because it’s not winning that counts.

What counts is trying.

            I use and live by this poem way more than I probably should, but I feel like it encompasses the basic principles I live my life by. So the games played in my life are just the days that I am living. Since New Years Eve 2012 it has been 130 days, or I have had 130 games to try for a perfect game. Each and every day I live to be perfect. Though I know that I can never actually be perfect I try to live in a way, which I am constantly learning and improving to reach perfection. Like the poem says, its not being perfect that counts, what counts is trying.

I am blessed to have had 130 beautiful days to live already this year.

Could be My Last

So it’s my last full week in Goma this week. I want to take this opportunity to write about my time here though because with how the internet has been lately, this may be my last post from Africa.

This is more so for me than everyone reading my blog as I’d like to log for myself everything that has happened in these last 8 months, but I am going to just make a bullet pointed list of the things that my organization, Promo Jeune Basket, has been able to accomplish in the past 8 months. I have just been happy to be along for the ride.

1. The whole organization of PJB was reformatted so as to have it organized as a professional basketball program. This includes a board, an administration, and a team of coaches who all work together on a daily basis.
2. We were able to develop two big time international corporate sponsorships (not allowed to name the names) and some local partnerships with other youth initiatives.
3. We built three new basketball courts in the town of Goma. The courts are all designed bigger and better than any existing basketball infrastructure in the whole province of North Kivu.
4. I was able to provide coaching training to the coaches, who in turn I watched grow a lot in their knowledge of the game along with their teaching methods and approaches.
5. The coaches became paid employees of the organization instead of just volunteers as we found funding to pay each coach 150$ a month.
6. We were able to visit the volcano, and the whole group of 10 players and 3 coaches successfully made it up the mountain.
7. We took both a boys and a girls team to Kigali to play international competition and take in the culture of the Rwandese city.
8. We were able to hand out over 30 scholarships. That means that 30 of our kids will be going to school for free this year, which takes off a huge burden on their studies and their families.
9. We entered a boys and girls team into the provincial league. The boys current record is 1-5 and the girls are 2-0. Though 1-5 is a bad record, when have you ever seen an expansion team with a winning record? We are building these teams for the future.
10. Created a PJB calendar, which was professionally designed and printed.
11. Created a new identity for PJB with official logo’s and core values in which the players and organization can ground themselves in.
12. Distributed countless numbers of shoes, basketballs, and meals to the players of PJB.
13. Partnered with a local library and hired a teacher to assist in our educational mission.
14. We moved into an official and permanent office.
15. Many more daily miracles that happened in the lives of our players and coaches as they worked together that cannot be quantified. PJB developed into a family

Overall, I know that my time here has been productive, and it sure has been rewarding. More than any of the accomplishments that we were able to succeed in this year I am forever going to be changed by the relationships I formed with my players, fellow coaches, and local friends. Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? But because I came here, I have been changed for good.

Cerebral Palsy Baller

I was reading an article earlier today about a basketball player in some small town in Michigan who has Cerebral Palsy. He just finished his junior season in which he tallied 11 points over the course of the season. The problem with the boy is that he is 18 and will turn 19 before September 2012, which means that by MHSA rules he is ineligible to participate in athletics during his senior year.

            Currently there are many people that are pushing to make an exception or change the MHSA regulations for this boy because he started school late due to his handicap. At first I was enraged that a boy could be denied the opportunity to play competitive basketball for the last time in his life. He has been given a special opportunity to compete at his highest possible level and he has succeeded. It is sad to hear that his career will have to end before his high school career ends because of a state rule.

            I have been thinking about the story since I read it though, and I have found myself siding with MHSA. I understand that this boy has overcome overwhelming odds to fight cerebral palsy and still make his high school varsity team, but does that mean that he should have the rules bent for him? I understand that there are many other states with exceptions written into their rules regarding age and are successful with it, but this is a rule that should have no exceptions.

            First off I think that if exceptions are written in to the rules it opens up so much room for cheating and controversy. We know that somewhere some kid will have some minute handicap will be held back because he is a superstar and will have an extra year to dominate high school sports. No matter how hard the MHSA would try to cover their backs with the rules, someone would find a way to sneak around the gray regulations. When the regulations are black and white, they are not only fair but they also leave no room for interpretation and walking the line of right or wrong.

            Also, it has been seen through the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, and now the movements of handicaps to gain equal rights within education and the workplace. So, first of all, why should someone with a handicap be given the unfair advantage to play when above the age limit? Doesn’t that put handicap students at an unfair advantage over the rest of us?

            I don’t want to sound cold-hearted because I do feel really sorry for the kid and he is an inspiration to me and probably everyone else that has heard his story. This being said, I don’t feel more sorry for him than I do any of the other 19 year old high school seniors that are ineligible for high school sports. My heart breaks for every athlete who finds themselves in a situation where they can no longer play the sport they love for whatever reason. Some parents chose to start their kids at school late, and some parents are obliged to start their kids in school late, but it both cases the kids is starting school late and both circumstances the kids should be treated the same.

            Im trying to find a good example to compare the situation to, but this is a unique problem occurring. That’s probably why it has struck up such a debate in small town Michigan. I agree with fans, parents and friends that I would love this kid to continue playing basketball on the team. I do not agree that MHSA should bend their eligibility rules for him though. If I have a kid on my basketball team with autism and he cant meet the 2.0 GPA requirement I wont bend the rules for him.[1] Though it is an unfortunate situation I am going against the very essential belief of my being and siding with the ruling organization to say that I don’t think this kid should be able to play next season.

Any thoughts?

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[1] This is a different situation though because I would try to work with the kid and get him tutors to try and get that GPA up, but no matter how hard this kid tries, he can never stay 18 years old for an extra year.

Book Review

“Listen to me, eyes of mine, guard that which is thine” Serbian Folk Song

I just finished reading Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich by Mark Kriegel, and man was it an amazing book. I am a sucker of course for sports stories, and a huge Pistol Pete fan[1], and this book is a sports story about Pistol Pete, so of course I would say it’s amazing. The story goes way deeper than just being a biography and sports story though. The book ties together sports, family, creation, love, and pressure in a way that shows both the glories and the lowest stages of life.

            There was so much I learned from reading this book that I would have to write a book myself just to talk about it all. I can say though that I finished this book in a week. The book is about 320 pages long, and if anyone knows me, usually a book this size would take me over a month to finish. For the first time I know what it is like to pick up a book and not be able to put it down because each and every word kept my eyes glued to the script and my fingers flipping through the pages.

            The first third or so of the book taught me a lot about basketball. Press Maravich, Pete’s dad, is actually as much of a main character in the story as Pete. The story I would say is a true father-son story. The first part of the book focuses on Press who was really one of the early pioneers of the sport of basketball. I learned a great deal about the beginnings of the sport, how Press was a visionary, and really how the sport became what it is today.[2]

            The second bit of the book focuses on Pete. It is interesting the way the book tackles the life of Pete though because it tells the story as a boy who never really was able to escape the expectations of his father. We all know that Pete Maravich is the best college player of all time and one of the best basketball players of all time, but this story isn’t one of glitz and glamour. Pistol Pete’s life was one of a child star. From the first time that Press put a basketball in his son’s hands at age three he would forever be known as the Pistol. The story of Pete is a conflict between a person, from a boy to a man, trying to either accept his role as the Pistol or run away from that same role. The book was a painted a perfect picture of this struggle in Pete’s life that ruined him in the end.

            The last part of the book is Pete’s life after basketball. It involves the death of close family members and the life of new family members. Pete had a very complicated life while he was in the spotlight, but the same complications followed him even as he left basketball. His life playing basketball left him a little off, but he could never be sane without basketball. I like how this last little bit of the book shows the struggles of Pete’s kids living in “The Pistol’s” shadow. The way the book is written you almost feel sorry for the kids, but you end up almost proud of the kids as if they were your own.

            The book is more than just a portrait of a basketball family. It is a portrait of the struggles faced when living, or trying to live “the American dream.” It is a portrait of immigrant life in the early 1900’s, a portrait of a son constantly chasing the his own shadow which was created by his father, and it is a portrait of a man searching… just searching, for something other than what he was handed in life.

I was expecting to read a book about a basketball hero of mine, and just bask in his amazing-ness as I flipped through the pages. Instead I was put on a roller coaster through the life of a man and his son who developed the game in which my whole life is centered today. The rollercoaster was not the Millennium Force though which finishes with everyone cheering, laughing, smiling, high fiving their friends, and wiping the tears produced by extreme G-forces and pure joy. Instead the roller coaster was The Magnum, a great ride which is exciting and fun, but as you pull back in to the station you push impatiently at your safety bar to get out of your seat because it was a little too tight and the bumps in the ride left you a little queasy and gave you a small headache in the back of your head. This fact is why it was such a great book, because the life of Pistol Pete is one that you would look at from the outside and wish to have, but when you actually saw what rollercoaster his life was you would only ride it once or twice, then get as far away from it as possible.

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[1] Really though… who isn’t? I remember as a kid even before I liked basketball my parents showed me the movie about Pistol Pete. The one that is loosely based on Pete’s 8^th grade season while his dad was coaching at Clemson. If any of you have seen it, especially as a kid, the parts where Pete is dribble blind folded in his basement or spinning the ball on his finger for an hour and flicking it through the hoop at the end, there is no way you couldn’t have fallen in love with the Pistol, or at least the idea of him.

[2] One thing I learned is that Pistol Pete, who was almost a machine built by his father, made the game what it is today. Many people could say that Magic, Bird and Jordan are the ones that changed the game, but basketball today has almost as much to thank to the Maravich’s for as it does Mr. Naismith. The Maravich’s were pioneers of the game, and because of them the game has forever changed.

Recent Struggles

So recently I have been quite down. For anyone that knows me I never get angry, never get depressed, never really get sad, but for some reason I have been down these past two weeks. PJB has really been making strides as we opened up two new courts in town, gave out 30 scholarships to our most deserving players and we even just rented a great new office for a year. So progress is being made for sure, and it is just increasing our potential to become a great basketball academy in Africa.

I have been down though because of the one reason I came to Africa, and that is to coach. I feel like these past couple months I have gotten so caught up in all the other aspects of a good basketball program that I neglected my duty to coach. This neglect also came from the fact that I have been trying to ease off on always coaching, to let the local coaches step into their roles again as head coaches and begin to really thrive from what they have learned throughout the year. My expectations were definitely not met.

Napoleon Bonaparte: “If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”

I had great plans for these last couple months. I would be able to just oversee practices, work on my game as a player and focus on playing for our team as just a player and not a player/coach, and watch the players improve day by day. Instead I saw our boys and girls teams, in exhibition matches, play basketball like a bunch of inmates fighting over a bar of soap. The ball moved around with no purpose as on both offense and defense every player on the floor chased after the ball like it was an autographed picture of Justin Beiber in a crowd of adolescent girls. It was like watching middle school girl’s basketball, no offense to middle school girl’s basketball but you know what I mean.

The games were just evidence of the poor poor job the coaches were doing in teaching the game and if the coaches were doing a poor job that means that I am not doing my job. This is really what brought me down, and last weekend I met my breaking point. It got to a point where I was so stressed and angry I got myself sick. Then I read the above quote by Napoleon. I want the best for these kids and coaches here, so I could just do everything myself. That is definitely something I can do, and of course we will have the results I want because I will be doing everything!

I began planning and forgot about everything else except what I was going to do. I was going to train all the kids starting at 7 AM. I was going to demand the coaches to be at the office all day every day, and make them listen to my teaching all day. If the coaches didn’t do what I say they would just be suspended. That would be easy. That would make them listen, and at the end of the day I would get what I want.

I was ready on Tuesday to go in a lay down the LAW! Then I watched the Terry Fox; Into the Wind documentary from ESPN. This really got me thinking about what kind of leader I want to be[1]. There are many different types of leaders you can be in this world, and I’m not going to get into that lesson, but what kind of leader do I want to be?

There is always the Napoleon type leader who always wants to take things into their own hands. They don’t trust anyone because they are the leader and they are the only ones capable of getting things done. I find myself at times falling into this trap. There are the power hungry leaders, like the one here in DRC, Joseph Kabila, who gives up on their purpose or cause when there is struggle and just use their power to gain wealth and a name for themselves.

Socrates: “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.”

Then there are the leaders that never back down and never give up because they are living for those that they are leading. This is the leader that I want to be. Terry Fox didn’t give up until he died in leading the cause of cancer. He didn’t give up when he lost his leg, he didn’t give up when he saw his efforts to run across Canada produce no fundraising, and he didn’t even give up when he found that he again had cancer that found it’s way into his lungs. Terry Fox was only 22 when he died of cancer, yet he was an example for leaders all over the world. He was a selfless servant to his cause, and in being so he changed the world.

This week I changed. Though pessimism is still alive in my mind I realized exactly what Socrates said, “I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” In the same way I cannot make my coaches change their ways, I can only make them think about something different. I cannot make them come to my daily teaching sessions, but I can show them my commitment to the cause by being there daily. I cannot make the coaches make daily practice plans, and coach off of those plans, but I can do that and show them how effective it is. It is not within my power or my duty to make sure the coaches are always doing exactly what I want them to do, but at least I can try to make them think about basketball and think about teaching in a way that is different than before.

I went into our meeting on Wednesday ready to ream the coaches out for their poor performance. Instead I pleaded my case. I told them that I am here everyday. I came to Goma just to teach basketball and just to teach them. 24 hours a day I will be there for them, to teach basketball, help with their trainings, or just be a friend. If they want to come they can, if they don’t I will still be their friend. But like I wish for them to grow and learn as coaches, I too wish to learn and grow as a coach. I know that I cant do it alone, so I try to call daily meetings and schedule events so that I can grow and learn and experience. I can only encourage that the other coaches to want to learn and grow along with me. If not, I guess it’s my loss along with their loss…

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[1] Just as a side note for those of you that haven’t seen the documentary, it is a must watch. Even though you probably already know the Terry Fox story, the way the doc is put together is great. I just remember the first time I flipped to it on ESPN, it was the last 15 or 20 minutes of the movie. I was with my girlfriend, and within the first 5 minutes of watching it a commercial came on and both of us sat silent, sniffling back tears. The power of Terry Fox’s story, but also the documentary is quite overwhelming.

Cultures of Resistance

“There are two super powers in the world: The United States and Global Public Opinion.”

I just finished watching a documentary called Cultures of Resistance. It has been a movie that I have wanted to look into for a while and I finally was able to watch it. The interesting thing is that Promo Jeune Basket is actually supported by the organization that made the documentary. The organization is now called Cultures of Resistance, but was formerly known as the Caipirinha foundation.

My copy of the documentary had no subtitles, and it is filmed all over the world in different languages. Though I could not understand the words of a lot of the stories, the message was definitely transmitted to me in the strongest way. The message and focus of the movie is the message that we as humans can resist in ways other than violence and war. When there is iniquity and struggle the strongest form of resistance in the human spirit comes from passion and love, not anger and hatred. Violence and war are forms of resistance stemming from hatred and anger. Art, poetry, music, dance, photography and the celebration of the human spirit are forms of resistance that are driven by passion and love. This movie celebrates the latter.

The documentary addresses so many different struggles in the world that I could spend all day writing about each one. The struggles include those in Palestine, Liberia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Iran, and even the DRC just to name a few. Though I am familiar with most of the struggles, I just want to focus on the overall message that I took from the movie. What is stuck in my mind now is the strength that we as human beings attain through resisting, through saying no to atrocities such as war, and how that strength must be the driving force in leading us into the future.

This strength, this force of resistance is what we saw in the recent Arab spring. Though in some cases it resorted to violence, we watched a resistance take place. This resistance wasn’t one of violence though, it was one driven by public opinion and desire to see a better life for each and every person. The resistance of the people in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and the many other countries standing up against the inequality in their countries was nothing less than inspirational to me.

War leads us down a path to death and destruction. Near the end of the movie they begin to mention the World Peace Day in 2003 when the largest global movement of people (almost 15 million) was recorded in the streets of various cities around the world. They mention a New York Times article where the author wrote, “There are once again two super powers in the world: The United States and global public opinion.” A very powerful message coming from that time period for sure as the United States really represented war as they moved into Iraq and continued fighting in Afghanistan. Though I could go in many different directions with that quote (and rant for hours and hours) I interpret that quote as, “There are two super powers in the world: War and Public Opinion.”

It is the spirit of humans that guide the world into a happy and prosperous future, and public opinion is the mark that the human spirit sets itself within society. So there are two super powers in this world today. One super power is that which we see too often (and is gloried too much within too may cultures) is war, which will eventually end up destroying the world. War has never brought anything good upon the world. The other super power is one that is coming to life in as uncontrollable and immovable movement to make the world a better place and that is global public opinion. This film again is a remarkable document of the way the people of the world are standing up against war and conflict to make the world a better place. It is a film celebrating life, which is the focus of public opinion, and denouncing destruction, which is the focus of war and conflict.

To see what Cultures of Resistance is about go visit, www.culturesofresistance.org, and you can see clips from the movie. You can also see the mini feature that they did on my organization, Promo Jeune Basket. I don’t really know how to portray my thoughts right now except through writing, so while watching the movie I wrote this poem:

Got your face in the pillow you cant breath

You kick and kick and kick but no one can hear you scream

thinking to yourself does anyone care

look around and see that no one is there

stand up to look further You can taste the fresh air

no one is in sight but the air is pristine

your lips begin to move and the truth comes out

look down see millions with their face in the pillow trying to shout

what is it keeping them with their face down?

you begin to yell “with love we swim with war we drown”

Yell and yell and yell until there is no other sound

the kicking ceases as the people take your words into account

Some stand up just to raise their fist

One by one I see the people resist

One by one the crowd begins to multiply

No longer will they lay down and just die

Instead stand and let the truth be their guide

You can feel the movement in your midst

The movement takes form led by the youth

A young boy sheds his bullet-proof

Drops his piece as a symbol peace

Begins dribbling his ball up and down the streets

A young girl takes her pen and writes what she sees

A movement of the young revealing the truth

No longer are our faces down in the pillow

People took the choice to stand and grow

But it wasn’t the kicking and screaming that got us out

It was the realization that love is what life is about

One person inspired many to stand and flout

This is the resistance our culture will show