"He who loves til the end, will be saved."
Our world is driven by pleasure. And with that comes selfishness. And further along coldness.
In this world, we have been given a heavy burden, granted. We spent half our lives if not all of it running away from whatever our realities are and into entertainment, distraction, or some other form of just "getting away". At times we go to drugs, quantity of acquaintances, consumerism, etc.
How be it that we gloat over another's misfortunes?!
In America, one of our favorite sources of "getting away" is through entertainment. The end of summer isn't as bad as it sounds because with fall comes FOOTBALL. For a few hours, we do get distracted and entertained by 21st century gladiators.
But today, a line was crossed.
Matt Schaub is the quarterback-football's premier position-for Houston's Texans. His job demands that he use his superior athletic abilities to please people who idolize the game. At times, pressure to perform is heavy, like many other occupations. The fact that he works in an industry that allows its employees to be paid exorbitant amounts of money should not objectify a man with a family, with obligations, with feelings, and emotions.
Matt Schaub had been having a rough month at work. By the profession's standards, he was failing, and you could see he was fighting the spirit of doubt, in spite of having succeeded in the past. The pressures and burden of this life at times can be overwhelming, and it was and is no different for Matt Schaub. However, in today's game vs St.Louis, things only got worse for the Texans' quarterback. Schaub suffered what looked to be a serious leg injury.
There lied Matt Schaub, wounded. Not only his spirit but now also his body.
Advocates of coldness, idolizers of "getting away", applauded and were pleased by another man's misfortune.
Ruthlessness is nothing new. Fans have committed heinous crimes against "celebrities" but usually-not to take away from the seriousness of gloating-against the "other" team's players.
Talk about adding salt to a wound...
Matt Schaub, a man created in the image of God just like you and I, had to sit there and endure the excruciating, humiliating experience of being spat upon simply because he threw 4 pick 6's. Oh, the tragedy of an INT! It doesn't matter that the now beloved backup did the same thing a few plays later.
Perspective people!
What matters is we are cold. We are willing to objectify pro-athletes because they have large amounts of money and fame so much so that we see them as infallible. And because we want what they have, we envy them and need them to fulfill all of our needs of "getting away" by being successful at what they do, and by OUR standards.
We can try to justify the actions of fans so caught up in a moment, but that's another story.
I do not know Matt Schaub personally. But I can only imagine how tough it must be to endure what he has gone through.
Father, be with Matt Schaub, because You're good at showing us how that which we love more than You at times, Life, is so secondary.
Amen.
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