So Cheating Does Pay...

So it's been a couple of days now since the World Series ended and the San Francisco Giants were crowned champions.  At the risk of sounding like a bitter Dodgers fan, I cant help but wonder what message we are sending to our children.  Something doesn't seem right when a team can have two of its players suspended for using performance enhancing drugs (PED's), yet still be eligible to end up  the ultimate winners. 

If I'm 100% honest, I have to admit that the Giants fielded a great team, and their manager is top notch.  I also understand that whether someone is using PED's or not, it still takes a great amount of skill to hit a breaking ball, or perform at a level worthy of reaching the big leagues.  But what credibility do we have when we tell our kids that "cheaters never win, and winners never cheat" yet, the team that ultimately won, had at least two players who didn't follow the rules of the game? 

I'm not naive, I know that PED's are an issue throughout baseball, not just on the Giants.  Yes, Major League Baseball suspends those players and they are subject to being banned from the game, but in an industry where players are making millions, do the players care?  Do we even care?  As long as our team wins and the drugs are not hurting anyone other than the one using them, can we honestly say we really care if they are using PED's or not.  If I was in charge, any team would forfeit all games they won using a player who cheated.  But, I'm not in charge, of Major League Baseball, so short of boycotting the game, there is nothing I can do.

My real point goes back to how our actions affect our children.  Just watch any youth sport, and see the touchdown dances, the home run trots, and the trash talking after making a basket with a man in your face, and it will become clear to you that they are watching the actions of professional athletes.  We can not control the actions of the athletes our kids want to emulate, but we can control our own. 

So next time we eat some grapes from the produce section at the grocery store without paying, tell our six year old to "tell the lady you are five" so they can eat for free, or leave off a few strokes on our golf game, remember, we are sending a message to our kids that cheating is OK.  If we send that message to them when they are young, lets not act so surprised when  they take the "If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying" mentality in other areas of their lives...

Go Dodgers!

Change Can Be Good!

We order the same thing off the menu, talk to the same people all the time, sit in the same seat at church, wear the same style of clothes...It is so easy to fall into the routine of doing the same thing over and over.  Life can become stale and mundane.  Our daily lives often begin to look like an endless NASCAR race-round and round and round.

I'm watching Madagascar 3 with Ethan, and part of the story line has a circus failing because the animals lost their passion. Marty, the main character convinces the other animals that they have to change, or they will fail.

When we fall in a rut, getting out and making the smallest change seems to be such an impossibility.  How hard does it seem to lose just five pounds, take one class at the community college, or just take a five minute walk around the block?  Yet if we dont change, we will fail.  Fail to live up to our full potential.  Fail to live longer.  Fail to impact others to our fullest potential.  Fail to live life to its fullest.  How often do we wait until we are fired from a job, faced with serious health issues, or faced with divorce papes to make changes in our lives?

So today, make one small change, then repeat the process tomorrow and so on.  What have you got to lose?  Perhaps you will become healthier, learn something new, make new friends, or reignite a passion that you once had.  Change can be very good indeed, but, if you decide that the change was not good, you can always change again, and go back to how you were living.  As I embark on the quest to make changes in my own life, I finish this thought with my favorite line in the movie,  "If I go down in flames, so be it...