Who Are The Victors ?

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I watched the Game (Super Bowl XLI) but not with as much enthusiasm as this fellow...

I never liked playing football as I grew up (loved basket ball, though) but I love watching it (and hate watching basket ball)! I think, since I'm a peaceable sort who would rather we all used non-violent means to resolve difficulties, my willingness to watch the sport is to admire sheer ability and rock-solid determination.

Actually, yesterday's display of rabid enthusiasm, strictly physical ability, and emotional determination had some redeeming qualities:

The Latino community was wonderfully represented in the pre-game show, the fact that the head coaches were black was celebrated (as well as their spiritual predilections and their years-long friendship), and I didn't see one personal fight on the field...

I don't fully understand why violent sports and war still hold such fascination for so many people. Sure they have marvelous examples of individual effort, team spirit, valor, courage, discipline, and determination (all exemplary virtues) but they certainly aren't the only (or best) places to find those virtues.

I'm reading a book now about the history of non-violence and, since we're in the Season for Non-Violence, you can expect to see posts inspired by that history . . .

Tags: "individual effort", "super bowl", "team spirit", black, courage, determination, discipline, football, sports, valor, virtue

Synchronicity & Conflict

Weird things happening of late...
My read is that they're spiritual in origin. But it can be difficult to decide if a string of events is mere coincidence or something more...

Synchronicity is up there in the the title of this post and, for those of you that don't use that word everyday, here's Wikipedia's link to it. And, here's a brief quote from that article:

"It differs from mere coincidence in that synchronicity implies not just a happenstance, but an underlying pattern or dynamic that is being expressed through meaningful relationships or events."

If you've read the last 4 or 5 posts here, you'll see what may be synchronicity in action. This post will focus on just one instance of this train of Related Events:

Yesterday I wrote about Conflict. Right after I posted, my friend walked in the room and asked me to go to an event with him. I was particularly exhausted but felt the event would be interesting so I said, "Yes!".

We arrived and others arrived and the group finally consisted of:
*Two white males in their 60's
*Two black males in their 70's
*Two black females, one in her 70's and one in her 20's
*Two white females, 90's and 60-70s

I was a visitor but all the others were there to talk about Unity--specifically, action to end racism and bigotry in the city.

After a lot of agenda checking and goal and vision talk, one of the men (black) started a rant about the police and fire department's totally lack of racial integration. Everyone else sat there in, what seemed to me, placid acceptance (found out after the event that he was prone to do this).

Suddenly, the other black man challenged him to put up or shut up (his words, however, were mild as milk) and dared him to go the next day to those civil services and do, at least, some investigation of the problem.

Everything calmed down and the man who'd been ranting praised the other guy for being extremely positive! [ Hey, I mean, these were people seeking unity, right? ]

So what happened? Was this mere coincidence--writing about conflict then experiencing it so Dramatically?

Has there been some deeper Spiritual Reason for my week of apparent synchronicity?

My jury's still out on this issue:
but...
please, submit some "evidence" or give some "testimony" in the Comments...
Or, take your concerns over to our BackYard...