Human Definition

Should we be defined by our careers? To a point, I suppose, but generally no. Even then, where our jobs may be of great importance, can what we do for a living be as important as what we do among family and friends in our personal lives?

Don't get me wrong: work is necessary, just, and holy itself when seen as a way to glorify God through the talents He has given us and by our efforts to use them wisely and well. Yet I would rather be known as a good Catholic and decent human being than a guy who knows a few things about drain snakes. Anyone can learn that. But only I can be the me who acts rightly and treats others well.

I think that's what gets lost in the recent Harrison Butker speech. We shouldn't care per se about the degrees we've earned or the jobs we hold. They're mere means to an end. One ESPN reporter (I'm too lazy too look up who she is or what she said exactly) remarked that the sportsball network won't be beside me on my deathbed but my family and friends will. That's because she's more important to them than her career may be.

This of course applies to men and women alike. And it requires decisions which the individuals involved in given situations have to sort out for themselves. But career versus family? That decision shouldn't even be close. Prioritize you life well, and don't be defined by the less important things in this world.

Wide world of chessboxing

Okay folks, I am now officially proclaiming that we have gone too far. The sports industry, and sports are an industry rather than a diversion (they have been for a long time and I for one will argue that that is not good), is out of control to the point of having become a joke upon itself.

Things such as frisbee and cornhole now get airtime on ESPN. Really? These are games which are fit for little more than recreation at family reunions. I won't even get into competitive eating...all right, I have, and will further. It's an affront to all things good in the world and an insult to poor and hungry. Quite bluntly, it mocks them. Now added to all this inanity is the up and coming 'sport' of chess boxing, or chessboxing.

I had to look it up; it just seemed too thoroughly oddball to be true. Even though I caught a few minutes of it on ESPN2 yesterday, I wondered if perhaps it was a joke. Perhaps ESPN and the Onion had formed a faux sports entertainment business. Yet apparently it's, uh, well, I hesitate to say legit. But apparently it is popular in some parts of Europe.

You box a round, then play a game of chess. Then you box again, then play chess again. Somehow results are correlated and one or the other, I guess athlete, wins. Honest. You can win instantly by knockout or checkmate, by the way. Describing that as strange undercuts the definition of strange, methinks.

I believe that prizefight boxing is immoral anyway (as the direct intent is to actually hurt a fellow human being rather than prevent him from obtaining a goal of some sort) but still; chess boxing? It's the world turned upside down. It does not speak well of our human capacity for decadence. I ask seriously: why do we need such bizarre entertainment?