Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Fame, Fortune, and Moral Fortitude

I was scouring the web today, and I came across an interesting story about R.A. Dickey - that awesome knuckleballer that the Mets let slide over to the Blue Jays. 

Source link: Blue Jays ace R.A. Dickey fights child sex trafficking in India

So anyways, I read this article and it got the wheels turning. I went to the Passion Conference in Atlanta back on January 1st through 4th. It was an incredible event with a lot of great things said. Also, at the conference, was the small kickoff to the End It Movement (which nationally launches tomorrow, 2/1). The entire premise of the End It Movement is to over the next few months, shine a light on slavery. Ultimately, making people aware that modern day slavery not only exists, but is a way of life for 27,000,000 people in the world today.

To continue, they built this giant cube of screens, and had people take a picture of themselves with Twitter/Instagram and the #enditmovement tag to be added on there as a way of saying "I'm in it to end it." All great and something that needs to be done, because the quickest way to end it, is to make it known. Upon poking around on Twitter, I have seen several famous people who have stuck their mug shot in the feed with a logo (Carrie Underwood, Steve Wozniak, Kyle Korver, to name a few). 

If you have any Gen-X or millennial generational cynicism, you probably have the same thought as me, "It's nice you used your multiple millions of dollars to take a picture with a big red 'X', and I appreciate your help in building the knowledge base (especially prior to the national launch), but you could probably do a lot more with your platform and resources than a silly photo." Now once my cynicism recedes, I really have an affinity for these people doing this still, but it still just seems like the hip thing to do. No one on a platform like that is out there saying, "Yep, I am all for slavery and so happy that it exists." Apple even recently pledged to clean up child labor in their supply chain. It's popular to want to end slavery.

Back to R.A. Dickey. This is a guy doing his part. I am blown away by the generosity this guy has. He is raising awareness and actually taking an active part. He raised money by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. R.A. Dickey is the antithesis of what my cynicism sees in celebrities. A man, who as a child was marred by sexual abuse, has become a beacon of light when he stands up and shines a light on slavery. He is doing exactly what we should be doing.

I am not saying we should all go to Mumbai, or climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. What I am saying, is we should all do our part, to help those in need. It's about being loving, caring, and generous; because at the end of the day, that's what is expected of us. Going a little bit out of your way, can go a long way for someone else. 


“If the organization rescues one human life from that hell, then it has done it’s job in some way,” Dickey said.  


In the same manner, if we can go a little bit out of our way and say one human's spiritual life from hell, or their physical life from hell on earth, we have done our job in some way. 

#ENDIT

BGann

P.S. Random facts on modern day slavery from the End It Movement Twitter.

1 - 27 million enslaved is equal to the population of Florida and Georgia, combined.

2 - Slavery is a $32 billion industry. Making more money each year than Google.

3 - Half of those 27 million are children.

4 - Slave traders will trade people for $90 or less.

5 - 600,000 - 800,000 people are trafficked internationally EVERY year.

6 - Almost 48 people a day are trafficked into the UNITED STATES.

7 - 80% of today's slaves are female.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Anti-Social Nature of Social Networking

We live in a world DOMINATED by "social networking." I use the term loosely as I believe that the name is actually the antithesis on the implementation. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Tumblr, LinkedIn, etc. have completely deconstructed our social beings while making us feel good about ourselves and all of our connections. Even texting as a means of communication as dehumanized communication. Let me explain:

I work in a retail environment where I see many people buying smartphones. I once had an old man say that people are buying smarter phones because they are getting dumber. I totally disagree with his wording, but I understand his premise. We are getting all these new techno-gadgets but not understanding what really happens. 

I am not as big a product of the Facebook generation as my peers. I avoided it in high school (and didn't care to know what I was missing). I feel this helped me to gain a view point as an intermediate between what could've been and what is. I often find myself a better interpersonal communicator than some of my peers and those younger than me. In my retail job, I see kids as young as 12 getting smartphones and checking their Facebook and all of that jazz. What I also see is a lot of 12 year olds that have no idea how to communicate beyond a screen and keyboard.

I will admit, I have 846 Facebook "friends", over 300 combined followers/following on Twitter, 150 on Instagram, and a handful on Google+. However, of these 1,000 connections, I barely know the vast majority of them. It's unlike when you had to have physical conversations with people. Now you can skim your News Feed for 15 minutes and feel you have caught up with all of your "friends" and post your status so that they can catch up too. 

So what this has done is built a communication barrier. Because of this, inter-generational communication has suffered. Interpersonal communication has suffered. However, large group communication has shockingly seemed to increase. People can now speak in front of large crowds easier (maybe they have gotten over embarrassment with their 1000 person digital audiences).

Here's what this boils down to. Your Facebook friends and Twitter followers are more of an audience to the story of your life, than "friends" that you communicate with. If you aren't regularly communicating with people, it's something that you should definitely do. Those bonds are the ones that will last and the ones that will create lasting friendships and not temporary shows for the world to see.

So do it. Call up an old friend, go have lunch with someone, grab coffee with an acquaintance. Let's not let social networking be the death of social communication. While you're at it, it may not be bad to check up on some of those "friends" you have on Facebook and truly network within that web of friends you have created.

BGann

P.S. What some will see as irony - my sharing of this on social media - actually proves the point more. Blogs are less conversation and more dictation and enjoyment reading. It's showing off the audience-like nature of your "friends."

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Transformation of Ray Lewis: Hypocrite or Hero

Sunday, the Ravens clinched a bid to the Super Bowl in Ray Lewis's farewell tour of the year. So I did what any sports fanatic would do (or so I thought), I took to Twitter to congratulate #52 on making it because he is just a great dude. Much to my surprise, the vast majority of people are accusing him of being a hypocrite because he now has this strong faith.

If Ray Lewis is a hypocrite, I may want to be a hypocrite. Let me explain:

For those who don't know, in early 2000, after a Super Bowl party in Atlanta. Ray Lewis was somewhat involved with a group of people found to have murdered a man. There is no consensus over what role Ray Lewis had, but a plea deal where he flipped on the other guys is what ultimately kept him free from jail. The long standing evidence in question, Ray Lewis's white suit from that night, was never found. 

But that's the past. According to the legal system he is innocent, just guilty of obstruction of justice. In the end, we may never know what happened that night but legally Ray Lewis didn't do it. So now to why I say if he is a hypocrite, I wouldn't mind being one:

From that point on, Ray Lewis has seemingly strived to be a better person and has said that his newfound Christian faith has been a part of it. The murder and different women behind him (Lewis has 6 children by 4 women), Ray Lewis is a newer man than what he was years ago.

This transformation is what Christianity is about. We were all once lost and can be found. Christ can take lives and change them for the better. Simply because Ray Lewis had some bad decisions early on, everyone wants to vilify his current persona and achievements. This man is the Christian story on a national stage better than Tim Tebow.

His ascension to stardom and power on the field has made him an easy target. Now he will always have the baggage of some decisions that affected him early on. Finally, whether he did it or not, if he asked God for forgiveness, he has been forgiven. Whatever happened in the past, Ray Lewis today isn't a hypocrite he is a transformed person by the blood of Christ.

If you think Ray Lewis is a hypocrite, label me a hypocrite because I am and want to be transformed.

BGann

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Doped Up Heroes

Today, Lance Armstrong may or may not be shown admitting to doping in his incredible run of 7 straight Tour de France wins. If you believe the reports, he will end the run of his defense against such allegations and finally come clean about really happened. But I keep thinking one thing, why does it matter?

Let me explain, the 90s and beyond have been bad years for athletes and drugs. You had a time in baseball so bad that the era has been named the Steroid Era. You had the ephedrine rush in the late 90s early 2000s that effected the NFL. You continually have the illegal drugs plaguing all sports, but seemingly effecting the NBA the most (most likely fewer players per team than the NFL so it seems to have a bigger effect). Cycling is an incredibly corrupt sport in the realm of drug use. Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin brought it to the track. No sport has a clean drug record, even NASCAR has had two high profile busts.

But this is explicitly about cycling, so let's look at this. From 1998 until 2011, there were 14 Tour de Frances (the Super Bowl of cycling). That would leave 140 top ten spots over the course of those years. Of those 140 top ten spots, 42 have never been accused and at some point found to have used performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) or other illegal substances. That being said, in that time frame 70% have been implicated (and time could add to that number with some of the more recent races). In Lance Armstrong's 7-year run, (70 total spots) there were 12 clean racers, (83% dirty). 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 saw their winners banned for illegal substances. This sport is just rampant with illegal use of PEDs and doping. 

I say that to say this, Lance Armstrong has lied at some point in his career, I will give you that. But this man is still a hero in my eyes. He may not be the moral hero of the century, but this man beat cancer and rose to the top of the sport of cycling. The detractors will say that he only was able to because he was doping, and I would agree. In that time span, NO ONE would have rose to the top (healthy or not) without some level of doping. He competed against his peers that never had cancer and even if he was doping, had done the same thing that they had. 

Scandals aren't new to sports, the 1919 Chicago Black Sox are a prime example of an older scandal. We have created a culture in which win at all costs is the only acceptable approach. There is no end in sight to the doping craze. This problem is here to stay and there is nothing we can do about it. But Lance wasn't alone, he just was the best of the dopers at the time. If he were the only one doped, I would probably have a different view, but he competed against a field of doped athletes.

All of that brings me to my final point. Lance Armstrong is a hero because he beat cancer and inspired millions. I could care less if he is a 7 time winner of the Tour de France or an accountant for a local kite shop in Detroit. What matters is that he opened many doors for cancer research and patients while raising millions of dollars to fund it. He has given us an enemy to fight together and now people just want to hate him because they were tired of him being at the top of the world. I wear my yellow rubber band with pride to know that I want everyone with cancer to have the ability to rise above it like Lance did. 

Is it bad he cheated? - yes
Is it bad he lied? - yes

But in the end, haven't we all lied and probably cheated at some point? However, he didn't have fake cancer or a fake Tour story. He really did it and quite frankly, I don't think i could win it doped. 

So now I hope he comes clean. He will be banned from racing so another Tour run is out, but I hope he can be the face and the story that ultimately provides a way for cleaning up an awful sport. If he can do that, it will mean more that 100 Tour wins and he will reaffirm himself as a hero of cycling one more time.

Livestrong

BGann

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Full Manti of Imaginary Friends

I think everyone has a point in time where they have an imaginary friend. I know I had that stage shortly when I was younger, and it seems everyone goes through it and has at least one imaginary friend (whether imaginary or inanimate is irrelevant, just an imaginary persona). Manti Te'o apparently never outgrew this phase.

For those that aren't caught up on this saga : Deadspin broke this story here.

So, you have this super star football player, who created a fake girlfriend and then killed her off in the middle of his super star senior season, or a super star football player that got duped.

Honestly, I don't know how you can believe Manti didn't create this girlfriend. He at least lied because he said he met her personally at a Stanford football game and vacationed with her to Hawai'i. We now know those to be false stories (mostly because she doesn't exist). It's a shame and though we don't know his reasonings now (I am sure we will learn in the days/weeks to follow), there are some things that we do know at this point.

  • Manti Te'o has a dropping stock in all facets
This guy is already losing future endorsement deals and probably draft stock. Nobody wants this guy promoting your product (unless it doesn't exist) and he has instantly become a liability to whatever NFL team he ends up on.

  • Say it, convince the media, and it shall be
We see this all of the time but it's scary. All Te'o did was convince one ESPN reporter that his girlfriend had died in a car accident, appealed to his emotions, told him to back off out of courtesy, and you had the emotional story of the year. Te'o tugged at the heart strings and if perception is reality, he had a girlfriend and she had died. Welcome to the power the media has, word is reality.

  • ESPN is hating this.
For two reasons. First, they must hate mentioning Deadspin on television as they are nothing in resources to what ESPN has. ESPN was beat to the punch on this one but they also initially reported on Te'o's dead girlfriend. They have two blackeyes after today. They will survive because they are the sports television monopoly, but this hurts their emotional story credibility. Especially when the man who wrote that piece said he had no evidence other than the word of Te'o about her death.

  • A microcosm of our "social" generation

There's another blog post coming down the pike on this in the near future that was already in the works. But essentially it boils down to the fact that the more we social network, the less social we actually are. It was completely believable that Te'o had a girlfriend that no one had ever seen. It also was completely verified that he could show her off in a way because of it. But certainly look for this post down the road.

  • Lance Armstrong is LOVING this
For the first time in a few days, Lance Armstrong is not even being mentioned. The day before his confession airs, he is not the biggest liar in the sports world. Armstrong has been overshadowed because he isn't a relevant cyclist right now and Te'o is on top of the world. This hoax is an awful event because there were a lot of people fooled. The tale of the tape will ultimately reveal who duped whom.

So, I always try to end the blog with some kind of practical application or some takeaway. It's a little harder this time, but simply put - question everything. Don't let people tell you the story through their lens, but simply ask questions and always be awake. You may never know if you are being duped like Manti Te'o alleges he was or like the whole nation was by Manti Te'o as I alleged. 

Be Awake, Be Aware, Be Alert.

BGann

Monday, January 14, 2013

Additions and Changes : The Taco Bell Philosophy

Today, after work I went to go get lunch, and I will admit it, I am a creature of habit when it comes to ordering lunch. No matter where I go, I usually end up ordering either the same thing, or something really similar. But I digress somewhat, I get to the drive thru ready to order my typical box deal (which may be the best deal in the history of fast food for college kids). 

So I pull up, and to my dismay (and later joy) they had changed the box from the burrito, taco, drink and 5 layer burrito to a burrito, taco, drink and loaded grillers. I began to think why Taco Bell feels the need to always change the box, and then I realized it. The box has become a method for Taco Bell to introduce new additions and changes, it's a genius philosophy we could all learn from. 

Let me explain:

Several years back, Taco Bell introduced the Crunchwrap Supreme, and it flopped. Then, they came out with the 5 dollar big box. It came with a crunchwrap supreme, burrito supreme, hard taco supreme, cinnamon twists, and a large drink. It was a phenomenal deal and a genius marketing ploy. The crunchwrap supreme became a hit overnight because of it. Then, Taco Bell took the box, something everyone loves, and instituted it as a vessel of change.

The box has been around since then, varying in price from $5 to $5.49 but always in that price range. Shortly after it's release they dropped the cinnamon twists and the large drink became a medium drink, but the box was here to stay. Then the change began. 

  • When the "Volcano Menu" came out they replaced the crunchwrap supreme with the Volcano Taco (which introduced the awesome effect of the hot cheese and the Volcano Nachos became a constant on the menu)
  • Then the Doritos Locos Taco came out, they replaced the Volcano Taco with it and the Locos Taco became a cult favorite.
  • After that, the Beefy Crunch 5 Layer Burrito came out and replaced the Locos Taco and it introduced that effectively. 
  • Taco Bell teeter tottered the 5 Layer and Locos creating a demand for both of them.
  • Today I drove up and saw their new Loaded Grillers being introduced new (and I am sure you know what was the third item in the box). 
So after I got my griller I realized the trick. Taco Bell has taken something that everyone loves (The Box) and changes the one thing that isn't a staple periodically so that 
  1. People don't get attached to it
  2. People learn about new items
  3. People accept change and newness because of their attachement to the over hanging idea.
So here's the lesson. When introducing change, don't over haul everything. Stage it in steps, keep the staples, and press forward. If you are open to frequent change, it doesn't give time for people to get attached to the things you might want to change.

Live Mas.

BGann

The Beginnings

So for the first 22 years of my life, I have traditionally been labeled young or idealistic, or even sometimes both. Those can be the marks of death, especially when you have an idea. The combination is hardly ever good, unless you want to blog or brainstorm. So I decided to blog. I have tried in the past but always get burnt out because I try to post everyday, so this time I'm not, I'm simply going to blog when I have something to say.

Over time, I have learned the rules to blogging that make a good blog or a pointless one. 

  1. Only blog when you have something to say. Too many people get caught up in mindless fodder just to fill the page.
  2. Keep it simple and short. Nobody in the Twitter generation wants to read 20 paragraphs when they can read 20 sentences.
  3. Stories not stats. Don't build an entire post around numbers but rather people
I am sure over time I will have more rules to guide this blog but here it goes. The ultimate blog from a Christian college student, with retail and church working experiences. Should provide some diverse and wild posts.


BGann