[Vision2020] In defense of beating people up...
Jeremy Downey
dunadhaigh@hotmail.com
Thu, 06 Mar 2003 12:27:57 -0800
<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV>
<P><BR><BR></P>
<DIV></DIV>
<P>First off, I would like to apologize if anything in my last letter appeared to come of personal malice toward the parties I addressed; I certainly never intended it so. I believe you (lacking any evidence to the contrary) to be a very well-intentioned and virtuous member of the community, and certainly no fool. As you are a Christian lady and my elder, I will gladly admit you my better, and I hope that should we come across each other at some point in the future, the conduct of my person will confirm the authenticity of my words. Please, let there be peace between us.</P></DIV>
<P>That said, if you wished me to feel the sting of your reply, you could have done better than accusations of youthfulness, folly, childishness, juvenility, and lack of experience--the very flaws to which I will most readily admit. If you believe that I think I have the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, you are greatly mistaken. I have difficulty in picking matching socks each morning. I am quite slow-witted, not especially clever, clumsy in movement, ungraceful in form, poorly-read, unmusical, socially handicapped, infantile in experience, and--yes--ignorant. In the world there are born leaders and born followers; I fall squarely (and I might add comfortably) into the latter category. I am entirely the thrall of my elders and betters. All in all, I think myself a thoroughly unremarkable and dull person, and I am given more often to the sin of self-loathing than that of self-importance. But you have attacked my friends, !
calling them child-abusers and fools, and I think you are wrong.</P>
<P>I believe my previous letter is only the second submission I have made to the Vision loop, though I have been a member since the beginning of last summer, and the first was not even argumentative in nature. This does not seem especially factious or self-aggrandizing to me. Perhaps I have been quite mistaken, but I thought myself rather reserved in the expression of my opinions. After all, the writers for the local college papers (my peers) readily give voice to any old thing that comes into their head, in a combative, damn-the-man fashion that would seem much worthier of your rebuke than my few letters to an email discussion group. Disagreement <EM>is</EM> permitted here, is it not?</P>
<P>As for the medical concerns, such questions are best left to others then myself. Dr. John Grauke, a respected physician at Grittman, was present as ring doctor and has infinitely more qualified opinions than a 21-year-old liberal arts student. Forgive me if I put more stock in the opinion of one man I know and trust than in that of whole committees of pediatricians whom I will never meet this side of eternity. I have shared several sabbath meals at Dr. Grauke's table, and have interacted to no small extent with his family. I would hazard my life on his abilities as a medical professional, because I trust him. Your pediatricians I don't know from Adam. Besides this, my own sense of proportion renders it unfathomable to me how the young boys that participated in Fight Night could ever have really hurt each other, given the oversized-marshmallow appearance of their headgear and gloves, and their youthful spindliness. They were some p!
retty low-wattage blows that were thrown in the junior division. As for the senior division fighters, they were certainly old enough to make a reasonably intelligent analysis of the hazards to their persons. And I've never heard them claim to be anything more than "yahoos" in the field of boxing; they will all admit to being perfectly wretched at it. That's why they want Mr. Browning to teach them.</P>
<P>Certainly Jesus never called us to start boxing clubs--if he did, I would be in one. But he did call us to be witnesses to the outside world of the joy and freedom of the kingdom of heaven; to live in the fullness and gratitude of righteousness; to be <EM>more alive</EM> than those who live in darkness. Mr. Wilson is fond of saying that theology comes out your fingertips--and when in a startling paradox those fingertips are encased in boxing gloves, they are only asserting, a little unsystematically, that as "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17). Personally, I prefer to live out my theology in keeping tropical fish, reading, and marvelling at the created order. (I recently found a neat term for this in James Joyce's <EM>Finnegan's Wake</EM>--I have decided to call it "wonderlust.") But I don't expect everybody to find meaning in the same things that I do; I understand the exhileration !
and liveliness of aggressive sports, even if I do not often participate in them or find them very compelling. To each his own.</P>
<P>By the way, I envy you your seven children. I hope someday I can claim such a grand accomplishment.<BR><BR></P>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Jeremy Downey</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>From: DonaldH675@aol.com
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>To: dunadhaigh@hotmail.com
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] In defense of beating people up...
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 04:42:09 EST
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Dear Jeremy Downey,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>You, my child, are in sad need of some plain talk. I have provided Vision
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>2020 the link to the American Academy of Pediatricians' position paper on the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>medical dangers of children boxing. Look it up. Additionally, for your
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>further education I will add a few more.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>> <HTTP: 265121.stm health hi 1 news.bbc.co.uk>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>><HTTP: monitor1603.html monitor16 pubs www.nisu.flinders.edu.au>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>( http://domino.ama.com.au/DIR0103/MediaRel.nsf/
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>><HTTP: articles_01.htm www.strokedoctor.com>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>><HTTP: opn_boxing.html 041198 stories www.hollandsentinel.com>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Why do you suppose all these profession medical men and women oppose boxing?
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Do you think their opposition is based on some nefarious plot to spoil the
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>fun of the members of the BBC? Hardly.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Don't bother to suggest that I need to brush up on my physics until you learn
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>a great deal more about anatomy and blunt force trauma. It puzzles me that
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>you are so willing to expose your own ignorance while thinking that you are
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>pointing out mine.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>How many children have you raised Mr. Downey? How many hours have you spent
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>working in an ER? How many hours have you spent teaching GED skills to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>prisoners (who often were violent offenders)? What exactly do you know about
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>violence and children? We are not operating on a level playing field here,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>so I won't hector you about your lack of experience. Suffice it to say that
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>I raised seven children, and have spent hundreds of hours working in the ER
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and thousands of hours working in a physician's office. I worked with and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>help to treat hundreds of injured children. I spent two years teaching GED
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>in jail (as a volunteer in an adult literacy program). I know many violent
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>offenders, and although many of them did have the misfortune to grow up in
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>dysfunctional homes, many of them also came from good *Christian* homes and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>left heart broken, and caring parents with shattered lives behind them.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>I will tell you bluntly why BBC needs intervention from a national oversight
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>committee. The fact that six year old kids are allowed, indeed encouraged,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>to hit each other for the enthusiastic "delight" of adults, the fact that
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>none of you yahoos have the least idea of what is safe and what is not safe -
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>and with every half assed defensive letter to Vision 20/20 you kids write,
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>you make that point for me, and finally the fact that you rely on a coach
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>that violates not only every sense of decency in inviting young children to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>participate in his hitting training, but ignores the sensible, protective
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>rules in place - developed by professionals who actually like the sport of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>boxing and want to expand the activity, to order to gratify, what I will
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>charitably describe, as his own nasty needs. It is my sincere belief that
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>parents would enroll their children in this disgusting organization are nor
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>thinking responsibly about the welfare of their children. They are thinking
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>about following the lead of the pastor's son, the lead of Doug Jones, and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>others senior church men.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>While you may attend a Christian school - I would hardly dignify New St.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Andrews the title of college - you seemed to have missed the central message
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>of Christianity. This does not surprise me as you support a self-ordained
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>pastor with limited academic theological training, who I understand has been
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>branded as a heretic - read this yourself at <
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>http://www.rpcus.com/Resolutions.pdf>. It does occur to me that on Judgment
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Day God won't ask you (or any Christ Church member) to debate the finer
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>points of election, but rather, He will ask if you feed the hungry, comforted
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>those who mourned, cared for the sick, sought justice for the oppressed, and
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>visited prisons. Those are the marching orders that I strive to operate
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>under, and I suggest you might consider them as well. I shouldn't have to
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>remind you that Jesus didn't call us to form boxing clubs. He didn't swish
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>around in pretentious academic gowns fantasizing that he was at Oxford. He
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>got down and dirty and worked directly with people who needed his message of
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>love, forgiveness and justice.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Your juvenile reading suggestions to Ted and me were amusing, (and very
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>revealing) and, frankly speaking, reflect your immaturity far more than Ted's
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>or my ignorance. In a phrase Mr. Jeremy Downey, you come across as a
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>self-righteous, egotistical, little prig, who does not address the questions
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>posed to him, and when you do they are poorly argued. You seem very young.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Fortunately, time will cure some of these problems - but unfortunately not
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>all of them.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>Rosemary Huskey
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Help STOP SPAM with <a href="http://g.msn.com/8HMLENUS/2731">the new MSN 8 </a> and get 2 months FREE*</html>