An Epidemic of Selfishness

This will be a blog about serious issues and not sports, but bare with me. Also watch the videos. It will help.

There has been a rash lately of out of control actions. Everything from the "You Lie" yell during a Presidential speech to shouting matches at Town Hall meetings. But it is hardly contained within the political realm. This out of control behavior is everywhere. Just look at the world of sports. I will only use things that have happened in the last month. Remember most kids look up to sports heroes and watch sports center.

After a tough loss to Boise State, more than a little unsportsman like conduct occurred. A Boise Player taunted after the game and was then decked with a quick jab.

Serena Williams threw a temper tantrum during her loss that including threats of physical violence toward the officials. Not pictured is where she returns to yell again and losses the match on a point penalty. It was a penalty and not a warning because she had already been warned when she smashed her racket at the end of the first set.

LeBron James refuses to shake hands (by the way pay no attention to the word bubbles it was the only video I could find) after a loss. Not only that but what is worse is that he continues to defend the act till this day.

And just to show it is not all about sports, take a look at Kanye West interrupting an award to someone else (Talyor Swift I think). This is something I have never even heard of before. But it happened.

These are just a few examples. I list them because they get video taped. They are a nice insight into our culture today. We are a selfish people. Things don’t go our way, we now just act out, sort of like a three year old throwing a tantrum. This is not going to go away. In fact we ought to expect it to grow. Selfishness is rampant and will dominate lots of things from now on.

Why now? Well, it is hard to admit it, but I think we have to face the fact that society is breaking down from a moral standpoint. Selfishness is no longer a vice, but rather it is a virtue in many circles. Gone are the days when other people could be valued or have decent points. Now if you disagree with the Republicans you are a socialist and if you disagree with the Democrats you are a racist. Gone are the days when people shake hands after losing and say good game, go the press conference later and say, "They beat us." Now is the time of excuses. Nothing can shatter our image of ourselves as the best and the most important.

This is the climate that the church now faces. Christianity of course carries a message that is not about self, has little tolerance for self-image, and condemns selfishness as a sin. You might can imagine the reaction that the church will be getting. We are seeing seeds of it now in the reception of Proposition 8 in California and in movies like Religulous with Bill Maher.

As a society I am not sure we cannot ignore the rising tide of selfish blowups, but the society as a whole will not be able to solve the problem. This is because the answer is only found the Gospel of Jesus Christ.