Spilled punch at a kindergarten graduation ceremony resulted in the arrest of eight people. Apparently two teenage girls started hitting each other over spilled punch and their families joined in, with individuals bringing out a pipe and a hammer.
How times have changed. My parents brought cameras.
Accroding to Christian pundents, the human race was created in God’s image. From that conceptual thought, there are many times where I imagine God looks down and asks, “WTF?.” Other WTF moments:
- In August 2011, a Little League game turned into a game of “Who can be the biggest racist?” It started with your typical sportsmanlike behavior of screaming racial slurs and gay slurs. But since the parents of one team thought the umpire was rigging the game, a fight ensued, with parents shoving each other, parents screaming at the opposing team, and gangs of men surrounding a grandmother in her car.
- A semi-pro soccer player smashed the face of referee Pete McCabe with a helmet. Almost every bone in McCabe’s face was broken, his skull fractured in several places and his nose nowhere close to where it belonged. As he lay on the ground the player stood over him yelling: “Take that. Take that. This is what I’m all about.”
- Soccer Referee Ricardo Portillo died a week after he had been punched in the head by a 17-year-old player angry over a yellow card.
- When a coach disputed an umpire’s call during a Miami Friends Baseball Association T-ball game between the Yankees and Tigers, parents charged the field, throwing wild punches and shoving and tackling each other. The baseball game was for 4 and 5 year-olds.
- A youth football game took a wild turn in the town of Wickenburg, west of Phoenix, when a fight broke out among parents, coaches and children. Many people got hurt during the Sept. 29th melee including four children, one of whom was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
In truth, I would presume that everyone listed above wish they could wake up in a different time and be someone different. I believe everyone searches for key answers; to open a mind long closed by preprogrammed responses to everyday life. However, each of the people referenced tells the story of an everyday person who believed some major injustice occurred desired to find peace. Instead each tried to put out water with fire (television series Kung Fu). Rather than mindfully addressing issues, each created a greater self-inflicted suffering.
Kung Fu offers a wonderful lesson:
“Look at the world you live in and this pool of fish. There are twelve fish, twelve worlds.“ — Master Kahn
“But only one pool.“ — Young Caine
Yes, there is only ONE pool. All of us tend to forget we`are intertwined. From a Buddhist and Christian viewpoint, every single person is not different. In Christian thought, we are of “One” body. For Buddhists, all things are inter-connected. Thus, living Christians and living Buddhists are significantly interdependent. What hurts one, hurts all. When one laughs, we all laugh. When one is in pain, so are the rest.
All of us must graduate to a greater sense mutual acceptance and understanding, but it’s a tough slog. No matter what God’s plan is, I hope we can eradicate “hate” and cease silly thoughts such as fretting over spilt milk.