Celebrity Failures

First of all, I want to apologize to both of my readers for not blogging in a few days. And by a few days I mean 5 months. Sorry. Ok, now on to the blog:
For Christmas, my lovely wife Kristi gave me Theoren Fleury's biography. For those of you non-sports people, Theo Fleury was a hockey player who grew up in Russel Manitoba, played for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks and New York Rangers (but spent most of his time with the Flames). He was also a part of the Gold Medal 2002 Salt Lake City hockey team. Anyway, his career was marred with drugs and alcohol, and he eventually had to quit hockey a few years ago (although he attempted to make a comeback this season, but the Flames didn't resign him). The book has been a major eye-opener for me. During his career, people called him a crackhead, an alcoholic, whatever cruel things they could think ok. People only saw his flaws. What most people didn't know, was that when he was 13, he was sexually abused by his hockey coach...and it lasted for a few years. It was only with the release of his biography that he actually admitted this abuse. Now, I'm not saying that this aweful event gives him permission to use drugs and alcohol, but it does put things a bit more into perspective. People like to judge. It's a part of our culture. We especially love to judge celebrities, because we think that they should be perfect. The problem is, they aren't perfect. Unfortunately for them, when they mess up, they have paparazzi and fans all over the place watching their every move. When we mess up, usually we are either by ourselves or with close friends who won't judge us as harshly. I'm not saying that celebrities should be free to live a life of sin, but I think it is wrong of us to judge them...as it is wrong of us to judge anyone.
This past year has been yet another year of celebrities messing up for the public to ridicule and scorn. Chris Brown alledgedly assaulting Rihanna, Kanye West's Teen Choice Award/Taylor Swift debaucle, Tiger Woods affair...the list goes on. While what these people did (or alledgedly did) is wrong, who are we to judge. We get such a high from tearing people down a couple notches, when we deserve to be brought down a few notches too. We all mess up, we all sin, and we all make mistakes. Luckily, most people don't bring all of our flaws out for the world to see. Leave the judging to the one who created us...God. Let him be the one to judge us for our faults, because he's the only one who truly knows our hearts, and who is holy enough to judge. Instead of trashing these celebrities, pray for them. Instead of gossiping about your friend, or enemy, who messed up, forgive them. Encourage them to turn their life around, in a non-judgmental way...because when we judge...we will end up being judged by God as well, perhaps even more harshly.
Oh, and a final note...this past year marked the passing of Michael Jackson. I was not his biggest fan, howver I did enjoy most of his music. Anyway, i just want to say that, even though he lived a life that was bizarre, and was perceived to be a wacko, he was a person just like all of us...and he was also loved by his family and by God. People who make jokes about him, or who say that they are glad he is dead are not showing the love of God. I'm not saying you need to encourage his lifestyle, or condone what he did (if he even did the stuff he was accused of), but think of his family. How would you feel if your son, father, brother, husband was killed and all you heard were people saying that he was a psycho and deserved to die? It would tear you up inside. Please, instead of spreading hateful jokes and saying hurtful comments, at least pray for his family that God would give them peace. Thanks...and that was my turn on the soapbox.