Freedom is not Free, and Whiners
In the previous section we saw a lot that made us think that members of AA are not really free. In this section when Gately is talking about how he must choose a God to help him in his AA experience, at first I thought that this was an indication of freedom. God could be like his temple, and he got to choose it so he was free. After I thought about it some more, I realized that before AA, Gately had not chosen to understand any God or to pick someone else's God to be his own. Therefore, when AA says that he must pick a God, he really wasn't that free. He was free to pick any God he wanted, but he wasn't free to abstain from choosing a God at all. If you are forced to make a choice between a few things, then you are not really free. It is similar to the fact that the AA members can choose whatever they want to talk about when the get on the podium, but they cannot choose whether or not they talk at all. All the members always have to "keep it coming".
I thought it was strange that Gately was so surprised by the fact that progress with overcoming your addiction comes through pain (pg 446). The members' addictions had put them all through so much pain. Many of them tried to quit their addictions before, unsuccessfully. Now Gately goes and thinks that AA does not only work miracles on its members in terms of breaking their addictions, but it also works those miracles with not work or cost on the part of the member. I think Gately should have expected that he learn to break his addiction through pain.
I'm not sure what the point of having such a large number of pages devoted to describing in detail what ETA's morning practices are like. We already know the kids work very hard. We already know they complain about it. We already know the coaches are brutal and seemingly merciless and for the most part disliked by the players. So I don't see what the value in explaining to the readers the exact sequence of warm up drills and technique stuff was. The only part I did find valuable was on page 458 when Schtitt chides the players always complaining about it being "too hot" or "too cold". The conditions during a match, or even during practice will not always be ideal. The players could benefit from playing in rougher conditions than they are used to. They should not expect that perfect practice conditions will always be there. The players should look at each practice as an opportunity, and even if the conditions are awful, they should not complain about the conditions and use them as an excuse. They should train hard and do their best in spite of the conditions. I think thats somewhat the argument Schtitt tries to make about the players' complaints.
-LT
I thought it was strange that Gately was so surprised by the fact that progress with overcoming your addiction comes through pain (pg 446). The members' addictions had put them all through so much pain. Many of them tried to quit their addictions before, unsuccessfully. Now Gately goes and thinks that AA does not only work miracles on its members in terms of breaking their addictions, but it also works those miracles with not work or cost on the part of the member. I think Gately should have expected that he learn to break his addiction through pain.
I'm not sure what the point of having such a large number of pages devoted to describing in detail what ETA's morning practices are like. We already know the kids work very hard. We already know they complain about it. We already know the coaches are brutal and seemingly merciless and for the most part disliked by the players. So I don't see what the value in explaining to the readers the exact sequence of warm up drills and technique stuff was. The only part I did find valuable was on page 458 when Schtitt chides the players always complaining about it being "too hot" or "too cold". The conditions during a match, or even during practice will not always be ideal. The players could benefit from playing in rougher conditions than they are used to. They should not expect that perfect practice conditions will always be there. The players should look at each practice as an opportunity, and even if the conditions are awful, they should not complain about the conditions and use them as an excuse. They should train hard and do their best in spite of the conditions. I think thats somewhat the argument Schtitt tries to make about the players' complaints.
-LT
posted by tanzmanl at 6:08 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home