Indoor soccer, war, and all things frightening

I used to watch sports movies in which the "other" team would be so horrendously rude, mean-spirited, and awful that I resigned them to works of fiction incapable of existing in the real world. Because, no one really acts like that....right? Apparently I was wrong. I'm not going to bore you with a long account of last night's indoor soccer game, but I will say that it just about destroyed my perception of humanity (okay, that's a bit on the dramatic side, but you get the point). There were pointless slammings into walls, pushes resulting in penalties, and one horrific instant where someone very purposefully sat on my teammate's head (who was then rushed to the hospital with a concussion). And while she was lying on the field crying with the coach and medic surrounding her, one of our opponents started doing a victory dance. The horror of it was, the game didn't even really matter. It. Was. Just. A. Rec*. League. Game.

*Rec - (adj) enjoyable and/or relaxed exercise. See: recreation.

If I'd wanted to play an extremely competitive and hateful sport, I would've taken up rugby, Foosball, or Quidditch. There are a few possible explanations for the other team's uncalled behavior, though: 1) They thought "rec" stood for record, as in the World Cup of Indoor Soccer or some other ostentatious title, 2) They were secretly cheap assassins hired out to murder the members of our team (but failed, thankfully), 3) Playing soccer *somehow* reminded them of prom when Billy Joe stood them up and they never got proper revenge, 4) They forgot to tell us that they really were trying out for a part in the next B-movie, Kleats, Grass Stains, and Broken Ribs, and the director was there and everything, or 5) Yeah. I got nothin'. They were just awful.

The soccer game, awful as it was, reminded me that the human race is in desperate need of saving. I'm sure some of the members on the other team are good people (at least off the field, anyway). They knew how to have a good time and most of them shook our hands at the end, but during the game they transformed into something terrifyingly supercilious and self-absorbed. "Good" people, deep down, are really selfish and cold.

Wow. I just depressed myself.

But all kidding aside, that's not the end of it! Humanity is heartless, but God isn't. No matter how awful the soccer game, he wants all of the team members for his own. Whether people express their hatred outwardly or keep it all inside, it's just as lethal. But God can (and already has) rescued humanity from this hatred and malice...with Jesus. They might not accept it or make a change, but the hope is there.

The Future! Or something.

Before I start this post, I have to get something off my chest.... I'm a liar. That's it. There it is. As it turns out, as a salutatorian I do not have to give a graduation speech, so my last post was completely and totally useless! Sorry. It was unintentional lying, though, so would that be called negligent deceit? Hmm. Anyhow, sorry about that! Since you (probably) can't hear inside my head, I thought I'd let you know that I'm typing in an accent right now. And not just any accent....a BRITISH accent! I know, I know, you wish you were me, but as it turns out, watching old Doctor Who episodes for hours on end can severely damage one's brain. Which led to the following conversation..... Me: Mom, I changed my career goals a bit. My mother: Oh yes, what are they? Me: I want to be, erm...a TIME TRAVELER! My mother: Well, why don't you travel just going forward one year at a time, Courtney. Ha, ha. She's brilliant. For the last eighteen years and eleven days, I've been trying to figure out what to do with my life. Now that I'm an almost-graduate, I hear the word Future about fifteen times a day. Which would be nice if I had a clue what to do with it. It's sort of like an ugly Christmas sweater given from a well-meaning relative, but much, much scarier. And, on top of that, it's too big and I can't find the receipt. According to my mother, I have to go to work, pay taxes, and buy groceries like a normal human being. That's sad. I was sort of hoping to change the world. But I'm going to make the best of it and TRAVEL the world....with the money that I make from some job which I have yet to decide on. It will be something exciting, though. I'm sort of waffling between ER surgeon and foreign correspondent. First stop (hopefully): England! I'll just keep a lookout for any blue boxes along the way.