Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I'll take the Physical Challenge

I'm 33 years old and if you're my age or no more than five years younger you remember these words from the Nickelodeon TV show Double Dare. If you didn't know the answer to a question on the kids talk show, I think you could take "the physical challenge". See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfmmt-QoP9g for an example of one. It was corny on a late 1980s, afternoon, pre HD, Joe Roganless kind of level. But man this 7th grader watched it religiously and sometimes I wonder...if I could, if you could take the physical challenge or face a Fear Factor-like option instead of dealing with whatever problem you're going through, would I/would you?

Think about it. Some test you took shows 65% and you have to tell your parents. You drive your car 10,000 miles before an oil change instead of the recommended 3,000 resulting in your car's demise. Or better yet, someone close to you is terminally ill and you are having a hard time coping. "I'll take the physical Challenge" you say and out comes the obstacle course complete with slime or fish entrails. Would you rather eat the stomach lining of a Tazmanian Devil than to face your most pressing conundrum? Would you bungy jump off of the Statue of Liberty or lick the bottom of a shoe you wore while in a public restroom?

It's interesting that life doesn't offer a shortcut to dealing with complexities. We're forced to our recourse which varies depending on the individual. People claim to be "keeping it together" as they face life's toughest challenges but how? No one keeps it together minus a perspective that a greater significance preempts the existing trial. What is the sovereign perspective that people possess? Are there more Theists out there than previously thought - people who genuinely believe in the Creator of the universe and that same Creator's providence? People are coping somehow because there are no "Physical Challenges". Double Dare went off the air in 1993-1994. People are makin' it or fakin' it but if they're makin' it because of something bigger than themselves...they should share the secret as if they've found the cure for Swine Flu.

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