What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Isn’t it time to stop teaching sport to children?

    Isn’t it time to stop teaching children sport?

    It is drug-addled, corrupt, nationalistic, sectarian, sexist, homophobic and brings out the very worst in people. Why on earth do we presume it is something suitable for children to participate in?

    From time to time I am asked to comment on calls from one secularist group or another who want to get rid of religion in schools or who want access to Thought For The Day. Often religion is dismissed as something that children should be protected from. But why don’t the secularists turn their attention to sport if they really want to protect children? Surely 3 minutes of Thought for the Day is considerably less harmful than the privileged access that sport gets to every news broadcast in the world. Sport seems to have become a religion anyway but where is the organised opposition?

    There have still been more Anglican bishops in the world who have come out than premier level footballers. The fear that sport can induce in young LGBT people can last a lifetime. For their sake shouldn’t we just say “No” to activities that can cause so much harm?

    I want boys and girls to learn that they are equal but I look at men and women’s sporting rewards and despair. What hope is there for girls’ self esteem whilst they are constantly exposed to sport?

    The city I live in is blighted by sport centred sectarianism and still the violence is encouraged by co-opting children at a very young age in school. Why do they make football compulsory for boys? Why? How are decent parents supposed to keep their children from such negative and corrupting activities? You have a right to remove your children from religious instruction but not from sport. Oh no,  not from sport.

    I can see the point in teaching kids about heath and fitness. I can see the point of putting gyms in secondary schools and I can see the point of teaching all young people how to swim.  But the competitive, money dominated, cess-pit of professional sport is surely the last thing we need to encourage them to believe is a proper activity for adults.

4 responses to “Retreat”

  1. Carole Avatar
    Carole

    Retreat
    Interesting choice of theme for the Advent retreat.
    Mary Magdelen was of course know to be an energetic, implusive and caring woman. Quite a dream really.

    Unusual combination of food stuffs lentils and banana, anyway.

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Retreat

    Just struck by the coincidence that you and I were on retreat at the same time.  While you were considering the place of Mary Magdalene I was being led to listen more deeply to my dreams.  Through a process of table fellowship and sharing I came to find much meaning in what seemed like a completely random collection of items which regularly arise during the silent hours of the night:  medical pots; gas masks; military apparel; a purple stole; a half-mauled rabbit; a friendly ghost and a bottle of single malt.  I was really appreciative of my fellow retreatants one of whom, realising it was my first time, was very gentle with me and showed me the ropes.  The other, the slightly more talkative of the two, showed a persistent yet Liberal interest in delving deeper into my darkest recesses to see what might come up. If your retreat was anything like as rich as mine you should have enough to chew upon for a very long time, Kelvin.  Thanks for reading this anyway.

    Reply
  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Another dream
    I don’t know what that retreat started but since posting that last message I have had yet another dream.  In this latest one there were two soldiers carrying a sofa up a glen!!! What on earth does that tell me.  Any offers of help most gratefully accepted.

    Reply
  4. Saph Avatar
    Saph

    Another dream
    As a person of quite mature years, let me share with you my thoughts on your dream.
    I see the soliders with their uniforms as a sign of discipline – perhaps you are searching for someone to take you in hand and put more structure in your life. The sofa to me represents comfort and familiarity maybe this is what you are searching for but combined with the rugged landscape of the glen are prepared to take the rough with the smooth. Sometimes our dreams are like a humane mouse trap, we are lured in with the promise of something nice to taste but in the end we are trapped and at the mercy of someone elses hand to release us back into the wild.

    I hope this has been of some help to you. Thank you for taking the time to read the ramblings of an old woman anyway.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Tales of the City #6

    The scene is the building I live in. Utter chaos. Extensive stoor. Very Dirty Workman: OK then, that’s us. We’ll be off then. hesitates Er, can I ask you something though? Me: Yes, what is it? VDW: Er, well, I just wondered. Are you a minister or something? Me:  Er, well, yes, as it happens.…

  • Opera Review – The Seven Deadly Sins

    Here’s my review of last week’s show, now posted on Opera Britannia’s website. Rating: There cannot be many opera venues where it is possible to buy ear-plugs behind the bar. However, such was Scottish Opera‘s quest for novelty that we found ourselves in a venue more usually known as a rock venue in Glasgow than…

  • He took what? A Chalice?

    I’ve just been listening on the Radio to the new revision of the English translation of the Latin Mass of the Roman Catholic Church. It is being introduced this weekend across England and Wales and the service was obviously meant to showcase it. I wouldn’t normally be that interested in the liturgical goings on of…

  • Scottish Government Consultation

    Just to note with rejoicing that the Scottish Government has published its initial consultation on changes that are proposed to marriage law and civil partnership law in Scotland. I’m sorry that the consultation makes repeated use of the phrase “same-sex marriage”. What I’m hoping for is opening marriage to same-sex couples. We need there to…