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November 4, 2021,
Should we be concerned about people who have found a steadfast and unmovable purpose in life?
Yes. Very.
It depends, of course, on what that purpose is.
Many dictators and political monsters from the past had a very determined purpose.
A line of reasoning might be that they are far more effective than people who essentially have none.
In Robert Evans Wilson Jr’s article, “Why Do You Need a Purpose in Life?” he shares, “Having a purpose in life is vitally important! Studies have shown that having a purpose leads to a longer healthier, wealthier life. According to a 2010 study published in Applied Psychology, people who have a purpose live longer.”
That does make sense. People without a purpose can live a very aimless life, even if they have an abundance of money.
What concerns us is not the having a purpose part, it is the “what the purpose is” aspect that can be alarming.
Let’s begin by keeping things simple. Sports examples are an easy starting place.
As we analyze the 2021 NCAA College football season, we start with a team that we have been fans of for decades.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers.
The glory years really spoiled us.
Nebraska is among the most storied programs in college football history.
Through 2019, the Cornhuskers rank seventh in all-time victories among FBS teams.
Nebraska boasts 46 conference championships and five national championships (1970, 1971, 1994, 1995, and 1997), and has won nine other national championships that the school does not claim.
The Cornhuskers 1971 and 1995 title-winning teams are considered to be among the best in college football history.
Famous Cornhuskers alumni include Heisman Trophy winners Johnny Rodgers, Mike Rozier, and Eric Crouch, who join 22 other Cornhuskers in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Notable among these are players Bob Brown, Guy Chamberlin, Tommie Frazier, Rich Glover, Dave Rimington, and Will Shields, and coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne.
With that kind of resume, any serious fan of the Huskers could be forgiven for having extremely high expectations for the young men in red.
Unfortunately, 1997 is a very long time ago.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling’s debut novel was first published. Princess Diana was sadly killed in a car crash. The Film Titanic debuted.
The 2021 version of the Cornhuskers, from our view, are a serious disappointment. They appear to be a team with no real purpose except to keep the games close so Coach Scott Frost and the players are not embarrassed.
When they play the tougher schools on their schedule, we know they are going to lose.
We can feel it.
As expected, they lost to Oklahoma, Michigan State, Michigan and Purdue by close scores. We’ve gotten to the point where we don’t even watch the endings because we know they are going to lose.
But they do keep it close.
And appear to be satisfied with that.
National Championship?
If the team is honest, they have no delusions of that type of grandeur.
So often in sports, a team with a mediocre start becomes a team of destiny and purpose when two things occur.
They win very close big games.
They then have a grand prize waiting for them if they keep winning.
They now become a team with a purpose.
We say all of this because a very odd film caught our eye recently.
Promising Young Woman is a 2020 black comedy thriller film written, produced and directed by Emerald Fennell in her feature directorial debut. It stars Carey Mulligan as a young woman haunted by a traumatic past as she navigates balancing forgiveness and vengeance.
With great emphasis on the vengeance part.
Does the young woman have a purpose?
Absolutely. Hopefully you do not have a role in her plan.
Here is the storyline.
Cassie Thomas is a 30-year-old dropout from Forrest Medical School who lives with her parents, Stanley and Susan, while working at a coffee shop.
Some might describe that as underachieving.
Years earlier, her med school classmate, Al Monroe, raped her best friend and classmate, Nina Fisher.
There was neither an investigation by the school nor consequences from the legal system.
Cassie now spends her nights feigning drunkenness in clubs and bars, posing as bait for men to take her to their homes then revealing her sobriety when they try to take advantage of her, embarrassing them and keeping a record of how many she caught.
Now how is that for a purpose?
With one person after another, who she felt knew about the wrong and did nothing or worse, helped protect the person involved, look out.
What struck us was how, on the outside, her life seemed so purposeless, only to find out that was the whole point. In order to achieve her goals of vengeance, she had to place her entire life on hold to do so.
A person like that can be very frightening. Extreme even.
And yet, in today’s world where so many appear to have no real purpose in life, people like our star perpetrator (we won’t say heroine), is extremely effective because her targets do not have the same passion about whatever their purpose is.
Let’s face it, taking advantage of drunk women for carnal reasons is not exactly a strong purpose in life.
The question we ponder, often on sunny fall days drinking over-priced but delicious coffee is, will the winners in this increasingly contentious world be the individuals or groups with the strongest purpose?
Even if that purpose is to kill millions?
It is a sobering thought, but not one that is not far-fetched.
It is easy to wish that they were not serious, get busy with other less violent activities or simply go away.
The good news, maybe, is that once their sinister purpose is revealed, it can galvanize the once purposeless into organizing to have a much stronger purpose (stopping them) than the evil ones with a clear purpose.
Hopefully.
History does seem to speak well to that.
We now seem to live in a time period where frightening purposes abound and even though many of us would rather relax and enjoy a slightly milder purpose, like our beloved Cornhuskers (hoping to make a bowl, any bowl), will we be ready to join a greater purpose for what common sense would say is the greater good?
For the sake of humanity, we sure hope so.
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OPENING PHOTO Femcompetitor.com, grapplingstars.com, fciwomenswrestling.com, fcielitecompetitor.com, fciwomenswrestling2.com Tima-Miroshnichenko-pexels.com-photo-credit
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-main-ingredient/202002/why-do-you-need-purpose-in-life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebraska_Cornhuskers_football
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promising_Young_Woman
https://www.fcielitecompetitor.com/
https://fciwomenswrestling.com/
