Tuesday, July 27, 2010

What Happened to You, Mel?

I heard on the news this morning that yet another alleged tape of Mel Gipson yelling and cursing at the mother of his child has been released.  Apparently there have been seven tapes released.  This is the first time I have actually paid attention to the story as they played the tape.

As I listened to the tape, I at first wondered why the media is so up in arms considering this kind of filthy language and behaviors fill many of the movies that unfortunately make quite a bit of money.  Why are they condemning a man who speaks this way and not the films and television shows that are similar?  I know that one is supposed to be fiction and one is reality, but there seems to be some hypocrisy there.

Of course, Mr. Gipson's behavior does not support his claims to be a practicing Catholic either.  I do not want to condemn his behavior as I know that I am no more perfect than he is whether I use the same language or not.  The story did make me feel sorry for Mr. Gipson and other people like him who appear to be trying to find happiness in the world and not in God.  Why did he divorce his previous wife?  Was he really unhappy in his marriage?  Did he want a younger wife?  Why did he marry someone so much younger than himself?  Why did they have a child?  I am sure that he is asking himself similar questions on a daily basis as this situation grows and grows.

The situation reminds me of Tiger Woods.  He says that he is going to try to change his ways and he plans to use his roots in Buddhism to help him do it.  As we learned in church this last Sunday, we can try as hard as we want to change, but if we do not seek help from God, we will fail.  The example we were given was of weight lifting.  There will come a time when the weight will be too much for us to lift and not matter how hard we try, we will not be able to lift that weight on our own.  Someone will need to help us and that someone has to be God.

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