Author: relevanceneverforgets

Still figuring out where I want to end up.

Competition and Camaraderie

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If people are to improve and the world is to become a better place it is necessary to learn from each other and develop ideas. The current problem is at least twofold. One: that generations experience constant change, which I won’t get into here. Two: that there is not a strong sense of communication. There is a disconnect between people and the rifts that we have seen happen between others and throughout history have made us focus on our own lives and be disinterested in how others may help us. But I believe everything we’re doing is a team sport.

Von Miller is a name that is helping to change that reflex that people have: to focus on the skills and abilities they have and not to ask for help from another. A linebacker for the Denver Broncos, Miller has held a “Pass Rush Summit” for the last two years. The idea is to bring players from different teams to share ideas and improve their game which will ultimately lead into more Quarterback Sacks. This is something that benefits pass-rushing in the NFL but the publicity shows that people from different teams can work together.

More important than sacks, Miller’s summit will have an effect on the game of football, which is all about timing and 4-second bursts between teams. The pass rush is one small part of a football game but it creates a domino effect that leads to a re-imagining in all aspects of the game: preparation, pre-snap, play, and review. Just by improving the level of play in 1 of 22 on the field at a time, the other 21 players will have to respond and adjust in the same kind of way. There is something special about this summit coming from Miller, it’s not something that would have the same effect if it were done by someone else or at any other time. His name, his career, and his success as a pass rusher have given him credibility that shows other players that they should not be afraid in sharing information or giving another team or player the edge in any game.

There is a general understanding, a sort of natural thought, to keep secrets from other people because you want to do anything to keep other people from getting to the top. This could be out of premature jealousy or fierce competition; either way, it limits the way players can improve and the competition of a game. In bringing together high-performance players to talk, teach, and learn from each other, Miller has taken away the idea that you have to work alone to be the best, which doesn’t make that much sense in a team sport. It’s starting to have an effect in other team sports, where Lebron James, Kawhi Leonard, and Kevin Durant of the NBA were recently practicing together, with a group of their own.

This type of interaction has happened before but not in the same way or to the same effect. Maybe it’s just the timing or the powerful public persona that Von Miller has, either way, his Pass Rush Summit is important to the original idea of competition.

To be the best you have to beat the best, consistently. It can stop at one win but there is also a powerful factor in longevity and winning repeatedly. Now that I say this, I think of another instance shown on film. I’m not entirely familiar with the actual story but I know enough about the rivalry between two Formula 1 Drivers (Niki Lauda and James Hunt) who were the premise of the 2013 film directed by Ron Howard, Rush. In the movie, as I remember Lauda was shown as the bad guy and Hunt was the playful personality with a chip on his shoulder. Basically, we can compare this relationship to the most recent Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles where one team has been a consistent Champion while the other played extremely well for one season. I’m not trying to take anything from these Eagles or James Hunt (Lauda is known to respect Hunt’s skill and that Wentz Magic was pretty unbelievable) but it is an element of any sport and it’s a mindset that each player, team, etc. has to consider. You have to ask questions like “Why am I playing?”, “Why do I want to win?”, “What do I want to show?” Any game or sport deserves respect from the people that play. People like Miller and Lauda understand the need for competition and how to challenge each other as a part of the game that is played. Other people want to win and prove a point. Still, they need to have talent and build the skills to do so. We can’t take anything away from Championship winners because if anything, for one season, game, race, or match they were the best and they were not beaten.

Von Miller is reminding people about the importance of communication and competition. It’s not like he’s giving away secrets. The conversations on that summit are about what works and how the game can change between players, not what corners to cut but how to be better. Each person still  has a choice in accepting or refusing to use new or different information. 

We need more summits, more interactions, more joint practices because to improve individually and together is to inherently change.

Some Thoughts on Writing

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I think I’ve always been the most effective when working with the writing form. I don’t want to call myself a writer (complicated thought), but it’s the profession I build my resume around. This is a realization I’ve had recently and I’ve only started to apply it in all parts of my life.

I watch a lot of movies. I do some reading (I’d like to do more, but that’s another conversation). I do a fair amount of writing. Let’s focus on the movies since they’re the easiest to visualize: I have found myself following dialogue a lot closer. In doing this, I’ve noticed that there are some lines that don’t fit. This could be me being pretentious but I believe there’s something about writing that a person can’t really control. Dialogue is something that cannot be forced. In that way, once a character is created there are some things they would say and others they would not.

There’s a natural progression and way of speech for each character because they’re usually built on the idea of a person. A person has a lot of default reactions and vocabulary so it’s easier to interact with the world around them. Characters are not to be used by the writer. They are created but once they take their own form there is a specific way they interact with the situations they’re forced into. A writer (at least in fiction) is supposed to make characters, put them into specific situations, and follow the characters through the events that follow. The process of writing is a journey, a writer can’t control a character because there is some semblance of rules in the anatomy of personality. You could argue that a writer can make up a species but there will have to be rules. Those rules or lack of rules will still create a character with some understanding of their existence which influences the way they act.

Besides the dialogue, the writer also has the ability to create focus for the audience. This is more common in books. What I mean is that the writer chooses which details to focus on. There was a book I read recently where the ending centered on the romantic aspects of the story. I’m fine with a romantic ending, the relationship wasn’t the problem, it was a logical progression. The problem I had was the intense focus on the relationship in the end. It felt forced, it was what the writer wanted and not how the story ended. I understand that endings are difficult but I also have strong opinions on a lot of things. I want to offer an alternative ending, but I cannot because they aren’t my characters, so I can only express my dislike.

I’m not calling writers out individually or trying to put down their work because the job isn’t easy but, like anything, there’s room for improvement. Still, in a lot of major productions there are a lot of situations where creative control is split between powers. Sometimes, there’s a committee involved and other times a deal has to be struck. There’s a difference between writing for business or media and writing for art, usually one gets published and the other doesn’t get finished. No matter why something is written, a part of the process requires sacrifice.

Some people would tell me to write my own story if I’m so good. I do want to and I kind of am but those take more time and I’m busy and I’m struggling with my identity as a writer and what exactly that means for me…Anyways, being a critic is much easier and that’s why people do it more often. Still, I want to be clear that I don’t intend to criticize in the usual way and say something is good or bad. I’m only trying to share my thoughts and the things I notice based on the rules I’ve learned.

Like anything, writing has a process. While you can create something without attention to the process, there is usually something that ends up suffering.

There’s Always More to Learn

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I should challenge more people directly. I should have challenged more people in past instances of my life. But I didn’t. I held back. Because people are fragile. It’s not that they don’t want to be challenged, only that they want to do it on their terms. If I challenged everyone when I should have it may have led to an influence towards change but, the chances of that happening now are lower than the chances of a person just getting mad, responding emotionally, and not realizing what I was challenging and how that could make them better. 

It’s not only that people are fragile, but also that once they understand another person, they expect certain things. People don’t expect a challenge from me. At least not all people and if they do it’s in a very specific place. When you do something people don’t expect from you it throws them off but if you act normally — however that may be — then everything is fine. I don’t blame other people for my lack of involvement, I understand that I have to also be active. But I do blame people — at least human nature — for not being more open to a consistent change in their environment. People don’t like thinking about their problems all the time, or complex ideas, so I often stay quiet or tailor my input to the conversation.

But in an academic environment, people are a bit more prepared for challenge. Still, in the current state (in the USA and to some degree, other countries), those challenges aren’t well-coordinated. Curriculum, public funding, and the lack of preparation that teachers are given do not account for the constant change and variety of thought that exists in a classroom. Students aren’t given the option to learn and their individual skills and interests aren’t properly addressed. Teachers give lessons and assignments that work for the a percentage of a classroom, but even a clock is right twice a day. Students are told they need to pay attention but they’re learning blindly, they have no direction.

People are protective of themselves and of others. Growing is hard, questioning your own beliefs and ideas: moreso. Having everything you understand about the world around you deconstructed by an other people is not something people willingly look for. But these things are necessary for progress. People are afraid of being mistaken and they don’t like admitting to being wrong but the way I understand the world around me is that we don’t actually know what is actually correct so I keep looking for new questions.

You have to think about creating change in terms of revolt and societal understandings. It has to be timed well, you have to know how to challenge so people learn and apply those lessons in real life. Education is hypothetical and people need to learn more to connect those ideas to the physical reality. I believe my role is to do challenge others to become better but I’m still working on how exactly to do that.