By Stan Friedman
CHICAGO, IL (May 9, 2014) – Many Covenanters routinely share links to social media articles and videos with one another that Covenant News Service believes may be of interest to others. Each Friday we post five of them. Following is a sample of those submissions—their inclusion does not represent an endorsement of any views expressed.
Kevin Durant’s 2014 MVP Speech (Dedicated to his Mother)
Like most basketball games, the best part of Kevin Durant’s 2014 MVP speech comes in the final two minutes. Even if you don’t like basketball, watch this excerpt.
Unlike most basketball games, the rest is also worth watching. If you want to see what unselfish, humble leadership in any setting looks and sounds like, then watch the entire 26 minutes. It’s funnier than most sitcoms and more real than any reality show.
How to Be Happy — and the Problem with Advice on Happiness
Sally Quinn, a longtime Washington Post reporter and founding editor of the OnFaith website, is nearly 73 years old and has lived through plenty, including the worsening dementia of her husband Ben Bradlee. All those advice books fall way short, she says. She criticizes them for not taking seriously that no one can be happy all the time, the importance of prayer, and the search for meaning.
I laughed as I read how she “nearly threw one current bestseller across the room this past week. It was filled with formulaic, bromidic, superficial, fatuous advice: eat well, exercise, get plenty of sleep, meditate.” Given other reasons she mentions, I’m sure it was Arianna Huffington’s new book. I do wish writers would simply name names in a report like this. They do a disservice to readers through this kind of cowardice, especially if the tome is a best-seller. I mean (no pun intended), if you can mention Victor Frankl’s name and his classic Man’s Search for Meaning, then you can reference a fatuous best-selling author who for reasons that can be clear only to God exerts influence on public discourse.
Happy Birthday, Kierkegaard: The First Existential Philosopher on Our Greatest Source of Unhappiness
I’m going to go out on the limb here and say Ms. Huffington probably didn’t read Kierkegaard. Maria Popova, another great writer, celebrates the philosopher’s birthday with an understandable excerpt from his book Either/Or: A Fragment of Life.
A Cartoonist’s Funny, Heartbreaking Take on Caring for Aging Parents
One of the New Yorker’s most popular cartoonists Roz Chastas has published Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, a graphic memoir that NPR says “celebrates the final years of her aging parent’s lives through cartoons, family photos, and documents that reflect the artist’s struggles with caregiver challenges. She spoke about the topic with Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. You can listen to the interview as well as read highlights of the interview. You can also read an excerpt from the book.
Five Signs You May Have Wrong View of God
Doh! I probably should post this in my cubicle and at home. You might want to as well.
