#or telling me that the way i'm looking at things is naive and uneducated

[idontlikeem]

i'm just getting my thoughts out about today's injury updates and some of the reactions i'm seeing. i'm trying to process some of the ultra-pessimism that's going around and really am just talking to myself out loud about why i don't agree. please feel free to skip this. but i like to think i'm fairly moderated in what i think about this team and their capabilities, so if you're feeling very down about their gameplay and/or the contract situation, maybe this will help? idk.

ok so like....here's the thing.

we were always the underdogs this postseason, even before jarry's injury, but especially after it. no matter who our opponent ended up being, rangers canes panthers, whoever else ended up being a possibility in the waning weeks of the regular season, we were going into it as the team favored to lose the series.

being an underdog isn't necessarily a bad thing! especially a team captained by sidney crosby—he's the most competitive man alive, and being told he can't do something is the fastest way to make him prove that he can.

but that depends on the team as a whole coming together and becoming more than the sum of their parts. it means them playing out of their heads for the full 60 minutes (or, yknow. 100+. whatever.), every single night.

it takes defense that's almost flaw-free, without the big mistakes that kris and mike are both prone to.

it takes offense that scores, that can finish all the chances the underlying numbers say they're creating. and not just sid's line, all of them. goals from all four lines and the defense too are crucial.

it takes a heavy, sustained forecheck, which is the system the penguins use and are the most effective with, for the entirety of the game. it's a lot of physical and mental work to do that, but all it takes is one line being a little lazy for one shift and the whole thing falls apart.

we've seen them put together plenty of complete games this season against good opponents. we've also seen them stray way off-system and shit the bed, against both good and bad opponents. is it nice to have a goalie who's ace enough to bail your ass out if you screw up? yes, of course. but jarry is not and never was shesterkin—at his best, he's very good, but he's not always at his best, and his best was never at that level.

without that level of a cheat code in net, it makes the whole team's performance significantly more important.

can they do it? sure, of course. we've seen it. the series is tied, after all. will they do it for three to five more games to successfully get out of this series? that remains to be seen and is up to them. they may be able to pull it off. they also might not, especially given the other injuries they're dealing with. neither outcome would surprise me, and i would not be disappointed with an early exit—so much going on right now is utterly out of the team's control.

what i REALLY don't understand, though, is why people are connecting casey getting core muscle surgery to geno and tanger's contract situations.

i don't have any inside knowledge here, of course. i don't know any more than anyone else. we can listen to what people like rossi and yohe say, but we have no idea how valid their information is either, especially when it's contradicting what other sources are reporting. the truth is we simply do not know what's going on.

but just like casey being out does not fundamentally alter our overall playoff chances (due to us already being an underdog), casey being out also doesn't have anything to do with the future of the core in pittsburgh. why on earth would it? what does our second-string goalie have to do with extending one of the faces of the franchise and their #1 defenseman?

i'm not gonna say i'm feeling all that optimistic about this team's chances. they're streaky and prone to making unforced errors that come back to bite them, and they're going up against an unbelievably talented goalie. none of that changes no matter who's in our net. but i'm also not throwing the towel in immediately and saying that everything's over. we've played two games and won one of them!

i'm also not going to say i feel 100% confident geno and kris are back next year. they might be, or one of them might be. they also might both go elsewhere.

but there's just no connection between these two things. and there's really no reason to say, 'welp, that's it, i'm done, these worst-case scenarios are absolutely a done deal, i'm going to gloom all over the place about how horrible it all is'. what good does that do for your own personal mindset? we can't see into the future. we just don't know!

i dunno. i just don't understand the connections being made, or the purpose of deciding it's all over forever. unless you can see into the future, there in't a way to know! anything can happen, including good things.

[everythingismadeupp]

The Importance of History - Israel vs Palestine

(is it even real? - kidding lol)

I've noticed over time that history gets a lot of hate. A large portion of people out there look at it as a useless study because "what has happened has already happened". Personally, I think that it is really silly and naive to look at things. History is more than just a story of the past; it also helps us better understand the future. Don't believe me? Let's look at the Israel vs. Palestine conflict that erupted not too long ago.

For context, in October, a full-blown war between Israel and Palestine started overnight, basically. Hamas (Palestine) launched a massive, unprecedented surprise attack on Israel, and now Israel is about to wipe the Gaza Strip off the map in the coming days, by the sounds of it. It's crazy. But beyond craziness, it's also a bit scary because Hamas's biggest allies are Iran and Syria. And Israel is one of the USA's biggest allies. Iran and Russia are major allies... see where I'm going with this? And it gets deeper. Israel has the world's fourth strongest and largest army, behind the US, Russia, and China. Their ground troops are known to be the most skilled in the world. If anything, it's almost suspicious. Israel is known for its intelligence and its impenetrable Iron Dome air defense system. Yet, Hamas just surprised Israel by launching like 5000 missiles out of nowhere, and everyone can't understand how... like, asking if the Iron Dome is down or didn't work, or what went wrong? Or... they knew and let it happen so they could wipe them off the map once and for all.

This is where history can be used to better understand it. If a completely uneducated person looked at this conflict, everything I've just mentioned above wouldn't make sense or wouldn't even be thought of. To them, it would simply be that Palestine was angry, and they invaded. But I believe that it goes so much deeper than that. We can use history to understand that for years, Israel and Palestine have had conflicts. From territorial disputes to the status of Jerusalem (both consider it their capital), the two nations have never gotten along.

By looking at history, it allows us to better understand both sides and why the events that took place happened. However, not to contradict my point because, as mentioned above, I do still believe that history is very essential to understand this and any other current-day conflict, we also can never know for certain.

Yes, history can be used to better understand, but not to ever understand completely. History is helpful in the way that it shows us the patterns. We, as a society, are known to repeat our mistakes, hold grudges, and always turn towards violence. All things that are shown and explained by looking at history and then applying that to this conflict. But at the same time, history has also shown that countries and those in charge often have ulterior motives that we don't and probably will never know about. We can speculate, but that's about it. For all we know, the Israel-Palestine conflict could involve aliens and the CIA. Sure, it's unrealistic, but who are we to know for certain?

History only tells us a piece of the puzzle because, despite our pattern to repeat history, people are also impulsive and irrational. In this vast, wild world, it's impossible, even with history on our side, to know for sure.

Not to bring it back to this... but what if we are in a simulation, and everything with Israel-Palestine was already preplanned, which is why history is so helpful in understanding it? Think about it.

[a34trgv2]

It's Complicated: My Spiritual Beliefs vs The World

I'm a Christian. Or, at least, I'm a flawed Christian. I thought I had grown spiritually since being baptized in Jesus' name and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost back in 2014. The reality is my beliefs have become more complicated as I try to balance my spiritually beliefs with my own personal beliefs. This is gonna be a long post so I'd strap in if I were you.

Let's start with what I believe wholeheartedly. I believe there is one God and His name is Jesus. I also believe the 10 Commandments are valid and reasonable decrees, that the Devil is a bully and a liar, and that Heaven and Hell are real places. While these beliefs shouldn't be controversial, things get a little more complicated when it comes to the other things Christians believe.

Christianity generally believes you must always forgive people even when it's hard. While it's true Jesus forgives everyone, the mentality that you MUST forgive people doesn't sit right with me. As far back as I can remember, forgiveness has always been a choice, not a requirement. By saying you have to forgive someone, you not giving people the right to choose, which God did in the very beginning. I don't think you should force or be critical of someone who chooses not to forgive. That's their choice; you don't have to agree with it, but you should empathize with them.

Another hot topic when it comes to Christianity in regards to homosexuality. It's well documented that Christianity considers homosexual practices a sin and is the catalyst for the destruction of nations such as Sodom and Gomorrah and the Roman Empire. I once thought similarly that it was undoubtedly sinful when I was uneducated and naive. Now that I'm older and have done actual research, I don't think it's as black and white as I once thought. The term "homosexual" was only coined recently in the 1800s and wasn't in the original Hebrew text of the Bible. Christians point to Leviticus 18:22 as proof positive that homosexuality is a sin, though what's often left out is the context. Leviticus comprises of what God was telling His people what to do and what not to do through Moses when constructing their own nation. It's also worth noting that God never elaborated on what He meant by "Thou shall not lie with mankind as with womankind." Who is "thou?" Thou Moses? Thou the people of Israel? Were all the people of Isreal male? No, there were women too, so was the verse just applied to the men? If so, why not specify that? And why not specify that the problem isn't being so much a man being affectionate with another man, but being lustful as he would a woman is an abomination? Literally everybody agrees that perverts are the real bane of humanity's existence, so why not say that instead of being vague? This is why I can't in good conscience be anti-LGBTQ; there's no objective answer to whether being gay is actually good or not.

One aspect about my beliefs that I have a hard time grappling with is prayer. Try as I might, I just can't kneel down and talk to an invisible God that doesn't talk back in a voice that's above a whisper. I've seen other Christians get really into prayer, to the point where they're crying and speaking in tongues. Me, though, I just can't get myself that emotional when I'm praying. I don't know if it's because I'm not as emotional of a person or prayer just isn't the best method for me to communicate with God. Either way, I just can't pray honestly without making it look awkward, like I'm talking to nothing... no one.

I'm not really a fan of the idea of forcing Christianity down people's throats. Like, it seems a really counter productive to force people to renounce their way of living in favor of living for Christ. Again, everyone has to have the right to choose. God specifically created man with the right to choose. I do agree that Christians should continue to preach the gospel and offer people an opportunity to join the church. That said, I personally draw the line at telling people they have to join the church or else they'll go to Hell. To someone who's not a Christian, being told they'd go Hell if they don't follow God's commandments to a tee and be just like Jesus makes it sound more like a cult than a religion. I don't want to give off the wrong impression so I think it's best to treat others with dignity and respect and offer them a business card to my church than to go on a long winded sermon about how this world is entering a dark age.

I don't know when Jesus Christ is coming back, but I don't think it's gonna be in my lifetime. I've listened to many sermons that say look out for the signs and that the day is coming. There's been a lot of wars, earthquakes, famine, all that stuff. You'd think Jesus would've come back by now with the amount of catastrophes that happened these past 20 years alone. But even after going to war with Iraq and Afghanistan, a massive earthquake decimating Haiti, famine ravaging Eastern Africa, and even someone as diabolical and cruel as Osama Bin Laden breathing the same air as the people he's killed for 54 years, Jesus hasn't come back yet. This leads me to think that should he return to this world, it'll be long after I'm already dead. That's okay, though, because I'll still make it to Heaven.

I don't know what to do. If I fully commit myself to God and live like my fellow Christian breathern, I make myself ignorant or apathetic to real world issues that aren't as black and white as I once thought. But if I'm not 100% committed to my faith, I'm seen as less of a Christian by my peers. I wish God could respond to this post and tell me honestly what He thinks about all this. Anyway, thanks for listening to me ramble. Have a blessed day