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BreakPoint Cultural commentary with Prison Fellowship's Chuck Colson http://www.breakpoint.org September 10, 2004 Priorities - Who Are the Real Stars? Ben Stein knows his celebrities. In fact, the economist, actor, game show host, and writer, whom I am happy to number among my friends, knows so many celebrities that the website E! Online asked him to write a regular column about his encounters with the rich and famous. Stein wrote that column, titled �Monday Night at Morton�s,� for nearly eight years. But he�s not writing it anymore. In his last installment, Stein explained, �Real stars are not riding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trained in yoga or Pilates and eating raw fruit while they have Vietnamese girls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me any longer. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who poked his head into a hole [in the dirt] on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met by a bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject Saddam Hussein. . . . A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to a road north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killed him. A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day,� writes Stein, �is the U.S. soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexploded ordinance. . . . He pushed her aside and threw himself on it just as it exploded.� * * * * * * * * * * * * ADVERTISEMENT * * * * * * * * * * * Nothing Could Be Closer To The Truth Check out the Holman Christian Standard Bible! An all-new translation directly from the original biblical languages. http://l.salemweb.net/lfway0404b/bp/091004/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Hearing about �real stars� like these did something to Stein�s sense of priorities. As he put it, �I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poor values, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that who is eating at Morton�s is a big subject.� Stein understands that the most valuable work he has ever done was being a good husband and father and caring for his ailing parents. �I came to realize,� he writes, �that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, in return for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He has placed in my path.� Amen. I thought about Stein�s column in light of the third anniversary of the vicious terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 . That day we saw the kind of heroism Stein celebrates. There were firemen who, as others rushed out of the World Trade Center towers, rushed in. We saw police on the scene keeping order, risking their lives. There were the passengers of United Flight 93 who died fighting back, thus preventing the plane from crashing into the White House or Congress. We saw the heroism of doctors, nurses, EMTs, construction workers, ministers, and blood donors who rushed to help. We learned something about heroism that day, but the passage of time since has taken the edge off the lesson. We again seem to care more about who�s at Morton�s, or who the latest heartthrob is, or our matinee idols than about our troops trying to keep peace in the swirl of Middle Eastern violence. I agree with Stein. It�s high time we started to recognize who the �real stars� are. And this sobering anniversary is an opportunity to do just that. Visit the Breakpoint website at http://www.breakpoint.org ____________________SUBSCRIPTION INFO_______________________ * This newsletter is never sent unsolicited. To unsubscribe from this newsletter immediately, simply click on the link below. If this link is not clickable, simply cut and paste it into the address bar of your browser. http://www.salememail.com/unsub/25/1698058.aspx * Copyright � 2004 Salem Web Network and its Content Providers. All rights reserved. 1698058 ____________________________________________________________ TRINITY COLLEGE & SEMINARY OFF CAMPUS & ONLINE Experience Personal & Ministry Growth Through Bible-Focused Degree Programs Associate and Bachelor of Arts Master of Arts, M.Div., Doctor of Arts, Doctor of Ministry http://l.salemweb.net/tcs2003tr/footer/ ____________________________________________________________ Questions or comments can be sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> $9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/BCfwlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> <a href=http://English-12948197573.SpamPoison.com>Fight Spam! Click Here!</a> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kumpulan/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
