Here, Dr. Beck pulled some scripture in an attempt to justify social justice as a goal of the church. I take no issue with Dr. Beck regarding this as a goal of the church. What I find problematic with Dr. Beck's thinking is a complete disregard for the process toward achieving that goal. It is that line of thought that has become all too prevalent in our society. We stake out noble goals, but neglect to consider the need for an appropriate process toward those goals.
At the end of this series of posts, I'll address Dr. Beck's theological points in more detail. Theology is just one area where this focus on outcomes over process is destructive. I'll attempt to focus on four areas where I am intimately involved as a coach, educator, citizen, and Christ-follower. In each of these realms, I will show how an overemphasis of preferable outcomes and a neglect of process has resulted in an overall negative for that realm.
Part I-Athletics
I choose to address athletics first because the occurrence of this phenomenon in this field is probably the least controversial, and the solutions in sport are quite often tremendous object lessons for the rest of society (see Jackie Robinson and integration). Once upon a time, the sportswriter Grantland Rice penned these famous lines:
For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks-not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game.
Rice's sentiment expressed in this poem seems today as antiquated as leather helmets and peach baskets when viewed in comparison to the contemporary attitude about sports. Today, only winning matters. At the professional level, we see athletes risking their lives and abusing their bodies in pursuit of that alluring end. At the college level, we see administrations, coaches, and players paying but lip service to the "collegiate" side of intercollegiate athletics. Players are routinely coddled through "classes" designed to keep them eligible so their teams can keep winning. Coaches and administrators talk a good game about the protection of the "student-athlete" all the while creating a system that uses up their talents and all too often carelessly throws them out without regard once those talents are used up.
This attitude has even filtered down to the high schools and youth sports. Recently, at my 9 year-old son's baseball game, I witnessed a coach instructing his players to untie their shoes and tie them again and engage in other fabricated tactics designed to delay the start of the next inning and thereby end the game with their team ahead. What are these children learning about competition and fair play, the process of sport which used to be valued above the outcome of the game?
As in all things, process matters; moreover, attending to the proper processes ensure positive outcomes. The legendary John Wooden, who won 10 championships in 12 years at UCLA, was famous for his emphasis of process over outcome. Wooden would start his practices each year by teaching his players how to properly put on their socks and shoes. It was this attention to detail and process that brought about the Bruins' success. Wooden notoriously would not scout his opponents, insisting that if his players executed their roles as best they could, they would be successful. Wooden is still lauded today for his "pyramid of success," a dedication to process toward outcome if there ever was one.
So we can see in sport that attention to process does bring about desired results. Sadly, we also see in today's sport that the allure of instant success and a reticence toward the hard work required to engage in the process often leads people off the path toward true success and onto a path that might lead to temporary riches, but ultimately ends in destruction.
In succeeding posts, we'll examine how this same attitude has manifested itself in education, politics, and religion.
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