Sunday, August 11, 2013

Mawkish

The secret of success or happiness is to become a motivational speaker and write your own best selling line of self help or inspirational books that you can flog to the masses at overpriced seminars. The next step is to have your literary agent offer the film rights to a Hollywood studio, and if your work makes it past the development stage, eventually the film version will appear.

Dark Horizons reports that Jack Canfield's Chicken Soup for the Soul series has been picked up for a possible film and television adaptation. Personally, I would have preferred to see a film version of the Chicken Soup for the Soul parody, Chicken Poop for the Soul.

I don't have much time for the self-help movement or motivational speakers, who travel the world giving (usually) expensive seminars on how to achieve success. I can't help but notice that they often seem to confine their speaking tours to affluent first world countries. I know for a fact that one of these speakers has a charitable foundation to assist the poor, but I wonder if he is the exception to the rule.

Rather than paying an exorbitant amount of money to attend one of these seminars, given the choice, I'd rather make a donation to an aid and development agency or some other worthy cause, but only so long as they are not involved in reproductive health.

I offer these comments as a Christian. Western culture seems to emphasize consumerism, individualism, and selfishness. Back in the day an Australian financial services company had an advertising slogan, "The most important person in the world; you." At times this seems counter to the Bible's clear and repeated call to live a life focused on God and generously serving the needs of others and particularly the poor.

http://www.openbible.info/topics/helping_those_in_need

In Old Testament times, the commands in these verses applied to God's covenant people, the nation of Israel, and to the church in the New Testament era. They are not to be taken lightly or disregarded, and should inform our attitudes towards money, possessions, and how we use our disposable income, if we have any.

http://www.chickensoup.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Poop-Soul-Stories-Harden/dp/0671014420

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