Hot Topic at the moment, amiright?

Everyone is up in arms about the opening ceremony's scene supposedly depicting a modern day version of the ancient Greek bacchanal which is an uncontrollably promiscuous, extravagant, and loud party. With an absurd blue drag queen in the center of it all trying to act as the Greek God Dionysus. Paris was trying to juxtaposition it's diverse history of colourful characters with the ancient Greek history of bombastic gods and excessive parties.

However, the scene resembled something else much more serious for one of the largest religions in the world. The absurd and preposterous depiction eerily emulated the Last Supper from the Bible which, to all Christians, is a sad event in history where Jesus Christ, Saviour and King, sat with his disciples for the final time before being betrayed by Judas, then punished for no crime at all then crucified and died for all of humanity's sin. I can't describe how sacred this is for Christians who believe that the ONLY reason we exist right now on this earth is all due to Jesus dying to cleanse us from our sins.

Sitting side-by-side, these two scenes are too similar to dismiss the possibility of suggestive likeness or representation. 

So the objective here today isn't to pass judgement, there is too much of that already in the world. Nor is it to discuss history, religion or the intricacies of dogmatic and creed-rooted discrimination. This post is written with the intention of identifying and discussing a simple truth that seems to escape majority of humanity.

It is NOT the message intended but HOW it's understood.

Argue all you want, but no matter what you say, how you say it, when you say it - I will understand it through my own precept. Perception is everything. Perception extends from experience; hence, when a Greek bacchanal is presented to millions of Christians around the world currently being persecuted by others for their faith and attacked for their beliefs- you get a perfect storm of misinformation, misinterpretation and misrepresentation.

You will also get results like: Samsung Withdrew $1B Sponsorship from Paris Olympics (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/samsung-billion-sponsorship-olympics/). It's no secret that massive brands want to remain neutral in their advertising agendas otherwise they would lose a huge population of consumers. To take a stand like this requires hutzpah (Yiddish for audacity) and certain strategic calculations to stand out and trigger worldwide infamy. Whether this company went ahead with this decision to increase profits, gain more loyal customers, or just to swim against the current - it was most definitely calculated. Here is the crux of my argument - Samsung made this decision for the same reason Christians rose in an uproar about the sacred event of the Last Supper being violated by the Olympics in Paris - OPTICS!

This post is not intended to be political. It is written with the objective observation that we believe what we think. We think what we perceive. We perceive what understand through our own life lens and past experiences.

If you place a child in the corner crying:

• one person will think that they are being abused
• another punished
• grieving a loss of a person or pet
• yet another will see a child who may be spoiled crying over nothing.

Whoa, where did all these perceptions come from? 

It's like reality is an abstract work of art that speaks to all of us in our own voice. So when you say something or try to deliver a message, believe me, it is only 50% SPOKEN and the rest is HOW it is UNDERSTOOD.

I used to have a friend that would constantly discuss current events and the dark doings of others that are conspiring to depopulate the earth and save themselves by harvesting organs of young people.

Now, I know that there are certain truths to everything and I completely agree that evil exists but when this message is delivered, I understood and perceived it as living in a "hopeless future" and "fear over faith". However, I am an optimistic, faithful human being who deems it necessary to do what I can to change the world using God's given talents and giftings. I will conquer my small battles and pray that others do the same and together good will conquer evil. However, I had to keep reminding this individual that "faith is above fear" and that when these things are spoken, the perceptive natural reaction is one of fear. Half the message was spoken and the other half was how it was understood.

Ok, so Paris Olympics, I do have a small message for you: I know you didn't mean it that way but fact is, regardless of your intention, it was how it was perceived. You should have aired on the side of caution and avoided any parallels of mockery to any religion. This will be debated about for a long time and discussed in higher learning institutions and governments for the next millennia. 

You know why? Because it uncovered an incredible amount of political pain and cultural angst.

This is why when you call me to talk and the first thing you say is "My child is autistic, can you help him?", I think - "Is that all he is?"

We are more than what we speak. Our perceptions form the largest part of our reality. If we can shift our perspective on exceptionalities like ADhD, Autism, OCD, and all other differences, then we can change how the world perceives our future generation. We think a child with MID (Mild Intellectual Disorder) will be drooling and in a wheelchair, when he can simply look like you and me.

Perception is a dangerous element of our pondering because it is the executive functioning part of the brain in charge of drawing conclusions and making inferences. Let's try to listen to the message more than decipher it. 

Those are my  two cents.

SB