Reviewing the situation

Ron Moody as Fagin

Ron Moody sang the retrospective, "Reviewing the Situation" in the movie of the Broadway show, "Oliver." He played Fagin, a British Charles Dickens character, a master thief, and mentor to the Artful Dodger and young Oliver Twist. There is no mention in the movie that Fagin is a Jew. That's a positive for us.

Last week the universities of Louisiana State (LSU) and Kentucky played a basketball game. For most of the world, it was irrelevant, but the two teams were both on a roll, and the clash lived up to all high expectations.

LSU, up by two points, fouled Kentucky’s Keldon Johnson with six seconds left in the game. Johnson, who was 3-of-7 from the foul line up to that point, calmly sank both free throws to tie the score.
LSU had the ball and one final chance. Junior Skylar Mays drove to the basket and missed a layup, but teammate Kavell Bigby-Williams was there for the tip-in. End of game.

Except that there was controversy. Seems that the tip-in should have been disallowed due to the rule that a ball cannot be touched if any part of the ball is 'in the cylinder' formed above the rim. The call or non-call is not reviewable according to the rules of basketball. The 'non-call' made Kentucky fans irate, as you can imagine. None of the Kentucky fans seemed to notice when seconds before one of their players had his hand up through the ring, which also should have been called as a goal-tending penalty and thus awarding the LSU team with the goal. But selective crowd refereeing is not limited to basketball.

A couple weeks ago, the New Orleans Saints were playing a football game (NFC Championship Game) in their home field, the SuperDome. They played against the eventual winner, the Los Angeles Rams. In the last two minutes, on a 3rd and 10 play, New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees threw a sideline pass which fell incomplete. The Saints kicked a field goal to go ahead by 3 points on the next play. The problem? Robey-Coleman, defenseman of the Rams clearly interfered with that pass and committed two offenses. Neither of those was called by the referees standing within meters of the play. It was a shocking non-call. Again it was also not reviewable by the referees up in the booth.  The whole description of the situation is here.

Due to the rules of each game, certain plays are able to be reviewed by the officials who are not on the court or the field. Certain other plays are not able to be reviewed. That's how rules work. Whether hawkeye on the tennis court or the VAR of the soccer World Cup, some things can be reviewed.

Speaking personally and not via a sports image, I like to review situations. I like to think back over my life, and over interactions with others. I go back over many in my mind, even now. I'm remembering mistakes I've made and moments where I've done things correctly.  Making an inventory of personal moments, defects of character, positive responses to situations... it's about reviewing the situations. Thanks Ron Moody.

When you review the situations of your life, do you see images and people? Do you feel emotions? Do you wish to go back and repair mistakes? I certainly do. But those are irretrievable. Those moments are part of your own history that made you into the you you became. For better or worse, you are you now, and those lessons of the dark past helped make you act better today. Or so I hope.

The Bible uses the term 'sin' to call out mistakes we made and offers us repair via 'repentance.' That's way better than regret or dismissal. Look back. Ponder. Consider the hurts you caused others to experience. Set and keep high standards. Then repent, admit you were wrong, ask God to forgive you, and when it won't harm others more, ask them to forgive you for the wrongs you committed.

That's the point of reviewing the situation. Let's do better next time. Fagin's song is all about NOT amending his life. That's not useful to society. The NFL is reviewing their entire refereeing regimen, and I expect some significant amendments to their review process.

What will you do as you review the situations of your life?