"Art is making something out of nothing and selling it." - Frank Zappa

Very brief post tonight. Dinner is in 30 minutes and we go from there right to the evening chapel session. A synopsis of my day:

I got up early, showered and did some reading. Then staff meeting where I warned them about my morning session. B'fast and then chapel. (see below) They have cabin get-togethers after that and I was asked to come chat with one of the cabins where the girls had questions about some of my material. That was fun, talking through it with them.

Lunch was PIZZA! I was hungry. After lunch I took one of the best naps I've had in my entire life. It lasted for almost 90 minutes and I can't remember the last time I slept during the day for more than 20 minutes. I slept like it was the middle of the night. Then I went down to the lake and paddled one of the kayaks around the perimeter, which took almost an hour.

After that bit of physical exercise, which my body also needed, I visited with one of the Jr. High campers who is 12 years old. He's the youngest ever to hold the Washington State Junior Archery Championship. Neat kid, and I learned a ton about archery competition.
Now I'm here.

All week I've been talking about Imago Dei - the image of God. It consists of intellect, emotions and will (volition). At each session I've also been ragging on cats, making sarcastic comments about them and the people who own them. Lots of the kids laughed ("I like cats, I just can't eat a whole one.") but I knew some of them - mostly girls - were getting upset. I'd make a couple at each session.
It was all a set-up.

This morning I started by making another snide - OK, slightly cruel - statement about cats and one of the counselors raised her hand. I called on her and she got all emotional, telling me how much her cat meant to her and how much it hurt to hear me making insensitive comments about cats. I blew her off but she came right back at me, and after working herself to the point of tears she got up and walked out.

That's when I called her back and told the kids it was all a ruse, a plot to jerk them around emotionally. I'd been playing them like a cheap fiddle ever since Sunday night, using my cat comments to slowly build up to this "confrontation" which was really all acting. (That counselor really did cry! but it was because she made herself think about a kitten she had as a child.)

We then talked about how easily emotions can be manipulated. We talked about how advertisers, TV, and friends can get us to do what they want by playing our emotions and they gave me good examples of each. We also talked about how "It's easier to act your way into a new set of feelings than to feel your way into a new set of actions." (Eugene Peterson)

I eventually told them I don't really hate cats, I just wanted to make a point. And my ruse certainly worked. In fact, as that counselor and I were going back and forth another camper tried to jump in and chew me out, too. I could tell by the look on her face that it took her quite awhile to calm down even after I explained what I'd been doing for the last three days. I also told them I was OK if they were ticked at what I'd done so long as they got the point: Understand the role your emotions play and how unreliable they are as the impetus for decisions.

I told another story at the end that suckered them in to feeling sympathetic about Sally, born with several serious physical deformities, including severe bow legs and facial problems. "But don't feel too sorry for her, because Sally is an English Bulldog and she's supposed to look like that... Gotcha!"

That's why I had to warn the counselors at our morning staff session. I needed them to stay stoic through the whole thing and not a) go off on me, or b) try to calm down their campers.

It was fun, at least for me. And I think it got the point across.