Why would any city or country want to host the Olympics?

It makes little sense.

That's why Malcolm Gladwell says the Olympics should be split out by events in various cities and countries. To me, Gladwell's proposal makes sense, sparing cities and countries $12-billion boondoggles that benefit no one by the International Olympic Committee.

Today's Word of the Day: Ethology

A form of this word came up while re-reading Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference in preparation for two-plus days of upcoming meetings.

When I think about it, the word makes sense. The prefix, as I'm familiar with it, comes from the koine (common) Greek New Testament word ethos, which means customs and usage, in addition to, sometimes, morals or character. Ethos is about how people do things.

The suffix-logy, from the Greek logos, literally means word. As it's been transliterated into English, the word means, literally the word about or, less literally, the study of the subject of the word's prefix. So psychology is the study of the psyche (life) of a person; geology is the study of earth (ge in the Greek); anthropology is the study of human beings; sociology is the study of people in society, and so on.

But I hadn't remembered ethology from my first time through Gladwell. Apparently, there are people who are ethologists. Wonder if that's printed on their business cards? ("Joe Smith, Professional Ethologist.")

And once people realize what an ethologist does, do they become self-conscious about everything they do and why they do it when they're with an ethologist?

When they're on airplanes, do ethologists try to keep their profession secret from seatmates until after they've established a rapport, the way we pastors do?

Back to my reading.

[Blogger Mark Daniels is the pastor of Living Water Lutheran Church, Centerville, Ohio.]

Every Parent Should Read Gladwell's Article on Jerry Sandusky: Be Your Child's Advocate!

Malcolm Gladwell dissects the sexual molestation horrors perpetrated by Jerry Sandusky and his ilk here. It's astounding the degree of patient planning and trust-building to which these monsters devote themselves to gain the trust of their victims and their parents.

I am convinced this is not an isolated phenomenon. During her public school career, our daughter had two male PhysEd teachers who "creeped her out" with what she felt like inappropriate language and advances.

In each case, the perps claimed mystification at our daughter's reactions to their cleverly ambiguous attacks.

Nonetheless, we stuck to accepting our daughter's judgment in each case and I said that she had to be transferred out of their classes.

Subsequent events demonstrated that her wariness of the two teachers was warranted. Both eventually got caught up in scandals and were convicted of criminal charges for having sexual relations with underage students.

Reprehensible as these teachers were, the victims of their predatory behavior were not the kinds of kids Sandusky picked on. He liked boys, for one thing. He also tended to psychologically manipulate what, at one time, would have been called "at risk" youngsters.

But as Gladwell shows, while the MO of these sexual predators is similar, they all work assiduously at establishing the trust of their communities and good "youth advocates and friends" before starting to force themselves sexually on their prey.

Nonetheless, the moral of all these stories should be plain: If your child feels uncomfortable around an adult authority figure who seems to be making sexual advances, do not quickly dismiss your child's allegations. Believe them first. Few children are going to make up such personally-humiliating stories. Be your child's advocate! Presume that they are innocent and not gratuitous liars or participants in "mass hysteria."

Thanks to Samantha Ettus for tweeting about this piece and to two friends mentioning it as well.