Jack Harnish writes about the move toward maturity, in life and faith, as we all leave behind prejudices, outdated opinions, and things that no longer make sense.
JOHN E. HARNISH
Retired Pastor, Michigan Conference
Joan Anderson died last month at 101 years old. The New York Times obituary called her the unsung heroine of hula hoop history.
In 1956, Joan encountered a wooden exercise ring called “the hoop” in Australia, brought one home, and started twirling. When someone told her it looked like she was doing the traditional Hawaiian dance, the hula hoop was born.
Joan and her husband pitched the idea to Wham-O, and a handshake deal was made. The toy company ran with it, made a fortune, and left Joan in the dust. For many years, she fought for recognition and financial compensation. In a few short years, the fad faded, and Anderson was mostly forgotten.
A quick Google search will tell you where you can still find adult hula hoops, weighted hula hoops, hula hoops for kids, and even smart hula hoops for $153.32, no less! Recently, on America’s Got Talent, Andrea Hulamyhoop set a new Guinness World Record for the longest duration hula hooping around the bum. I hope Joan Anderson saw it.
I remember my hula hoop.
I must have been about 10 or 12 years old when I started twirling and twisting. My dad had an 8mm movie camera, but as far as I know, there are no clips extant of my feeble efforts at keeping the thing aloft.
At the same time as the hula hoop came on the recreation scene, the movie version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific hit the big screen, a show ahead of its time in confronting racial prejudice. With bitter sarcasm, one of the songs says:
“You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade —
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate —
You’ve got to be carefully taught!”
Joan Anderson’s death, the memories of my hula hoop, and South Pacific reminded me of St. Paul’s reflection: “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways” (1 Corinthians 13:11, NRSVUE).
It’s about maturing in the faith, in our understanding of the world, in our view of life.
As we mature, we realize there are things we might have believed in the past, childish things we might have been taught before we were six or seven or eight, which we need to leave behind. Old racism and prejudices, outdated opinions, things that no longer make sense.
This summer marks the centennial of the Scopes “Monkey” Trial in Tennessee, an event that challenged narrow interpretations of the Bible in the light of emerging science. Childish things.
I have no idea what happened to my hula hoop. I left it back there, somewhere, in my childish past. There are other things I have left behind as well.
So it is in life, and so it is in faith.
Last Updated on August 26, 2025