I
collect a lot of bits and pieces of information. Years ago I kept a box of clippings from
newspapers and magazines, as well as copies of something I might have read, or
scribbles of something I heard and wrote down.
Today with the Internet, I cut and paste snippets from articles I have
come across, or download things that I want to remember or return to at some
point. As I was sorting through some of
my “treasures” I came across a statement that I cut and pasted during the time
of the New Orleans Saints “bounty-gate scandal” when coaches and players
conspired to deliberately injure opposing players for cash during NFL football
games. The quote comes from an article
written by my favorite sports columnist, Jason Whitlock from Fox Sports. Here it is:
“Payton, Williams, Jonathan Vilma and all the Saints reflect what is true
about modern American society. We’re cold, ruthless and unashamed in pursuit of
the things we want. We no longer pretend fair play is important or valued. We
condone torture. We’ve lost the courage to compromise, surrendering our
national discourse to left and right extremists.”
Boy! That is a pretty strong indictment of the society
we live in, and when I look at politics, it does ring very true. Politicians have lost all sense of decorum,
including our Supreme Court justices who make very derogatory public comments
after rulings, which is something that has not happened in our nation’s history
until recently. Name-calling is
basically accepted on the floor of our congress, and in the media it happens on
a daily basis. It seems that in every
political race of importance, rules are bent and candidates will say whatever
they need to in order to garner a few more votes. In speeches things are said that have no
factual basis without apology or remorse.
It goes beyond politics.
How many times in recent years has the media published something that is
wrong in order to win the race to be the first?
For most of our history there was a great deal of pride in the integrity
of journalism, but now the competition for being first with a story has erased
all sense of integrity. Major college
athletic programs are rift with cheating and scandal all in the name of
victories, which leads to money and television appearances. What more needs to be said about banks and
Wall Street?
Unfortunately this mentality has invaded our homes as
well. Parents cover up for their
children’s missteps, some of them following the philosophy of “it isn’t
illegal/wrong if you don’t get caught.”
Some choose to move their children around from one district to another
in order to get them on a better team or with a better coach. I have had one coaching friend told by a
parent that he was not to “mess with his son’s pitching mechanics because he
pays for professional pitching instruction.”
Other parents take a great deal of pride of being someone who “says
what’s on their mind” regardless of whether it is appropriate and regardless of
who may hear it or who it may hurt. Kind
of like Nike’s Just Do It mantra, we
now live in a society that also seems to advocate Just Say It!
I believe that we are better than this. But I also recognize that there is a huge
hill to climb. In this country, and in
our community, there are many people with strong moral character, who do things
the right way. They have not been
tainted by the “win at all costs” mentality, or by Just Do It. We need those
people to step forward and lead. If they
aren’t willing to do that on their own, then we need to encourage them to do
so. By the same token, in our schools we
need to do a better job of including character development in everything that
we do. Winning with honor is a much
better motto to live by than winning at all costs. Being respectful and courteous will take us a
lot further in life. Just Do The Right Thing!
