Example. I'm sure you all have heard about the football coach being charged with one of his player's death. The young man died from the heat, after being taken to the hospital with a temperature of 107 degrees. Apparently the coach denied him water and pushed him to keep practicing until he collapsed, along with another player who survived. In watching various news networks coverage and discussion about this incident I heard a few of the following:
- Players should be pushed. How was the coach to know that the kid wasn't just being weak and not wanting to practice?! He did nothing wrong.
- Athletes are liked fine-tuned machines that you have to keep maintainenced and lubed. You have to make sure atheletes have what they need to perform their best.
And Mike heard on sports radio the hosts discussing how lazy and weak kids are these days because they used to always be running around outside with no problems.
I have to say that if I trusted my child to the care of a coach or anyone, I would hope that they saw him as a person, not just as an athlete who should be pushed until breaking so that they can make their team look good or not as a machine to be tuned. I'm not saying that we should do everything for our kids or give them everything they want, but I think we can fairly say that this is a time when maybe a person's worth could be more than what it was, worth a drink and a break.
In more and more of what I see of business, sports, and the like, the world tends to base one's worth on what is accomplished, scored, performed, or earned instead of viewing their inherent worth just by existing. Maybe if more of the world was viewed that way, there would be a little more charity - helping when needed, giving the benefit of the doubt, forgiving, thinking the best of one another, being kind, understanding - and therefore more happiness and less stress. I really hope I can remember to look at people that way, especially my children.
No comments:
Post a Comment