COLBY, Kan. - Two recent events in Salina can be compared with one another kind of like a night of television entertainment provided by Professional Wrestling and a night featuring a High School wrestling meet. You figure out which wrestling venue represents the Palin rally and which one can be compared to George Pyle's presentation. Thanks to one of our writers for Kansas Free Press, I had opportunity to read Pyle's speech. I didn't attend Palin's rally nor have I seen the transcript or viewed a reproduction of the event. However, I have had lots of opportunities to hear and see Sarah perform. Without question, I acknowledge her skill as a speaker/performer. She is smart, attractive, and has a charisma that attracts followers. But all those attributes do not convince me that she represents my values or priorities for the role of government in our nation.
I especially liked and agreed with George Pyle:
America, like all civilized and a few not-so-civilized nations, has long accepted the idea that government goes beyond ensuring rights to also providing public goods.
To this I would add that responsible governments demand individual responsibility.
The descriptions and comparisons that I have made are not perfect and they don't represent absolutes. Non of our political parties and their representatives are totally bereft of beneficial social and moral planks in their platforms. Neither is any one of them pristinely pure.
With these things in mind, read on.
The professional wrestlers are, indeed, skilled athletes. They are also trained and skilled entertainers. Their performance is rewarded with a lucrative share of the receipts from both gate and television coverage fees. They have professional trainers, personal managers and professional business managers. All these helpers or assistants are handsomely rewarded financially, based on the skilled performance of the wrestler. No one, wrestler, manager, or fan is greatly concerned about the welfare of the performers future when they are no longer able to excite the audience. They are mainly concerned with getting maximum immediate reward in hopes that it will accumulate enough wealth to sustain them in retirement. The audience and performers are seldom ever connected by family or community. Fair play and sportsmanship is not rewarded. It appears that the meanest and ugliest performance gets the most cheers. Those cheers indicate success at the ticket gate (voting booth) for the next performance.
Now, let's look at an evening with high school wrestlers. They are athletes in training. They make mistakes that sometimes cost them the victory. Seldom if ever are they booed for those mistakes. Their coaches and managers are (hopefully, at least) interested in developing character and sportsmanship in, both, the athletes and the spectators. The wrestlers are a part of the team. The team is representing the school and community. The team, the school, and the community are supporting the athlete for the athlete's development in becoming a mature adult with integrity and morals that benefit all of society. Victory is sweet and we love to walk up and down the hallways and view the display cases with trophies, plaques, and medals that evidence the success of the school and community. But, that is not the end. Each individual wrestler, each team, the league, the district, the state and the national association of high school sports must have the common goal of making a society that honors fair play, just rewards, and equal opportunity for all youth.
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