Monday, December 24, 2012

Merry....Happy.....Seasons......I give up


Merry Christmas!  There, I said it.  The annual discussion of what to say to someone or put on our cards has begun.  I don't get it.  Why is it offensive to say Merry Christmas?  I celebrate it and I am wishing a Merry Christmas to someone else who celebrates it, but it's offensive.  Since when has Christianity become such an offensive topic?  We can no longer have Christmas Trees or Easter Eggs, they have been replaced by Holiday Trees and Spring Spheres.  True story.

Last month Lincoln Chafee, the Governor of Rhode Island totally embarrassed himself by  fumbling the lighting of the Chris....err, Holiday.....err tree, in the Rhode Island State House.  After many protests from both sides he did a super-secret tree lighting in the middle of the afternoon and with only a thirty minute warning to State House employees by e-mail.  Last year, the North Andover Fire Department was forced to take down their Christmas lights that spelled out "Merry Christmas", a time honored tradition in that town.  Also last year the Massachusetts State House had a Holiday Tree lighting and a Menorah lighting, huh?

So, why do we need to call them Holiday Trees?  What Holiday other than Christmas has a tree as its symbol?  Judaism? Nope.   They have a Menorah for Hanukkah, the "Festival of Lights" which celebrates and eight day festival ordered by Judas Maccabeus after rededicating the Temple that had been destroyed.  That's what the protesters must be offended by.  Since Judaism does not worship false idols, I highly doubt it.  So what other Holiday can we celebrate the tree?  Kwanzaa?  Since Kwanzaa is not a holiday but rather a celebration of African-American Heritage, I would assume that true Kwanzaa advocates don't have a problem with the tree, they also may be Christian and have a tree in their home as well. 

I guess the discussion now comes to the First Amendment argument.  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. So the State Houses are not requiring everyone to put up a Christmas Tree.  I will take it a step further in that the Christmas Tree is not even a true symbol of Christmas in its natural sense.  There was no tree in the manger with baby Jesus.  I will take even one step further with the question to the people that are so offended by the tree, do they approach their bosses and tell them that they want to work on Christmas Day?  Of course not.  If Christmas is so offensive then take it all the way.  Don't be a coward and just attack the symbols.

According to 2012 Census data Christians make up almost seventy five percent of the United States population.  So why is Christianity constantly under attack no matter the holiday?  No other Holiday comes under attack more than Christmas.  When the Muslims celebrate Ramadan, I don't hear anything.  When the Jewish celebrate Rosh Hashanah, nothing.  Why?  Because Christians don't care what other religions do and that is how it should be for Christian Holidays.  The First Amendment also gives people the freedom to protest, so it is unfortunately something we will need to live with.  But leave my Christmas Tree alone.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy New Year

3D
If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.




Saturday, December 15, 2012

Why?


I refereed a basketball game Friday night when I got home I hugged my girls as hard as I could.  On the way home from my game I listed to the press conference from the Connecticut State Police from the Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.  Earlier in the day a man, which will be referred to as "the killer", walked in and took the lives of 26 people, 20 of which 5 year-old children.  I'm not a very emotional man but these events and the reaction of country overcame and I just could not stop thinking about.

I work from home so the television is usually off during the day so I didn't hear about what happened until early afternoon and I just could not get it out of my head.  That night as I looked on social media and news websites my disbelief continued to grow.  Then I watched the speech given by President Obama and that is when it became real to me.  I must say that was President Obama's best speech in my eyes.  He did not just talk to us as our leader, he talked to us as parent as well.  Then came the questions, why?  How?, and I realized that we will never truly know 

Over the next few days and weeks all the activists on both sides of the issue will politicize those points and to be honest, I really don't care.  These talking heads will not bring back those babies.  The stories that I have heard just don't make sense.  I guess killing of one child, let alone twenty just does not make sense to me.  What kind of place does a person go to that their mind triggers them to do such a horrifying act.  That goes beyond the issue that the pundits will be arguing. This will bring about questions that nobody in their right mind ever thought they would have to answer, let alone ask.

A friend of mine I grew up with said it perfectly early Saturday morning "Trauma when I was a kid was falling off my bike,tree,swing,etc....Today's trauma for kids ...is their classmates getting shot and killed are you kidding me???" I couldn't agree more.  What kind of world do we live in that our 5 year old children are not safe?  What kind of world do we live in where the killer had zero regard of human life, and even less regard for the life of children?  What kind of world do we live in where students feel they can attack police officers without concern for punishment or consequences?

With regards to the issue that the pundits will be spreading their propaganda I have to say just this.  I made it clear last week where I stand on this issue and I am not going to bore you anymore with it.  Actor Dax Shepard tweeted on Friday "I love guns. I have several, but I would gladly get rid of them if it would help prevent anything like this from happening again.".  That's all I have to say about that.

Friday we left our front porch light on overnight in memory of the people that died that day.  I was also overwhelmed at how people came together to memorialize the victims of this tragedy.  I also want to call out attention to the first responders who were at the school within minutes of the call, unfortunately it was already too late.  Lastly, to the parents that lost their children.  I could not even begin to fathom what they are going through as I am quick to console my girls when they bump their heads.  My heart breaks for you and will continue to break for you.

3D
If you don't take it from me, ask my wife.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Avoiding the Real Issue


I took last week off from writing because I had two subjects that I wanted to write about and couldn't decide between the two.  So, come Sunday night as I watched my national pastime, football, the halftime political commentary, that's right political commentary, gave me another topic to write about.  Although I am not up in arms as most people that heard what went on, I did view it as irresponsible commentary by a media icon, and the platform that he used was wildly inappropriate.

NBC sports host Bob Costas took the small time he had at halftime to speak about a tragic murder-suicide the previous day that involved NFL player Javon Belcher.  Costas went on to paraphrase sports columnist Jason Whitlock, who stated that if there were stricter gun control laws the murder-suicide would have never happened.  A truly naive opinion, but that is what it needs to be chalked up too, just an opinion.  But in his expression on his opinion last Sunday night and in the subsequent days, Costas and in part Whitlock did not really talk about the issue, just the ending.

To say that Belcher would not have killed the mother of his child, Kasandra Perkins had he not had a gun is simply just not true. Bob Costas should know better as he was a colleague of O.J. Simpson, and we all know how he handled his domestic situation with his ex-wife.  If Belcher was truly in that place that people who kill go, then it did not matter what he had access to, it was going to happen.

It's easy to claim that because Belcher was a football player he was a violent man.  It's also easy to say that since he was playing such a violent sport that he had developed a distorted sense of reality from concussions.  It's even easier to call Belcher a coward for his actions.  But the issue isn't what he used to kill Ms. Perkins but what led to him committing such a heinous act.  Now if Costas wanted to talk about an issue, why had he not chosen to talk about the domestic violence deaths that we have seen over the years?

This was a domestic dispute that went tragic, as many domestic disputes go.  Belcher had been drinking the night before and Ms. Perkins had come home late and argument had ensued.  Apparently, Belcher had been having troubles professionally, personally, financially and most importantly emotionally.  Belcher was hurt and did not know how to deal with it.  So Belcher did it the only way he knew how.  Kevin Powell of CNN put it perfectly in his article about the issue "when men behave in this manner, it also says, bluntly, that the life of a woman is of no value whatsoever".

I am not going to speculate what happened or what even caused it but I am going to say that Costas was out of line.  If he had done his homework in cases like these he would have found that domestic violence cases that end in death don't normally end by the gun.  He would have also found that men normally choke their significant others in these types of cases, some even run their significant other over with their car.  In Costas' colleagues case a knife was used.  Also, where was Costas' outrage on the bow and arrow killings in Casper, Wyoming the day before the Belcher-Perkins incident?

I am a true believer in speaking out in something you truly believe in, for me its term limits in the U.S. Congress and Senate.  But I am not about to say that if there were term limits in Washington the country would not be in the mess we are in.  Because I am not that naive.  Costas came out and said that he did not have enough time and his message did not resonate correctly.  Well, then I truly doubt that Costas did not know the time limits he had and may have been plugging for his hour long show that was on a few days later. Either way Costas and Whitlock viewed the end result as the issue and once again the true issue has been avoided again. 

Domestic violence needs to continue to be addressed and needs to be educated to the young men and women of this country, especially the young men.  It is not ok to take your transgressions out on a woman, period.  It is not "manning" up by hurting a woman when she has hurt your feelings.  It is appropriate to talk to someone about it before you go out and do something completely stupid.

3D
If you don't take it from me, ask my wife