It started, oddly enough, on Memorial Day. My preparatory notes for the morning’s jump-start spin session indicated I would have to mention, somehow, and in some artful way, the dichotomy I have long felt in regard to this national day of remembrance. As we moved towards the completion of another high-quality, high-intensity set, I momentarily allowed the raging endorphins to set the tone and I introduced the topic by the rather prissy tactic of confession.
You know me by now, there are a few things that I consider sacred. Certainly health and fitness. But I am also high on truth, beauty, morality, honor, integrity and ethics. But when it comes to patriotism I find myself squeezed in a vice between the age old good versus evil debate. I am a proud bleeding heart liberal. I believe in helping my fellow man. At the very least doing no harm to him or her along the way. I think our current leadership is not helping, in fact dramatically degrading both the rule of law, our constitution and what we call race relations. So today we honor those brave military men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. I honor them. I JUST WISH WE WOULD STOP ADDING TO THE LIST.
That was it. Until later.
When the subject popped up again like a pesky blackberry path. Someone opened the conversational thread with the comment the some people (I have no data to add a percentage here) instinctively judge any situation, from a used car to global warming, and see a gaming strategy for profit. Others see (again no data, but I suspect the number would be higher than the first group), the same situation through the utilitarian lens of practically and esoterics. It is not so important that the used car is a bargain, but that it is fast, cherry red and sexy, or that melting polar ice caps should be causing alarms to sound.
I added my comments ending with the thought that regardless of which end of these seemingly polar extremes you stand, the WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT IT? question should be motivation enough for us to, A) Respect the opinions of those we disagree with, and B) Work together towards the common ground of improvement. Let’s look closer under the hood.
A) I simply cannot respect people who are attempting to normalize racism. And folks, that tone starts at the top. We have an admitted white supremacist constantly using his power and prestige to empower others to act. In vile and violent ways. Please check out this brisk Don Lemon takedown as exhibit A.
B) There is always the ‘other side’, that bright and shining, courageous and monumental uplifting of the human spirit. Yes, we give a lot of ink and air time to the exploits of professional athletes and their respective teams, but one level removed is where unsung heroics often manifest.
I have had the pleasure of working with a truly remarkable family. They have been regular participants in our indoor cycling program for over ten years, including Mom, Dad, Sons and Daughters. On that same Memorial Day, as I struggled with the hypocrisy, dishonesty and corruption in our government today, Greg Shea, local kid who has sat in my spin classes as part of his path to the Duke lacrosse team, participated in the National Championship game against Yale in Foxboro, MA.
The Blue Devils lost to Yale 13-11, but that isn’t the point. The point is the achievement. The plain and simple largess of making it to the top, all the dedication, effort, sacrifice, practice and patience required to advance into the arena of champions and have the one-shot, one-time opportunity to compete at the absolutely apex of the sport.
There are your extremes. One disgustingly abhorrent and the other magic, miraculous, satisfying and enriching.
I am entrusting you today to search for an answer to the ‘what do we do about it’ question. Firing back knee-jerk tweets merely adds fuel to the fires of hatred, bias and bigotry. We need to come together to find common ground. We need to get big money out of politics. We need to have our united voices heard above the smoke screen distractions. We need to remove hate speech from the national conversation. We must exercise our rights to vote. I think the right color is blue.
We need to celebrate the victories we recognize as wholesome and exemplary of the values and morals that have the potential to inspire others towards emulation. Funny how a simple game can do that. Sometimes a single word.
George Bernard Shaw nailed it good with this one, “The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not an man of honor”.
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