No, I am not talking about a new political trend. I am so tired of that circus. The people actually running this country along with several other countries are ROTFL. At us. We are such easy prey, distracted and divided. We fight among ourselves rallying behind outmoded ideals, arrogantly and aggressively defending our right to be ignorant and inebriated.
It is so sad. We have the resources, talent and opportunity. All we lack is the willingness to change. Then fear is the ultimate winner, and that is fine with the powers-that-be because there is control and profit in it. It is a commodity. You can buy it, sell it, leverage it, manipulate it.
Worse, we buy into the hysterically hypocritical rhetoric spewed by its propagators. Semi-automatic weapons, religious intolerance, women's bodies, marijuana, homosexuality, homeland security, the stock market, insurance, big pharma, big oil and the fatted-calf bureaucracies to administrate their flow of commerce is heating not only the political landscape but our plant with it. It is getting volcanically hot down here.
Stop the lying, stop the cheating, stop the angst. Your decades of greedy abuse and immoral legislation have come at a great cost to our children, a demographic you seem to view as unfortunate collateral damage in your maniacal devotion to the Christ of Cash.
Respect.
I was talking in class yesterday about the respect we show our opponent in contests, that being the highest display of honor. We play or best, our hardest and with all the focus and power we can muster, because that is the gift. What type of victory comes against an opponent who is playing with half-effort? When I win, I want to know, beyond any shadow of doubt, that I beat your best. I BESTED YOUR BEST. THAT is respect. Therefore our solemn duty is to compete at the highest level we are capable. ALWAYS. We do not dummy-down to the competition. We make them better as a result.
That is transparency and that is humility.
And should you best me, or us, on any given day, I know, we know, that it was an honest victory. And I shake your hand in respectful congratulation, vowing to improve and learn the myriad lessons of defeat. We ALL win as a result.
Perhaps that puts a new spin on how we prepare. We practice with urgency and hope, dedication and faith, discipline and love.
I think this holds true whether you are a world-class athlete, a school teacher, a gunny sergeant, a data analyst, a real estate tycoon or a politician.
Have some respect.
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