Playing Chicken:
When I was a kid, a favorite game of neighborhood bullies was chicken. Follow me doing this really dumb thing or I'll call you a coward. No ten-year-old boy wanted the other kids to think he was chicken. The Bush administration has been pulling the same stunt for a number of years now. Follow us into Iraq or you're a traitor.
My hero when I was a kid was my older cousin, David, who stood up to more than one bully for me and the other neighborhood kids. David took a lot of dares himself, but he wouldn't stand for some jerk who thought it would be funny to see you get hurt trying to pull something like that. As a result, everybody in the neighborhood respected David. He was a little guy for his age, no bigger than I was although he was three years older, but he took after his Biblical namesake and stood up to the Goliaths in the neighborhood when he believed he was right.
Now maybe there's another giant killer in the neighborhood. Sen. John Warner of Virginia may not be in sink with everything I believe, but he's got the fortitude to stand up the administration. You can read about it in today's Washing Post. The administration has resorted to its usual tactics of claiming anyone who doesn't support everything they want to do is by definition a traitor to the country. Just remember, Sen. Warner, "sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you." Keep standing your ground, Senator. Courage is a rare commodity. We need to honor it whenever we encounter it.
When I was a kid, a favorite game of neighborhood bullies was chicken. Follow me doing this really dumb thing or I'll call you a coward. No ten-year-old boy wanted the other kids to think he was chicken. The Bush administration has been pulling the same stunt for a number of years now. Follow us into Iraq or you're a traitor.
My hero when I was a kid was my older cousin, David, who stood up to more than one bully for me and the other neighborhood kids. David took a lot of dares himself, but he wouldn't stand for some jerk who thought it would be funny to see you get hurt trying to pull something like that. As a result, everybody in the neighborhood respected David. He was a little guy for his age, no bigger than I was although he was three years older, but he took after his Biblical namesake and stood up to the Goliaths in the neighborhood when he believed he was right.
Now maybe there's another giant killer in the neighborhood. Sen. John Warner of Virginia may not be in sink with everything I believe, but he's got the fortitude to stand up the administration. You can read about it in today's Washing Post. The administration has resorted to its usual tactics of claiming anyone who doesn't support everything they want to do is by definition a traitor to the country. Just remember, Sen. Warner, "sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you." Keep standing your ground, Senator. Courage is a rare commodity. We need to honor it whenever we encounter it.
Labels: Politics
posted by Jim | 3:51 PM
1 Comments:
My dad was my hero while I was a gawky, slightly overweight kid attending "Irving Junior High School" (what a clunky name for a school) in Pocatello, Idaho. And he stayed my hero until his death in 1980. He rolled his tiny little Datsun pickup truck into a roadside ditch north of Challis, Idaho. Dad was not only a great educator (he held a PhD from the University of New Mexico), but a great citizen. He taught Peace Corps volunteers the intricacies of wilderness survival in the Pecos Wilderness of northern New Mexico. He went on to found the parks and recreation management curriculum at Idaho State University. He had courage. Now, I'm not being selfish when I say that men of his stature are few and far between. He got involved out of a desire to serve. Guys like our president get involved because they've made a career choice. Big difference.
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