Opening Insights: To Kneel or Not to Kneel
We are living in bizarre times, as Charles Dickens said: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."
The great debate of: to kneel, or not to kneel continues within American Society. Some players are getting fired, others suspended and some benched. At a high school volleyball match, a veteran who faithfully served America became intolerant of the disrespect shown to the country and liberty he committed his life to and he walked away. Now he’s suspended for a year.
Informational Insights: Vet Punished for Patriotism, Huh?
Arron Colen of The Blaze wrote:
Jim Saddler is a 67-year-old Air Force veteran who served as a presidential flight attendant on Air Force One for Ronald Reagan. He now works as an usher at Indiana Pacers games, and also as a referee for high school volleyball, softball and basketball.
On Oct. 9, he was set to referee a North Central High School match. During the national anthem, he saw some fans in the bleachers sitting. It angered him, but he brushed it off.
But when he saw a North Central player take a knee during the anthem, he’d had enough. He turned his referee flag in at the scorer’s table, told the coach he was leaving, and handed $20 to an assistant athletic director to cover his salary for the match on his way out the door.
Now, he’s been suspended by the Indiana High School Athletic Association — for more than a full year.
Saddler is still angry about the anthem protest, and that’s not going to change. But, he said he regrets that he let his anger get in the way of doing a job he said he’d do.
“In the Air Force, you have a duty, and you do it,” Saddler told IndyStar on Thursday. “The same with sporting events. I guess I went AWOL. I feel bad about it.
“What they did just upset me so badly that I just could not stay there,” Saddler said. “(But) I know it’s her constitutional right to do what she wants to do. And it wasn’t fair to the other girls who were standing and respecting the flag. After I thought about it, you know, sometimes it takes you a little time to sit down and think about stuff and what you did. And after I thought about it, I would never ever do that again. I would never break a contract.”
‘A privilege and not a right’
After finding out about his severe suspension, Saddler tried to apologize to the IHSAA for walking out, and to see if his punishment could be reduced, but to no avail.The IHSAA commissioner, Bobby Cox, said there was no chance of Saddler’s suspension being reduced. According to IHSAA bylaws, Cox said, officiating games is a privilege and not a right.
“I don’t think the IHSAA (cared) about what I said or what I did or that I said I wouldn’t do it again,” Saddler said. “Here I am a retired veteran, you have to see my point of view of what I did. Right?”...
(H/T The Blaze, USA Today and IndyStar)
Possibilities for Consideration: Bridging the Divide
Regardless of race, gender or religious preference... the reality is we all have a choice to make at some point in our lives - to come together and stand for truth, liberty and freedom, or continue to allow divides to perpetuate.
- What if there is a way to bridge divides and unite people?
- What if there is a way to reverse our learned behaviors and social conditioning to discover the freedom to be and live with ourselves and others?
- What if there is a way to effectively learn how to think and communicate with others so we can come to resolve the situation (our anger) rather than continue to act out our anger?
Add Your Insight: Welcome Collaboration
People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.
SOREN KIERKEGAARD