At a time when we desperately need leadership at every level of culture, there’s only one person that we blame. In reality, you need to look to your left and your right. We’re surrounded…by us.
Sadly, Herman Cain, an entertaining, self-made man who became a national figure when he ran for president in 2012…died this week at age 74.
The reported cause, as given by NBC, ABC, CBS, and others, was Covid 19.
Herman Cain, they said, died of Covid 19. That’s their story and they’re sticking to it, come hell or high water.
But…they failed to mention that Cain had also previously fought colon and liver cancer – stage 4 – and his latest prognosis was not favorable. Beating cancer on two levels is a big fight. Probably damages one’s overall immunity to something like the flu, or pneumonia, or a cold, or Covid. Ya’ think? But because this is August, 2020, and parties are fighting for influence like two rabid dogs, let’s just scare hell out of people a bit more by saying…Herman Cain died of Covid, and not of a weakened immune system because he’s been fighting cancer for years.
So…aren’t you tired? Tired of being spoon-fed ‘stupid’ by the media and those who want us to accept an obvious agenda – to live according to shifting, conflicting data, and endless barriers?
With the next spoonful, a handful of Ohio Capital Conference schools announced Thursday that they would cancel their fall sports season – Hilliard Davidson, Westerville, Dublin Coffman, Upper Arlington, Worthington, and Pickerington are some of the bigger names of the state’s central premier conference – 30 schools in all, and in four divisions. And why does this matter to Press Pros Magazine?
What’s particularly notable about these schools is the loss of a perfectly good opportunity to lead – to play, and to reward youth for their faith in themselves, their coaches, and their communities.
“These are the adults of tomorrow, the next group of leaders. Is there a better way for them to gain the confidence to lead than to step forward and play during this crisis…as a reward for their work and courage, and as a boost to the community? “
To put it another way…at a time when there’s never been a greater need for adult leadership, schools that could actually lead according to the science that shows adolescents are almost 100% safe from the Covid virus……
But nay, nay…we don’t have that. What we have is classic ‘followship’, those who wallow in the fear of the daily headlines as spoon-fed by the local board of health and through the altar calls of Mike DeWine and Jon Husted.
If we just put life on hold for some undetermined length of time, and make sacrifices of graduations, weddings, funerals, and christenings…we can live like we want to. That is, unless you get killed tomorrow driving to work. Time is promised to no one.
And Thursday they announced that Ohio bars would not be allowed to sell alcohol at 10 pm, as if Covid wears a watch – comes out late at night. If you aren’t aware, DeWine is from Cedarville, Ohio, as grass roots as it gets, and prone, I’m sure, to small-town emotions. Closing the bars at 10 strikes me as a decision that was made at the hardware store, while someone opened a keg of nails! And more inconsistency, as many of Columbus Covid-related measures are – close a ‘mom and pop’ while Wal-Mart is open, selling the same merchandise.
But if we could get it through our heads that 70% of Ohio deaths from Covid have been in the nursing homes – and a proportionate number of deaths nationwide – we might be able to see our way clear to step out, take a breath…and live!
If we could just get it through our heads that governors, like Andrew Cuomo, put those elderly people at risk by congregating them in nursing homes, we might see a fresh perspective about overall risk.
Or…just think about this perspective from reader Jared Venters.
“These kids have worked hard all year to play sports,” he said. “And these are the adults of tomorrow, the next group of leaders. Is there a better way for them to gain the confidence to lead than to step forward and play during this crisis…as a reward for their work and courage, and as a boost to the community? What’s that worth when they’re grown up and have to make decisions that impact their family, their community, and the world?”
What a concept, eh? And what would it be worth to the hovering masses right now – those who dare to look up to see? Who ever thought about ‘kids’ taking a leadership role by showing adults that it’s OK to live and play – that courage isn’t confined to pulling someone out of a wrecked car or a burning building? Why not some headlines for a different type of risk and reward?
A coach from Fayette County wrote this week, “I loved what Coach Otten said (in Bruce Hooley’s Tuesday column). If we don’t play fall sports this year we’re going to lose a lot of kids who’ll find something else to do. Kids aren’t patient, and they only have four years in high school. This will have a devastating effect on the future of football and kids need that experience.”
If you took anything away from Hooley’s excellent Friday post with the comments of St. Henry standouts Jim Lachey, Bob Hoying, and Jeff Hartings, you have to acknowledge that everything you have in life, everything you’ve earned in life, and everything you yet hope for is a matter of risk and reward. You can’t find three better examples – three who lead in their respective fields.
And they didn’t get that way by being spoon-fed ‘stupid’!