Who Rules?

It took me a long time to accrue any wisdom at all. I feel as if I have just begun to learn anything. Perspective in particular came slowly, but finally I believe that I have some. It began with professional athletics. When I was a boy and the Arizona Cardinals had finally had a decent season for the first time since they had moved to town, their ownership made a push for a publicly-financed stadium. Naturally, being something like fourteen or fifteen at the time, I was firmly in favor of it. The ballot measure failed, and I was positively livid at the senior citizens who had reportedly filled up buses to go to their polling places and voted down the plan.

At long last, I have an appreciation for their point of view and no longer consider football stadiums to be a high priority in public policy. Now, I'm not getting into a corporate welfare rant here. It's more about what's ultimately important in life. I consider athletics to be of such value that you can't imagine. Pro sports are a separate issue. Another story from my childhood comes to mind. The players of one league or another were on strike or contemplating it, and my whole world was crashing down. My father said something that was of little comfort at the time, but is great solace now in helping me see things clearly.

He observed that the players could strike indefinitely, and life would go on. People might grumble, but would find other ways of spending their leisure time and discretionary income. On the other hand, what if the garbage men should strike? That's how I know who and what matters the most. The moment the garbage were to start piling up, society would come to a grinding halt and we would go to the garbage men on our hands and knees offering them the moon and the stars if only they would do us the favor of clearing the trash.

We pay so much attention to things that don't matter. If I were cynical I would say that we were being subjected to a sleight-of-hand show, and it occurs to few of us ever that our attention is being drawn in one direction while the important stuff is off in another. If I were a Communist, I would probably pin it on bourgeois pigs or some such group, but I'm not a Communist. I'm not sure why we'd rather lavish our worries on whether millionaires will be paid to play or not. As much as I love sports, my mind is tied up with whether I'll be paid to do anything.