Key Word -- "Action"

Rajeev Srinivasan in his article "The Consequences of Inaction" (http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/may/23raveev.htm, May 23 2007) stated,

"Consider the following moral dilemma: If you knew that a friend was planning to commit random mass murder, what would you do? Would you turn him in to the police, or would you let him murder, in cold blood? Most people would in fact alert the authorities, because the massacre of innocents violates our sense of ethics.

"Now make it a little more challenging. What if you knew that the police would shoot your friend without the benefit of the doubt, and if you were only 75 per cent sure about his plans? For instance, if you had an inkling about the terrorist attacks on the Israeli Olympic team in Munich in 1972, would you have notified the police? Or in the case of Seung-Hui Cho at Virginia Tech?"

Should the citizen operate on the principle "the greater good of the greatest number of people? Don't most people, in fact, generally support the incarceration (and even liquidation) of would-be murderers even if the evidence is not compelling; for, the alternative is so much worse. In other words, people compare the human rights of the potential victim to the rights of the potential murderer. 

Thus, it should be axiomatic: The rights of the perpetrator of death and the terrorist are not greater than those of their victims. Even though many liberals are concerned about the rights of the criminal, surely those committing  crimes against defenseless civilians do not deserve tenderness. Even pre-emptive action is not in opposition to the threats to liberal democracies. Realistically, prevention of crime is one of a person's foremost duties.

In fact, not acting on prior information about potential incidents of this nature is a grave dereliction of duty, whether by a civilian or by a policeman. If a policeman, duty-bound to the State, does not take preventive action, he should be reported and he should be prosecuted for laxity.

Likewise, the duty of every law-abiding citizen is to take needed action for the common good. Failure to aid others is unthinkable.

 
Civil Action

A significant proportion of those faced with civil justice problems do nothing to resolve them, most commonly because they feel nothing can be done (Pleasence, P., Buck, A., Balmer, N., O’Grady, A., Genn, H., and Smith, M.; 2004; Causes of Action: Civil Law and Social Justice). Commonly those failing to act also regret their inaction and suggest they wish they had done something, though they are often unable to be more specific about possible courses of action.

Partners In Action

In this post, I would like to tell you a little about a group called Partners in Action. A remarkable group of people have significantly improved their own community and the world community through simple action. Here is a brief history of the group.

In 1985, Partners in Action was founded by Curtis M. Cluff in south Phoenix, one of the worst crime areas in Arizona. Illegal drugs and violent crime were rampant there during that era. The danger was so severe that paramedics and the fire department wouldn't even answer a 911 emergency call without a police escort. But, Mr. Cluff saw a need, accessed his options, and met the need. (Partners in Action, http://www.partnersinaction.org/pages/about-history.php, 2006)

One of the the first steps Partners in Action took was to purchase an area - the "Keys Market" - and, with the partnership of several other agencies, convert the market into a community center to provide services to the surrounding neighborhood. Through teams of volunteers, they renovated some of the homes in the vicinity by adding bathrooms; repairing walls, doors, and windows; and fixing leaky roofs.

Since this first project for the needy in Phoenix, Arizona, their scope of service has grown significantly in the past twenty years. They have since developed community outreach programs, a thrift store, a soup kitchen, youth camps, and over 5,000 units of affordable housing throughout the United States.

Today, the group partners with others to build, manage, oversee, and support orphanages, schools, and villages in hurting parts of the world. They are earnestly working with and helping to support orphanages/schools in 20 nations. What wonderful outcomes from humble beginnings.

Inaction

Inaction leads to serious harms in the world just as assuredly as does intentional, active wrongdoing. Collective inaction of members of a group make the members of the group partially responsible for harm the group could have prevented.

True, the law of unintended consequences holds that "whether or not what you do has the effect you intend, it will have consequences that you don't expect and therefore consequences that you don't intend." Some unintended consequences can be very unpleasant. 

In other words, inevitably, some unexpected things do occur when people put plans into action. For example, the military has to deal with the terrible consequences of friendly fire in battle. And, the CIA often has "blowback" - unintended, undesirable consequences of covert operations. Even the stiffening of penalties for driving while intoxicated in the United States in the 1980s led, at first, to an increase in hit and run accidents, until legislators later stiffened penalties for leaving the scene of an accident.

But, the fact remains, deliberate inaction to curb civil justice problems does nothing to cure them. Griping and nay-saying are grandstanding tactics to draw others to act. Those who merely "squeak" without jumping into the action are side-liners, at best. A civil wrong is something that should not be tolerated by the responsible citizen.

The Citizen’s Guide proposes accountability outlined by the Ottawa-based Alliance for Public Accountability in 1998-99. "To the extent that citizens abdicate their responsibility to install public answering standards and hold fairly to account, they give tacit approval to the abuse of power and they reduce their civic competence." The idea of citizen duty is not prominent today, in part because of the erosion of standards in society that has led to mushrooming institutional deception and media conversion of virtually all information for citizens into entertainment. 

We have the majority of our work of responsibility before us.

"Long is the path and as tortuous in its passage as the labyrinth of the temple."

I Wish I Wouldn't Have Said That

As I age and attempt to gain some wisdom, I try to keep within my perceived limits. For me, performing these acts of restriction is very difficult. I have never been a person short with words or long on patience. My nature is definitely affected by my environment and prone to change dramatically with moderate stimulation. I realize such a condition is not ideal for certain stressful situations; however, often things tend to draw me toward the middle of controversy.

I guess one might say my mistakes too often mix with my successes. I am not proud of my miscues in any way. Still, I try to stay within my limits of positive production and use my best abilities to pay penitence for wrongdoings. When I misbehave, I try to make up for the bad judgment by helping others threefold.

I appreciate nothing more in life than an acknowledgment of my rashness and unwelcome interference as personal faults. I believe everyone has faults and these faults are part of the condition of being human. Many times I wish I would have overlooked faults in others by staying within my limits, yet tolerance, for me, can be difficult. I think I am no better or worse a man than others, just a man with different assets and shortcomings.

As I vocalize concerns and aggravations, the meek often hold their hands over their ears. For many years I have been asked to lead, organize, and make information discernible to groups of people. In doing so, I have overcome the fear of speaking my mind. And, in some respects, this so-called advancement is actually a noticeable hindrance. You can certainly say I "get under people's skin." The limit of this aggravating activity often gets lost in the heat of rhetoric and in the exchange of ideas. I am most certain I am liberal of thought, much more so than liberal of action.

Writers Hugh Dubberly and Paul Pangaro (Interactions Magazine, May 1 2009) reported, "Inherent in the capacities for a given conversation are the individual limits of its participants. Individuals contribute both what they know in depth and breadth and their style of interaction. Given a specific group of participants, conversations may go nowhere—they have no value; they create no lasting change in the participants. Other conversations create their own energy and go places—they are generative, have momentum, and lead to new and unexpected knowledge."

I often initiate topics perceived by others as boring because they lack colloquial, gentle content. I enjoy discussing issues, philosophies, and topics some people consider inappropriate. I enjoy the idea exchange in such talks, preferring this experience to simple chatter or daily pleasantries. I even enjoy being the Devil's advocate and drawing opposition. Perhaps, I often exceed my limits of proper discussion and curious inquiry. In doing so, I expose my faults of social etiquette. Certainly, any qualifications for my sainthood have been dismissed years ago.

I believe those who work as public teachers seldom leave a certain arrogance and purposely directed tone at the doorsteps of most conversations. I find myself looking for certain outcomes in simple discussions that, quite frankly, should not be considered at all. I have been educated to evaluate and measure the meaning in another person's words and actions. To withhold this judgment is within my limits but something I find very hard to control. The "teacher" usually gets the best of me and my peers feel as if they are back in the somber classroom.

The wide variety of words that I use to express my ideas get me deeper into problematic situations at times. Preferring to hear emotion and passion from others, I bend my diction with the circumstance. I know I emote and react with passion while many others seldom raise a voice or exceed formal standards. Again, I usually appreciate the variance of language and style in a group conversation or in argumentation, but many people cringe and insist such emotion is diatribe. I assure you I do respect the quiet person with great wisdom, but I am usually the one in the crowd trying to get he/she to extend their mighty metaphors.

For a person who loves words, I find social limits on content of expression to be very difficult to control. I often feel as if I am a mustang trapped in a corral of mundane, wooden structure when I speak about my interests with restriction. Still, the older I become, the more I realize limits are not only necessary, but imperative. Moderation in all things? I certainly respect this behavior. I wish I practiced moderate thought more. On the other hand, a flame involves rapid, intense combustion. That flame makes a small spark that can ignite a gigantic blaze. To what purpose am I best suited? I remain a fairly old dog who seldom learns new tricks well.

Bad People In Town

Sometimes when you are at the bottom, you must stare up through the weighty mass that holds you down, access your dire situation, muster your strength, and use every resource at your disposal to push yourself upward. This, the 27th day of March, 2010, is where you, as a Scioto County resident, stands in respect to a threat at hand -- you and I are at the bottom together. Like it or not, your health, financial resources, job, possessions, family, and future is being manipulated by bad people.

These bad people are infiltrating your county and making tremendous amounts of money at your expense. They care not for your health, for your community, or for your life. They greedily feed on all their victims here and don't leave until they suck the lifeblood from the area. They deal in prescription drugs and turn their minions loose to spread poison. Instead of relieving legitimate pain, they sell their products at huge markups to dealers who inject  once-healthy buyers into a nightmare of misery.

They come from Florida, the Southwest, Mexico, and points closer such as Columbus to feed in the frenzy. The bad people are young, middle aged, and old. They blend into the areas of operation with relative ease. No law prevents them from allegedly "relieving your suffering." They plant their deadly opiates like landmines in the killing fields of Appalachia. Week after week, they reload their weapons and unleash havoc.

Too often, the youth, fearless and foolish, step into their traps to become maimed, injured, and killed. Young people so full of life and inquisitive about every popular fad find themselves playing deadly games with prescription drugs. They experiment and combine lethal cocktails of substances. Some pay the ultimate price. And, families grieve their losses forever. Their tranquil lives are essentially destroyed. Relatives never get an answer to the haunting question -- "Why?" You listen to their unbelievable stories of tragedy and well up in sorrow and in anger.

When these medical impostors move their operations, they leave a wake of weak, broken junkies in their rear-view mirrors and set up operations in other locales. Then, the real pain begins. The hooked "patients" turn to theft, prostitution, and other crimes to find money to support their habits. They steal from you, from me, and from their own families in desperation to stop the pain -- the pain that now has become real misery for them. Their criminal behavior has turned them into people with slim hopes of recovery.

Many patients go through endless rehab to kick the habit. They try so hard to get things back to normal, staying straight for periods of time, then suddenly relapsing and repeating the vicious cycle of buying, using, and selling the very poison that debilitates them. They can't work; they can't think; they can't function as normal human beings. What began for them as pleasurable use then becomes complete possession. Willpowerless, they flounder and become someone's burden -- your burden too.

I don't like the bad people in Scioto County who profit from misery and death. In fact, I hate these people with a deep passion that defies comprehension. You and I sit on the bottom in an area racked with poverty, pain, and hopelessness. Bottom-feeders relish Appalachia. They do not care for your heritage or your dignity -- they want your money. They love your lack of care and involvement because they know they can use your "sit-back and watch" attitude to their advantage. To the scum-suckers, you are nothing but an ignorant, gullible pill-billy.

To close, let me assure you, you and I are currently on the bottom and struggling with a terrible epidemic of outrageous prescription drug abuse. You need to become involved in this battle even if you have little faith in the politics or in the officials who represent your interests. You and I need to organize a massive response to the current problem and fight like hell. One more death, one more addict, one more broken family is too much.

What You Can Do

1. Write your representatives and beg them to pass new laws concerning Rx drug abuse.
2. Become vocal and pressure people to become a mass of 80,000 county residents who won't take any more.
3. Believe that you are involved in the suffering whether you live in a mansion or in a shack.
4. Find out how you can stop bad people from controlling your lives and respond - the movement is just starting to gain momentum.
5. Above all, be careful and be active in lawful, positive manners.

You and I are not afraid. We will not be intimidated into inaction, which contributes to the coffers of the ruthless criminals. You and I have a stake in this battle after we leave this earth. The solution is going to take a long time because you and I have to change, too. You and I have too much pride in our community to let others pluck our freedoms away. You and I are the community. You and I need each other NOW. Please respond.

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon (excerpt)

O Beauty, handiwork of the Most High,
Where'er thou art He tells his Love to man,
And lo, the day breaks, and the shadows flee!

Now, far beyond all language and all art
In thy wild splendour, Canyon marvellous,
The secret of thy stillness lies unveiled
In wordless worship! This is holy ground;
Thou art no grave, no prison, but a shrine.
Garden of Temples filled with Silent Praise,
If God were blind thy Beauty could not be!

(Henry Van Dyke, February 24-26, 1913)

Grandeur. Grandeur may be defined as "vastness; greatness; splendor; magnificence; stateliness; sublimity; dignity; and elevation of thought or expression." As I marveled at the sight of the Grand Canyon, this word, used frequently to describe other wonders of the natural environment, took possession of me last week with a unique connotation.  Nothing, absolutely nothing I have seen in my life remotely compared to the natural power, beauty, and grandeur I experienced in Arizona at the Grand Canyon. I felt as if God had let me partake of a creation so unfathomable that words, images, or even human emotions could not comprehend.

The immensity of the Grand Canyon's physical dimensions and its tremendous diversity are well documented. The 277 mile long chasm formed by the Colorado River is 18 miles wide in places, has an average depth of about one mile, and occupies and area of 1,900 square miles. The Grand Canyon hosts five of the seven life zones and three of the four desert types in North America. If a person were to travel from Mexico to Canada, he/she would see the same five life zones represented in the Grand Canyon. Also it contains approximately 70 species of mammals, 250 species of birds, 25 types of reptiles and five species of amphibians. 

Even now, erosion continues to alter its contours while the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists. Recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago, and nearly two billion years of the Earth's geological history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted.

 

About 10,000 years ago, paleo-hunters chased big game in the Southwest, but left few signs of their passage. In time, they were followed by hunter-gatherers of the Desert Archaic culture who inhabited the Grand Canyon region until about 1000 B.C.

Then, in 700-800 AD Anazazi Indians lived in the eastern part of the Grand Canyon. A group called the Cohonina were in the western part of the canyon. These peoples seemed to leave around 1150 AD because of climatic changes, probably a drought. 

Before European immigration, the area was inhabited by Native Americans (Havasupai, Hualapai, Southern Paiute, Navajo, and Hopi) who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves. The Pueblo people considered the Grand Canyon ("Ongtupqa" in Hopi language) a holy site and made pilgrimages to it. 

The first European known to have viewed the Grand Canyon was Garcia Lopez de Cardenas from Spain, who arrived in 1540. That year Hopi guides led a group of 13 Spanish soldiers under de Cardenas to find the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola for his superior officer, the conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Finding no gold, the Spaniards soon left the area.

The Paiutes call the plateau that the canyon cuts through Kaibab, or "Mountain Lying Down." The multicolored rocks, the steep and embayed rims, and the isolated towers, mesas, "temples," and other eroded rock forms catch the contrast of sun and shadow and glow with changing hues of great beauty. Breathtaking is a totally real feeling at the Grand Canyon overlooks.


I found it impossible to escape the reverence of time, nature, history, and human introspection as I walked along the paths at the south rim of the canyon. Amid the typical tourist photo hubbub and the usual glut of playful sightseeing (everyday consumption of national treasures) I felt overpowering awe. Before me lay beauty and mass no earthly creation I had ever seen, natural or man-made, came remotely close to matching. The canyon was built by a Creator with a patient hand in the course of endless time.

During my view, I was merely taking my own turn in space and time to marvel at a wonder experienced by so many before me. The Grand Canyon seemed to "lock the moment" of my journey into its sun-baked rock layers of limestone, sandstone, and shale. Nature whispered to me, "Now, you see." 

I had seen. And, I believe Nature was providing me a window into the immense, seemingly boundless limits of her kingdom. Reminding me of my rightful place among all her creations, Nature had just given me a stern warning against tempting fate yet she had also provided me breathtaking grounds for righteous exaltation -- a canyon of grandeur.

I can honestly say I left the Grand Canyon with many intense emotions and many thought-provoking questions. Dumbfounded as a tiny insect in the middle of a great forest, I slowly realized reality was hand-in-hand with spirituality in this incredible formation. I began to believe that any human with eyes could understand a connection both to the building blocks of the planet and to the formation of the human being in such an environment. 

Honestly, I questioned how humans were even necessary to the profound existence of planet Earth. The natural perfection of the canyon has reigned supreme despite the exploration of their scurrying little bodies and the contemplations of their calculating, simple minds.

I found myself considering formation of the chasm much more comfortably with a primitive mindset. The real story of the canyon lay in its mysteries and man's misunderstandings. Caring less about the volumes of research and countless explorations of the place, I decided to place all my memories of the canyon in that primal memory bank and in my stirring soul. I found myself in a place where art and imagination became foremost.

Anyway, no factual geological explanation or 21st century science clarified the understanding of the amazement my eyes and soul had captured. Eyes can see but cannot accurately gauge. The soul can feel but cannot completely comprehend.

I Think

I preferred to keep my Grand Canyon experience within the reference frame of early Native Americans. It seemed to belong there. And, there it will stay in my mind mixed with a sense of incomprehension and holiness, forever rooted in this deep womb of the Earth. This is a place the body leaves but not the heart. It takes and it gives to each who visits.

The Grand Canyon was holy. Of this, I was sure. Prayers, dances, poems, songs, legends -- all seemed to be appropriate expressions of emotion here. I laughed aloud as the cameras clicked in the hands of the tourists. No photo or film could possibly do justice to the experience of the grandeur. I became overwhelmed by what I could and could not understand here, and I wept. Maybe my tears were an offering for the creation I had experienced; maybe they were a tribute to the other countless souls struck by their own impressions of the canyon; or maybe they were merely proof of my total lack of control on Earth and my comfort with the incomprehension of the natural world.  

Sunrise, Grand Canyon
(excerpt by John Barton, 2001)

 

... the canyon floor a mile from where I objectively stand taking photos I will later develop of the ripe, trans formative light on these surreal buttes to show you on the surface how beautiful and diverse and unimportant our time together or with anyone else really is--

Warning: Drug Storm

An alert from the Ohio Early Warning Network initiative sponsored by the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addictions Services, the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio National Guard (www.ebasedprevention.org) reports, "Prescription drug abuse and pharmaceutical diversion continues to be a significant problem throughout Ohio."

Prescription drugs are readily obtained illegally in most areas of Ohio . Some of the brand names of commonly diverted prescription drugs include Oxycontin ® , Vicodin ® , Percocet ® , Tylenol with Codeine No. 3, Valium ® , and Xanax ® . Oxycontin ® is particularly popular in southern Ohio where authorities believe it's been responsible for many deaths since 1999.

Many youth make the mistake of believing abusing prescription medications is not as dangerous as abusing "illegal drugs." The truth is -- whether these pills are coming from a drug dealer, a classmate, or a family member's medicine cabinet, misuse and abuse of prescription medications are killing Ohio young people. Now, these drugs are more available and accessible than ever before.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 10 million children took prescription medication for three months or longer in 2002, and preschoolers, another study found, are now the fastest growing group of children receiving antidepressants. According to the DEA, the abuse of prescription drugs represents close to 30% of the overall drug problem in the United States, second only to cocaine.

Along with tremendous prescription drug problems, Southern Ohio suffers from these maladies:

1. Mexican criminal groups control the distribution of Mexican black tar heroin in Southern Ohio.


2. The rural areas of southern Ohio provide an adequate environment for marijuana outdoor cultivation


3. In Southern Ohio, Mexican methamphetamine is becoming more prevalent. Methamphetamine coming from Mexico in the form of “Ice” is readily available throughout Ohio.

  
I am convinced in the poverty-stricken, high unemployment environment of Southern Ohio, we are witnessing the powerful forces of criminal activity ripping seemingly irrepairable holes in the basic fabric of our already depressed sense of community. We have let our excuses for inaction stifle our true concerns. I honestly feel people believe that the area is going to be suddenly transformed by a heavenly power into a renewed "morally responsible thriving, growing locality." 

Wants, wishes, and prayers are NOT going to make this happen. Too many black inroads of poison already scar our home. We need to acknowledge the threats that have already been realized. We have become the infected core of a festering wound.

More and more criminals are moving out of the cities into the ripe fields of despairing small-town Appalachian environments and finding easy pickings. Make no mistake, here they have set their sights not only on the dupes and dopes but also on the stressed and the pained. And, most terrifying, some of the easiest targets for them to destroy are those youngsters whom you tuck in tonight.

In times of darkness, people must let nothing deter them from performing the positive tasks that will lead to the good light of promise. Our problem of complacency is now our burden. Somehow, we must overcome doubts of effectual service and dreams of intervention of fate. Everyone has a part to play in the outcome. Time is of the essence as the body count rises and the suffering escalates. 

  

Insecurity Can "Get Stuff Done"

 
Writer/travelor Chris Guillebeau ("Art of Non-Conformity," chrisguillebeau.com, 2010) writes, "Here’s a theory: the more secure we are, the less productive we become. The less risk and uncertainty we have in our lives, the more likely we are to amble along, getting by just fine but never really doing anything worth talking about... Because security can be such a demotivator, the opposite is true as well: a healthy amount of insecurity helps us 'Get Stuff Done.'" After all, doesn't insecurity stem from placing belief in ourselves and our own abilities when that faith should be placed in God? What is insecurity but doubt in our own abilities and skills?

I believe the theory Chris has espoused. People often become less motivated and less productive as their small, righteous circle of family and friends works to thicken its insulated blanket of tight security. The people with which they share their love and other like-thinking individuals circle their wagons and build strong defenses to keep out alien intruders. Once these defenses are effectively constructed and consecrated, the group tends to bask in the security of their creations, unwilling to risk changes or offer new friendships. They never change and always choose the life of comfort with the "good people." Their attitude becomes, "Let the heathens be damned."

So many times I hear people say, "These days, I am afraid: afraid to talk to or to smile at a stranger, afraid to offer assistance to others, afraid to express my opinions, afraid to get involved with causes, afraid to trust someone with information or responsibility, afraid to let others influence me." In a society full of lawsuits, violence, and deceit, frightened people can certainly justify many of their actions of inclusion; however, society must pay a high cost for its negative perception of insecurity. Social laziness has caused many to avoid the slightest uncomfortable feelings to offer help to those with unknown behaviors.

Of course, some of those denied admittance to normal avenues of security feel gangs or cults are viable, even life-saving, alternatives to clans of family and friends. As abnormalities of culture, they set standards of taboo or unusual behavior for acceptance and commitment. Most of these groups are antisocial, so threatened by the norm, members seek security by devoting life and soul to strict adherence and abeyance of the gang's generally unaccepted standards. As the gang splits individuals' families and establishes control, turmoil follows and allegiances change.

But, what about the person seeking group security that for one reason or another is denied acceptance. These are the students walking alone from class to class hugging the school walls, the unpopular rather homely social dropout, the "weirdo," the "geek," the "freak," the "skank," the "mental," the "retard," the "geezer," the "throwback," the "trashy"? These people experience nothing but insecurity on the fringes of all cliques, and most are living within dysfunctional family frameworks as they enter the ranks of the "non-group," the loners.

I believe unless the best of us are willing to reach out to the worst of us (and vice versa), complacency will stall positive strides towards bridging deep gaps between individuals. It's simply not enough to count our blessings, rejoice with our friends, and speak our best intentions to others unlike us from a great distance. Conversely, it's not enough to isolate ourselves from happiness and success while we find fault in the virtues and gains of others.

Step into the shoes of your polar opposite to see how easily "things might have turned out differently."

1. Your attractive physical beauty instead was disagreeable, lackluster obesity.
2. Your confident, popular personality was mousy and frighteningly timid.
3. Your sharp, witty intelligence was dull and thoughtless rambling.
4. Your coordinated, sports-fit body was clumsy and out of shape.
5. Your middle-class surroundings were dumpy and unclean.
6. Your clean mind and soul were ravaged by drug and alcohol addiction.
7. Your kind parents were unloving and abusive.
8. Your good moral upbringing was a dog-eat-dog, street-violent existence.

We must deal with all of these individuals as worthy members of our communities. To build bunkers around our perceived "correct" circles is merely to prepare for long and perilous battles. Isolation accomplishes nothing. Yet, to face those unlike us, even disgusting to us, and to offer assistance and friendship is more hopeful. Becoming a little insecure with our actions can lead to larger understandings and improved conditions. The first step is to believe that we can be influential. Then, after swallowing our insecurities, we can risk our influence upon others.

Remember When a Sport Was a Sport?

"Professional Sport and Public Behavior"

Richard Lapchick
Director, Center for the Study of Sport in Society 

 http://www.upenn.edu/pnc/ptlapchick.html

Richard Lapchick is a human rights activist, pioneer for racial equality, internationally recognized expert on sports issues, scholar and author who is often described as “the racial conscience of sport.”  He brought his commitment to equality and his belief that sport can be an effective instrument of positive social change to the University of Central Florida where he accepted an endowed chair in August 2001.  Lapchick became the only person named as “One of the 100 Most Powerful People in Sport” to head up a sport management program.  He remains President and CEO of the National Consortium for Academics and Sport and helped bring the NCAS national office to UCF. Lapchick is also director for the Center for the Study of Sport in Society.

Lapchick’s extensive list of honors and awards cover several decades. In 2006, Lapchick was named both the Central Florida Public Citizen of the Year and the Florida Public Citizen of the Year by the National Association of Social Workers. Lapchick has been the recipient of numerous humanitarian awards and was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame of the Commonwealth Nations in 1999 in the category of Humanitarian along with Arthur Ashe  and Nelson Mandela and received the Ralph Bunche International Peace Award.

Lapchick is a prolific writer. His 13th book will be published at the end of 2007.  Lapchick is a regular columnist for ESPN.com and The Sports Business Journal.  Lapchick is a regular contributor to the op ed page of the Orlando Sentinel.

 Sports Cynics

In a presentation to the Penn National Commission ("Professional Sport and Public Behavior," December 1997), Richard Lapchick admits it is easy to understand how a sports press, the fans who read that press, and the public at large become cynical about sports.

According to Lapchick, it is equally easy to understand the cry that so many people make that athletes should not be role models for our young people because athletes may lead them down a negative path. He thinks some of America's best sportswriters are continually bringing that same terrible news of the demise of professional sports to our doorsteps.

Bad News For Athletes


Richard Lapchick cites several reasons the public gives for believing the continual bad news:

1. People are cynical that many athletes don't care whether they get an education or not because colleges are simply way-stations to the pros.


2. People believe male pro athletes make preposterous salaries when fans can't even count on those same athletes to be on the same team the next year because of free agency.


3. People view owners as unscrupulous role model for the players.


4. People see, on average, about two athletes a week who have trouble with the law, be it drugs, alcohol, violence, or gender violence. 

Lapchick says, "When I suggest good-news stories to writers who've called me to talk about bad news, the conversation quickly becomes silent. When I say, `Why won't you write it,' they say that `Good news won't sell.' How do they know? It's so rare that they put it in our papers." 

He believes the one factor that's hardest to measure is attitude about racial stereotypes. Lapchick says when America thinks about athletes, they generally think about black athletes, although they no longer openly express stereotypes of blacks as lacking intelligence, lacking work ethic, taking drugs, and committing gender violence, they do make stereotypes of athletes, in general, as being black. (At the time of the article, 17 percent in major-league baseball, 79 percent in the NBA, 66 percent in the National Football League; at the college level in Division I, 61 percent of basketball players, 52 percent of football players and 6 percent of baseball players were black.)  


While the overwhelming majority of sportswriters are white, the public sees athletes through this filter, sometimes representing blacks as "natural athletes," somehow having to work less hard than white athletes to achieve success. And, in the nation as a whole, study after study shows ... "that many white people think blacks are more violent, less hardworking, live more off welfare, are less intelligent and more inclined to use drugs." Lapchick reports, "Assumptions are made that such athletes come from poor families, in spite of the fact that 67 percent of America's poor are white."

Among the athletes recruited for college sports, many are going to have some (all) of these characteristics:


1. They have lived in a society full of violent death, most frequently by a gun.
2. They have lived in a society full of teen pregnancy.
3. They have lived in a society full of people devastated by drugs.
4. They have lived in a society full of gender violence.
5. They have lived in a society full of sexual harassment and rape, even in large corporations.
6. They have lived in a society full of violent and aggressive sports.
7. They have lived in a society full of low high school graduation rates.
8. They have lived in racial isolation and come to predominantly white campuses with overwhelmingly white student bodies, staffs, and administrations.

What Can Sports Actually Do For Society?

Many people have a lofty view of what sports is or what sports and athletes can do. Lapchick contends, "We want to use them--sports and our athletes--to reach children. They're children in deep, deep crisis. And we can help them believe in what they can't see. Children see what's in front of them on the edges of despair, and see no source of hope... our children--not just parents, our children--have learned to hate each other on the basis of how they look and what they believe in." 

But, Lapchick also finds children want athletes -- professional, college, and high school -- to reach out to them, not just because the athletes are famous or have great athletic accomplishments, but because these children think the athletes are "caring individuals for whatever series of reasons."

Lapchick believes, "Young people are angry; they're confused; they feel powerless. How else do we explain that such a large proportion of the drugs used in America are consumed by American teenagers? Why do you use a drug? You want to change how you feel at that moment. The largest percentage of steroids used in the United States are not used by athletes. They're used by teen-age boys under the age of 16 who are not athletes, who feel so frail in their self-image that they use these drugs to make themselves stronger or faster for the perception of other people." 

He continues, "When survey--researchers ask some of the million teen-age girls who become pregnant every year why they would risk their future and become pregnant, the most common response is, `Because I wanted somebody to love me.' `Because I wanted somebody to love me.'" 

Lapchick confesses, "I have participated in the NBA's and NFL's rookie transition programs, and these young people tell us that they owe--they feel that they owe their lives to gang leaders in the communities that they came from because they were protected when other children were dying, and the payoff is that the gang leaders made deals with them that if they make it they will reimburse them some monetary response, because the gang leaders not only saved their lives, but they provided them with clothing and goods during that period of time."   


Lapchick credits Lou Harris and his team to evaluate programs such as Project Teamwork and Ambassadors Against Prejudice that trained, systematically, athletes with conflict-resolution skills and diversity-training skills. They have become America's most successful violence prevention programs. Other programs like this are sorely needed by all athletes.

Lapchick believes, for whatever reason, if the message is in the context of sport with athletes as the deliverers of the message, audiences become at ease with difficult subjects. These athletes must be trained using the skills needed to deliver these tough messages -- messages that can change athletes and even save lives.

Proposals for Professional Sports


Richard Lapchick makes these proposals for professional sports based on the fact that he believes that the responsibilities of professional sports organizations and the unique place that they hold in our community are very profound and that professional sports organizations, to this point, have hardly lived up to them. He believes the beneficiaries will be the owners, administrators, players, fans, and especially the children.

1. Place sports organizations at the grass roots of the cities rather than being moved into the suburbs of the cities.

2. Hold athletes to a higher standard than we hold other people.


3. Hire franchises leaders and decision-makers who are the right people, who have a good sense of ethical and moral responsibility, who are a diverse group of people, and who understand the times of their players.

4. Do not hire the the coaches that college teams have fired because they were doing problematic jobs.


5. Create rookie orientation programs and other ongoing programs for the personal development of the players and the front-office staff.  


6. Adopt sports league life-readiness plans to offer athletes further job education after their brief pro careers.


7. Propose very emphatically a cultural transition program for Latino ball players coming into major-league baseball.


8. Improve zero tolerance if an athlete is convicted of an act of gender violence at one of the 140 universities in the consortium, so they will be immediately banned for a year. After a year of counseling and going through other things, they can apply for reinstatement. If they're convicted twice, they would be banned for the rest of their college careers.  


9. Strengthen drug policies to include both help for their current athletes, but also to include other drugs on the list, including marijuana.

10. Produce public-service announcements and ticket give-aways. Work more closely with the media to get those positive images of athletes out there when there are so many athletes doing good things. Most professional athletes have private foundations that work in communities; more than 80 percent of pro athletes have their own foundations. Most are deeply religious, family-centered people.

11. Continue to invite National Student Athlete Day award winners to the White House to meet the President.    



  

Right And Wrong

Modern anthropological research has shown at every level of civilization a moral code has been created by people as an ideal of regulations of behavior that all should accept as "correct" and praise in speech and story. This code acknowledges the existence of the savage and the divine character of every single individual.

Romance, kindness and nursing exist as shining examples of good moral behavior, but, still, modern man is capable of unspeakable horrors such as those committed in Modgadishu, Rwanda, Baghdad, New York City, Oklahoma City, and even in an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania. The species is, at the same time, the highest and wisest while being the lowest and most cruel.

This paradox is well noted by Jeffrey Kluger ("What Makes Us Moral," Time Magazine, November 21, 2007). Kluger said, "The deeper that science drills into the substrata of behavior, the harder it becomes to preserve the vanity that we are unique among Earth's creatures."

Kluger continued, "What does, or ought to, separate us then is our highly developed sense of morality, a primal understanding of good and bad, of right and wrong, of what it means to suffer not only our own pain--something anything with a rudimentary nervous system can do--but also the pain of others. That quality is the distilled essence of what it means to be human. Why it's an essence that so often spoils, no one can say." 

Creating and Spoiling Moral Codes

The Universal Moral Code is a list of fundamental moral principles that can be found throughout the world. It was created by Dr. Kent M. Keith in 2003 while writing a book on morality and ethics. (Kent M. Keith, Anyway: The Paradoxical Commandments, 2003) Here is a list of the Code:

DO NO HARM.

Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.
Do not lie.
Do not steal.
Do not cheat.
Do not falsely accuse others.
Do not commit adultery.
Do not commit incest.
Do not physically or verbally abuse others.
Do not murder.
Do not destroy the natural environment upon which all life depends.

DO GOOD.

Do to others what you would like them to do to you.
Be honest and fair.
Be generous.
Be faithful to your family and friends.
Take care of your children when they are young.
Take care of your parents when they are old.
Take care of those who cannot take care of themselves.
Be kind to strangers.
Respect all life.
Protect the natural environment upon which all life depends.

    

Michael Schulman, co-author of Bringing Up a Moral Child, (with Eva Mekler, 1994) stated when someone resists bad doing in the face of another person in authority giving approval to commit the action, that person has demonstrated morality instead of mere social convention. Yet, Marc Hauser, professor of psychology at Harvard and author of Moral Minds (2006), added that although moral judgment is pretty consistent... "Moral behavior, however, is scattered all over the chart." There seems to be a great difference between the rules people know and the rules people follow.

According to Hauser, "Morality is grounded in our biology ... Inquiry into our moral nature will no longer be the proprietary province of the humanities and social sciences, but a shared journey with the natural sciences.” But by “grounded in” he does not mean that facts about what is right and wrong can be inferred from facts about neurons.

Houser believes humans are born with certain abstract rules or principles to set parameters. Hauser sometimes calls the brain “a moral organ” and sometimes “a moral faculty.” This area of the brain is “a circuit, specialized for recognizing certain problems as morally relevant.” It incorporates “a universal moral grammar, a toolkit for building specific moral systems.” (Mark D. Houser, Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong, 2006)

 

Imagine debating the merits of a proposed change in what is told children about right and wrong. The neurobiologists intervene, explaining that the novel moral code will not compute. Hauser said, "We have, they tell us, run up against hard-wired limits: our neural layout permits us to formulate and commend the proposed change, but makes it impossible for us to adopt it. Surely our reaction to such an intervention would be, 'You might be right, but let’s try adopting it and see what happens; maybe our brains are a bit more flexible than you think.' It is hard to imagine our taking the biologists’ word as final on such matters, for that would amount to giving them a veto over Utopian moral initiatives." Hauser takes this to suggest “that moral rules consist of two ingredients: a prescriptive theory or body of knowledge about what one ought to do, and an anchoring set of emotions." (Richard Rorty, "Born To Be Good," New York Times: Book Review, August 27 2006)

Empathy seems to be the deepest emotional foundation for morality. This empathy is based mainly upon the understanding that "what hurts me would feel the same way to you." To do a favor for someone today, logically is followed by expectation of a return favor during some tomorrow. Any group of animals thrives on this empathy.

Yet up the ante for causing pain for others and the situations become much more complicated. Then, emotions play an even greater part in the moral code. A favorite scenario that morality researchers study is the trolley dilemma:

"You're standing near a track as an out-of-control train hurtles toward five unsuspecting people. There's a switch nearby that would let you divert the train onto a siding. Would you do it? Of course. You save five lives at no cost. Suppose a single unsuspecting man was on the siding? Now the mortality score is 5 to 1. Could you kill him to save the others? What if the innocent man was on a bridge over the trolley and you had to push him onto the track to stop the train?

"Pose these dilemmas to people while they're in an fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), and the brain scans get messy. Using a switch to divert the train toward one person instead of five increases activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex--the place where cool, utilitarian choices are made. Complicate things with the idea of pushing the innocent victim, and the medial frontal cortex--an area associated with emotion--lights up. 

"As these two regions do battle, we may make irrational decisions. In a recent survey, 85% of subjects who were asked about the trolley scenarios said they would not push the innocent man onto the tracks--even though they knew they had just sent five people to their hypothetical death. "What's going on in our heads?" asks Joshua Greene, an assistant professor of psychology at Harvard University. "Why do we say it's O.K. to trade one life for five in one case and not others?" 

(Jeffrey Kluger,"What Makes Us Moral," Time Magazine, November 21, 2007)

Having moral programming (the code of proper behavior) does not mean someone will practice moral behavior. Like a computer operator, someone must still boot up and properly configure the software. Therein lies the duty of the community. Hauser concluded, "... all of us carry what he calls a sense of moral grammar--the ethical equivalent of the basic grasp of speech that most linguists believe is with us from birth. It's the people around us who do that teaching--often quite well." (Mark D. Houser, Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong, 2006)

Long held tenets of morality still exist. Education in school, in the family, and in the church are held to be morally responsible. A sound public opinion in the state and nation is necessary for effective ethical modeling. Also, the greater part of a nation's legislation affects its morality. (G. Joyce, "Morality," The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1911)

"In the 21st century, we retain a powerful remnant of that primal dichotomy, which is what impels us to step in and help a mugging victim--or, in the astonishing case of Wesley Autrey, New York City's so-called Subway Samaritan, jump onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train to rescue a sick stranger--but allows us to decline to send a small contribution to help the people of Darfur. 'The idea that you can save the life of a stranger on the other side of the world by making a modest material sacrifice is not the kind of situation our social brains are prepared for,' says Greene."

(Jeffrey Kluger,"What Makes Us Moral," Time Magazine, November 21, 2007)

In France and some other places, laws now make it criminal for a passerby not to provide at least some aid. But, a state is not needed to create a moral code. Clubs, social groups and fraternities may expel undesirable members, and the U.S. military retains the threat of discharge as a disciplinary tool. Judging someone as "dishonorable" in the military is harsh punishment, often felt for life. In fact, affiliations often deeply influence the sense of right and wrong.

Usually the biggest challenges for people occur when they are called on to apply moral care to people outside of their family, community, or workplace. Homo sapiens have trouble with the notion of "other" when faced with the primary function of existence as nothing more than an effort to get as many of their genes as possible into the next generation. 

One Caucasian juvenile delinquent put this "other" concept so eloquently when he stated, "I wouldn't mug an old lady. That could be my grandmother." So, asked who he would mug instead, he calmly stated, "A Chinese delivery guy." Empathy for an alien? And, the line between insiders and outsiders is seen everywhere at every level of society.

The Morally Correct Behavior?

A moral code is absolutely necessary for the welfare of any society. How it is formed and the manner in which it should be strictly followed are debatable. Circumstance and environment certainly affect an individual caught in a moral dilemma. Ultimately, the individual must take a course of action. Sometimes, the actions are immoral in the eyes of others. Most immoral behavior must be punished in order for a code to be effective.

But, under what circumstances would we steal? If we were living in an oppressive society? If we came from a poor and starving background? If he were highly uneducated? Merely giving food to the child may be a momentary panacea, however, the situation must be studied from all sides in order for a long term answer to be found. And, who would deny the wavering effect of a code of ethics in certain, dire situations?

Revisiting an Old Pyramid

This post will tackle some problems by first taking a step back into Psychology 101.I hope you allow me to give a little psych review before I make a point or two. We seem to need a model to illustrate some basic fabric of our human existence, so I'm going to use a concept most have seen before.

Maslow and The Hierarchy of Needs

Psychologist Abraham Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person to achieve individual potential. Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation."

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is usually displayed as a pyramid with the lowest levels of the pyramid as the most basic human needs, while the top of the pyramid is the more complex needs  Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are pretty basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, Maslow contends people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security. Then, a person can proceed with each new step.

Maslow based the hierarchy on these two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency. The first four levels are:

1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.;
2) Safety/security: out of danger;
3) Belongingness and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and
4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition.

(W. Huitt, "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, Educational Psychology Interactive, 2007)

According to Maslow, an individual is ready to act upon the growth needs if and only if the deficiency needs are met. Maslow's initial conceptualization included only one growth need--self-actualization. Self-actualized people are characterized by: 1) being problem-focused; 2) incorporating an ongoing freshness of appreciation of life; 3) a concern about personal growth; and 4) the ability to have peak experiences. Maslow later differentiated the growth need of self-actualization, specifically identifying two of the first growth needs as part of the more general level of self-actualization (A. Maslow & R. Lowery, Toward a Psychology of Being, 1998) and one beyond the general level that focused on growth beyond that oriented towards self. (A. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature,1971)

They are:

5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore;
6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty;
7) Self-actualization:  to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and
8) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.

Maslow's basic position is that as one becomes more self-actualized and self-transcendent, one becomes more wise (develops wisdom) and automatically knows what to do in a wide variety of situations. Daniels (Maslows's Concept of Self-actualization, 2001) suggested that Maslow's ultimate conclusion that the highest levels of self-actualization are transcendent in their nature may be one of his most important contributions to the study of human behavior and motivation.

Needs and Ethics As They Once Related

Tim Bryce, business management consultant, ("Moral Decay," www.articlesbase.com, October 14 2008) stated that even some with a decent work environment, benefits, and organization lacked important values. Many just say, "It's not like it used to be." In other words, concerns have changed. Bryce said in the older days the following was illustrative of good employees:

1. "It used to be a person's word was his bond. If he made a verbal commitment, you could count on it.  Today, lying and deceit are commonplace in just about every corner of our society.

2. "We used to have dedicated workers who cared about their work and doggedly saw a task through to completion.  Now, we no longer associate our reputations with our work products.

3. "We used to respect our bosses and were loyal to our companies.  As long as you were employed by someone, you bit your tongue and endeavored to help the company succeed."

Needs and Ethics of Today

What, then, once procured, would cause people to ditch the highest levels of self-actualization and transcendence? What is happening to ethics? Many believe we are facing an ethics crisis in our world, from the highest levels of government, business and the media down through every echelon of society. At the root of violence, crime, and other features of an unsafe environment is the lack of basic moral and ethical values.

In a survey of high school and middle school students, the 2000 Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth, the Josephson Institute conducted a biennial national survey on the ethics of middle school and high school students. The report was based on written surveys administered by randomly selected schools throughout the country in 2000. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent. It includes responses from 15,877 middle and high school students. Among the findings were the following:

1. "Nearly half of the high school students and a quarter of the middle schoolers say they could get a gun if they wanted to. More than ten percent of all students say they actually took a weapon to school in the past year.

2. "Seventy percent of the middle school students and 68 percent of the high school students say they hit someone in the past year.

3. "Sixty-six percent of the high schoolers and nearly a quarter of the middle schoolers say they could get drugs if they wanted to.

4. "Forty percent of the high school males and 30 percent of the high school females say they stole something from a store in the past 12 months.

5. "Ninety-two percent of the high schoolers lied to their parents in the past 12 months, 78 percent lied to a teacher, and more than one in four say they would lie to get a job.

6. "Seventy-one percent of the high school students admit they cheated on an exam at least once in the past 12 months (45% say they did so two or more times)."

What Is Going On?
 

Robert Gordis ("The Revival of Religion and the Decay of Ethics," Christian Century, 1984) stated long ago that the populace reels under the "helplessness felt by the average individual in seeing himself or herself crushed by the Behemoth of power represented by all the levels of government bureaucracy, the wealth of massive corporations and the ubiquitous impact of the press, the radio and television. One is overwhelmed by the new, potentially dangerous technology, and feels outraged by the unfamiliar 'permissive' patterns of behavior of the younger generation today."

Most modern men and women do, then, lament the sense of alienation and loneliness that seems to be just part of their destiny. Feeling powerless to effect change, many accept poverty, illness and squalor.

Where is their safe harbor from fears, doubts and uncertainties. Many immerse themselves in religion to escape the drug- alcohol- and sex-centered culture of today. For them, religion and irreligion are simple affairs: “Where there is no faith, there are no answers; where there is faith, there are no questions.” They see sinners as failures in their society who will someday receive their just punishment.

And, to me, religion may well be needed at the core of ethical development; however, to decline that action is a necessary requirement of faith is unacceptable. To deny to help uphold the procurement of all needs for all mankind is unethical. In other words, to hide behind an inactive religious faith, one that does little to lift up the sinner, forever denies self-transcendence (Thank you, Mr. Maslow).

Some, unfortunately, go to church simply to absolve themselves of their sins from the preceding week, not to correct any personal character flaw and certainly not to attempt to assist others in correcting their flaws. Instead, after being "cleansed," these worshipers revert to their indiscretions. 

People must lead by example. The morally handicapped will always persist in attempting to undermine the system of values. Though society should truly penalize immoral violations as opposed to looking the other way, it should also encourage teamwork and reward accomplishments. In addition, constructive criticism is lacking while destructive criticism is mostly applauded by the masses.  Basically, mankind just needs some common sense and respect for the human spirit.

If a return to morality means giving of one's self and putting aside self interests for the common good of all, then such things as honor, courtesy, pride, respect, sacrifice, courage, dedication, commitment, loyalty, honesty, perseverance, integrity, and professionalism must rebound. Perhaps, Maslow's model speaks most loudly of the lack of growth needs (review the hierarchy pyramid) in the 21st century. I, for one, believe those growth needs require new commitments to long-respected virtues. We are all responsible for lifting mankind to the peak of the hierarchy of needs. To reach the summit and deny needed assistance to others is unthinkable and, quite frankly, unacceptable.