
 |
The Kosher Gourmet by Megan Gordon With its colorful cache of purples and oranges and reds, COLLARD GREEN SLAW is a marvelous mood booster --- not to mention just downright delish
April 18, 2014
Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Clarifying one of the greatest philosophical conundrums in theology
John Ericson: Trying hard to be 'positive' but never succeeding? Blame Your Brain
The Kosher Gourmet by Julie Rothman Almondy, flourless torta del re (Italian king's cake), has royal roots, is simple to make, . . . but devour it because it's simply delicious
April 14, 2014
Rabbi Dr Naftali Brawer: Passover frees us from the tyranny of time
Eric Schulzke: First degree: How America really recovered from a murder epidemic
Georgia Lee: When love is not enough: Teaching your kids about the realities of adult relationships
Gordon Pape: How you can tell if your financial adviser is setting you up for potential ruin
Dana Dovey: Up to 500,000 people die each year from hepatitis C-related liver disease. New Treatment Has Over 90% Success Rate
Justin Caba: Eating Watermelon Can Help Control High Blood Pressure
April 11, 2014
Rabbi Hillel Goldberg: Silence is much more than golden
Susan Swann: How to value a child for who he is, not just what he does
Susan Scutti: A Simple Blood Test Might Soon Diagnose Cancer
Chris Weller: Have A Slow Metabolism? Let Science Speed It Up For You
April 9, 2014
Jonathan Tobin: Why Did Kerry Lie About Israeli Blame?
Samuel G. Freedman: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Jessica Ivins: A resolution 70 years later for a father's unsettling legacy of ashes from Dachau
Matthew Mientka: How Beans, Peas, And Chickpeas Cleanse Bad Cholesterol and Lowers Risk of Heart Disease
April 8, 2014
Dana Dovey: Coffee Drinkers Rejoice! Your Cup Of Joe Can Prevent Death From Liver Disease
Chris Weller: Electric 'Thinking Cap' Puts Your Brain Power Into High Gear
April 4, 2014
Amy Peterson: A life of love: How to build lasting relationships with your children
John Ericson: Older Women: Save Your Heart, Prevent Stroke Don't Drink Diet
John Ericson: Why 50 million Americans will still have spring allergies after taking meds
Sarah Boesveld: Teacher keeps promise to mail thousands of former students letters written by their past selves
April 2, 2014
Dan Barry: Should South Carolina Jews be forced to maintain this chimney built by Germans serving the Nazis?
Frank Clayton: Get happy: 20 scientifically proven happiness activities
Susan Scutti: It's Genetic! Obesity and the 'Carb Breakdown' Gene
|
| |
Jewish World Review
July 31, 2007
/ 16 Menachem-Av, 5767
Doing it the right way
By
Cal Thomas
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | In the reporting and commentary that preceded Sunday's Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony for San Diego's Tony Gwynn and Baltimore's Cal Ripken Jr., one ESPN sports journalist observed: "They did it the right way."
That is a foreign concept in our day: the "right" way. Why? When I was growing up and until recent years most athletes played by the rules and did things the right way. Their only "enhancement" was hard work, which refined natural talent.
At the start of the week, Barry Bonds was preparing to equal and surpass Hank Aaron's record of 755 career home runs. Bonds will deserve more than the asterisk baseball attached to Roger Maris, whose only "enhancement" was playing in more games than previous record holder, Babe Ruth. Bonds is alleged to have been helped along with steroids.
Last week, Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick emerged from a courtroom following indictments on federal dogfighting charges. Vick promised that the coming trial will help him get his "good name" back. One must first have a good name, which increasing numbers of sports celebrities do not. Professional basketball and cycling are other sports recently tainted by rule infractions, even lawbreaking.
| FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO INFLUENTIAL NEWSLETTER |
| Every weekday NewsAndOpinion.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here. |
|
And then there are Gwynn and Ripken who did it "the right way." I saw Gwynn play only on television, and have read that he is a strong family man and humanitarian. Living closer to Baltimore than to San Diego, I saw Ripken play a lot. On and off the field, Ripken conducted himself as a gentleman, a word that began to fall out of fashion in the '60s. He would sign autographs before games and waited after games to sign even more until the last child (or adult) was satisfied. There was never a story about Ripken that involved drugs, alcohol, extramarital affairs, boorish behavior, gambling, conceit or anything else that would discredit Ripken, the game, the city of Baltimore, the Orioles, or disgrace his family.
On Sept. 6, 1995, when Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record for consecutive games played, the outpouring of emotion in Baltimore and in the voices of the announcers calling the game (even I teared up) was heartfelt. It was as if America was lamenting what it had lost when it traded real accomplishment for celebrity and false glory.
What do we celebrate today? Upon whom is our attention fixed? It is the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. And if one turns to tabloid cable TV, it is also missing women, murdered women and their daughters, missing daughters who disappear with men who murder them and other sensationalized and violently gratuitous tragedies.
Do we teach, encourage and practice "the right way" in our personal lives and relationships, schools, politics, or anything else? We do not. That would require imposing a moral code, which is less acceptable than the immorality that inevitably fills a culture trapped in a moral vacuum.
Instead we adopt the philosophy behind the Frank Sinatra song "My Way." Whatever feels good at the moment and helps us make it through the night is all we want. We crave the immediate over the eternal, the base over the noble, the cheap over the valuable and the tawdry over the wholesome. And then we are surprised when we get fewer Gwynns and Ripkens and more Bonds, Vicks, Lohans and Spears.
Not so long ago when a child got in trouble with the law, or just behaved badly, parents would consult a priest, rabbi or minister and the family would go into seclusion. Now they bypass all of that, preferring to talk about it on "Larry King Live," as Lohan's father did last week. Have they no shame? Why should they when the rest of us appear to have none?
At Cooperstown, the chairman of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jane Forbes Clark, said that the 53 living members who joined Ripken and Gwynn had demonstrated "character, integrity and sportsmanship." They didn't catch those qualities like an unwanted virus; they had to be drummed into them.
Why don't we learn from them instead of denying the very qualities we claim to want reflected in a new generation?
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
JWR contributor Cal Thomas is the author of, among others, The Wit and Wisdom of Cal Thomas Comment by clicking here.
Cal Thomas Archives
© 2006, Tribune Media Services, Inc.
|
|
Columnists
Toons
Lifestyles
|