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January 12, 2012 Opinions |
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—LETTERS—
Football and the Liberal Arts
To The Record-Courier:
Last year the Oregon Ducks lost the Rose Bowl. Last week they won the Rose Bowl. The victory has been 95 years in the making. Football teaches us how to get up and keep going after we have been knocked down. In football, as in life, we have to learn not to be defeated by our failures.
Some of my teaching colleagues think varsity sports get in the way of a liberal arts education. They’re wrong. Football teaches our students a great many things which often go untaught in today’s school system.
Football teaches that self-esteem cannot be given; it must be earned. Football teaches that no matter how good you are, you can’t win alone. You are part of a team. It teaches you that often you have to continue working long after your mind and body are screaming at you to quit. It teaches that no matter how talented you are, you can’t break the rules of the game and you darn well should not be allowed to break the laws of the land.
Football teaches you that as an adult you have the right to choose to do dangerous things, because football is dangerous and it is a choice. Some of the risks can be lessened, but players are injured and may even die playing football. I worry about football injuries and it’s one of the reasons I prefer basketball. I seldom recommend students join the football team because I am not sure the risks are worth it; but I firmly believe, in a free society, the choice is theirs and not mine.
In football there are winners and there are losers. If everyone wins, no one wins. But it’s OK because competition can be a very good thing. It can bring out the best in you and in the game. Football provides an equal playing field. It doesn’t discriminate against you because of your race, your religion, your politics or your sexual orientation. Still, if you are plump and top out at 5’2”, you had better enjoy the game as a fan and find some other way to excel. Life is not fair, but football is fair unless the referees are crooked.
Athletes have been among my most academically gifted students, but whether the student-athletes in my class earned A’s or C’s, most of them have gone on to live rich and productive lives out there in the “real” world in part because of what they learned from football.
Chana Cox
U-Choose Education Forum, and Lewis and Clark faculty emerita
The Wolves Are At The Door
To The Record-Courier:
Hey brother, can you spare a dime, because the wolf is at the door.
Well not exactly at the door, yet, but wolves have become a critical problem in Wallowa County causing thousands of dollars in damage to cattle ranchers and also causing devastation in the deer and elk populations. Considering how rapidly a wolf can cover ground, it is only a matter of time until these killing machines will be in your county and at your back door.
This is a very complex issue that involves several entities. So far there has not been an easy answer or quick fix to the problem. The more time that elapses the larger the problem becomes and the greater the losses incurred by the livestock growers and the wildlife herds.
There is much at stake here. Consider the impact on local economies when hunting is no longer possible because the game no longer exists. Also, if ranchers are forced out of business and hunting disappears we will be facing the possibility of drastic life style changes.
This is what you can do:
1. Spend a few minutes at the excellent web site called oregonwolfeducation.org. Watch the video and listen to the constantly updated "Wolf Reports" put together by the above named organization. The video was filmed on privately owned ranches and illustrates how serious the problem is and the frustration ranchers are facing in dealing with government agencies like The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, for example.
2. Forward the oregonwolfeducation.org website to others and encourage them to get involved. Education on this issue is of utmost importance. Please help to spread the word.
3. Last but not least: Can't you please spare a dime? Please send a donation to Oregon Wolf Education, PO Box 514, Joseph, OR 97846.
Jack Meligan
Heppner, Or.
Measure 5 Of 1990 Is A Red Herring
To The Record-Courier:
In reading the brief about Measure 5 of 1990 about property taxes for schools, as not to limit the uses related to fire protection assessments by the State Department of Forestry (ODF). This is just a red herring by the governor’s cabinets to the 1994 elections of Measure 5 that amends the State’s constitution limits on taxes that does require voter’s approval by a majority vote and enforceable by private lawsuit.
An Act: be enacted by the people of the State of Oregon: Preamble. The purpose of this act is to ensure that tax increases, which further deprive the citizens of incomes and property are here after directly approved by the people. Paragraph 1. The constitution of the State of Oregon is amended by creating a new Section 32a in article 1 to read: Section 32a. People’s right to approve all taxes. Not withstanding any other provision of this constitution, any new taxes or tax increases shall require approval by the people, as follows, etc.
Anyone dealing with the State’s cabinets under a Socialist Democratic oligarchy knows that State and U.S. Constitutional laws have no part of their agenda, as clear back as McCall’s L.C.D.C. zoning or early 1970’s. The 1930’s hearings, as encroachments.
Bruce Parke
Sumpter, Ore.
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