Thoughts

Recently in the news, a few things have stuck out to me where my opinion tends to jump out. In that case, writing them down tends to help a little bit


On Penn State:
-Being a sports person, this headline has been around since late last year. For those of you that don't know, for many years there was coach at Penn State who had been molesting young boys, a lot of on school owned property. The much beloved head coach, Joe Paterno, as well as the governing body of the school had known of such things that were happening, but failed to report any of it until it was too late and the story broke out to the public. Since then, the man guilty of the abuse has been sent to jail, Paterno lost his reputation and died of cancer, and the administrators were fired and the school has been tainted with a bad reputation. Last week, the school received punishments from the NCAA saying that they need to pay $60 million in fines, 20 scholarships lost over the space of a few years, and no postseason play (conference championship or bowl game) for four years. Harsh, but they were needed in this case.

When reading different message boards about it, it's sad to see people already calling Penn State, "Pedo State" and even trashing the players and community, the ones not involved in the problems that went on. For me, obviously i feel for those affected by the abuse and their families, but also i feel for the players that the sanctions punish as well. Penn State had been doing great in the recruiting, but this was going to make it pretty hard. Some de-committed and left, but a good number of current players and prospective players pledged that they are staying, regardless of the penalties. To me, that shows that they are at the school for more than just football and that they have integrity to stick it out. Good for them.


On the Aurora shooting:
-On friday the 20th, i woke up and was thinking how great it was that im done with school for the next month and a half. Imagine my shock when the first thing i see when i get online is that a shooting occurred at a theater i had been to many times in my hometown 2 miles from my house and that 12 people would end up dead. One of those killed was a girl that i didn't know personally, but knew of and was a friend of many friends of mine i had back in high school. Luckily, none of my brothers went to the theater and were safe. After tragedies like this, communities become closer and tight knit. Some, however, immediately want to politicize the event and point the finger not just at the psycho who did, but others that may have facilitated it. With the shootings at Columbine, they blamed video games, but no strong correlation was found. With this shooting in Aurora, many are saying that it was the lack of concealed weapons permits the patrons didn't have.....SERIOUSLY?!?!?! 12 die and almost 60 are injured, and you're telling me that if people in the theater had concealed weapons permits, it would've have been prevented? Wow...the guy who did it had tactical body armor on from head to toe and multiple guns on him plus he threw tear gas grenades up to make visibility hard for everyone else. If people would fire back at him in a moment of chaos like that, more people could've been hurt/killed. Maybe if the guy wasn't crazy, that could've prevented it. Acts like this are so random and confusing, you can't just immediately point the finger at this or that which "could" be the reason for it. Tragedies happen, ok? It stinks, but it shows that life is fragile and the need to cherish it that much more apparent. I trust God enough to know that those that were killed are in a much more peaceful place and are "are taken home to that God who gave them life" (Alma 40:11)


On Chick-Fil-A:
-Oh boy, has this been a stupid one. So we are pretty familiar that Chick-Fil-A is a very conservatively-owned restaurant owned by Southern Baptist people. I for one applaud that they are closed on Sundays to observe the Sabbath day. But the CEO of Chick-Fil-A spoke recently that they are "guilty as charged" when it comes to being against gay marriage and supporting traditional and the Biblical definition of marriage being between a man and a woman. This i also support and agree with. So imagine the outcry they took when pro-gay supporters are now calling for boycotts against Chick-Fil-A and calling them "bigots", "intolerant", and "discriminatory". The Mayor of Boston said that Chick-Fil-A is not welcome there and that the Chicago Alderman said that they are not welcome in his ward of Chicago.

For me, this is getting ridiculous. When one looks up the definition of a "bigot", it says that it is someone who is "utterly intolerant of any differing creed, belief, or opinion". Chick-Fil-A in this instance is simply stating its opinion. It is not going to go to each of its customers, ask if they are gay, and then kick them out if they are. THAT would be bad and show that they are "utterly intolerant". They are simply exercising their right to free speech in the Constitution. Those rights we have are lost only if they infringe on the rights of others and become hostile. One opinion by one man does not make him a bigot any more than those who then lash out at the CEO and even to the point of bringing his faith into it make them bigots. Chick-Fil-A took a stand, and i agree with them personally. Not enough people take firm stands today about what they believe.


ok, im done. it's dang hot my apartment and typing is getting more and more hard for now