Yesterday, I saw a television reporter stick a microphone in the face of a helicopter-pilot, who just executed an emergency landing of his copter (safely) in the Hudson River, asking the pilot, "Do you consider yourself a hero?". The pilot looked deadpan into the camera and said matter-of-fact, "I was just doing my job." Four passengers walked to safety.
Later that evening, I was watching an NFL program, which was showing 'highlights' of great touchdown runs. Most players scoring the touchdowns did some kind of end zone celebratory-dance thus keeping the T.V. cameras on the player; 'see me' was the obvious plea. I thought about the pilot and then I thought about Major League baseball hitters show-boating after a home run, defensive football players who strut about after sacking the runner. The NBA player who shows his ass with obnoxious taunting any time he dunks on an opponent or blocks the opponent's shot. And then I thought once again about the very humble helicopter pilot who is likely earning a substantially lower annual income than the self-centered arrogant athlete.
The past several days, one television network continues to advertise a coming 'new' show which will offer large sums of money to program participants who display bad public behavior, i.e., brush teeth at a restaurant table, rinse and spit water onto the floor or pick their nose in public; just to mention a couple of stunts. I conclude that in recent years' the onslaught of 'reality shows,' such as 'Bad Girls' and 'Jersey Shore' are apparently losing appeal to our countrymen and the need to spice things up with more and more vulgar 'Animal House' antics is needed on our T. V. airways. (And we wonder why adolescent bullying is such a major problem in school and on 'facebook.).
Please don't blame the media, the film entertainment industry or the educational system for our plummeting societal character-compass. Let's agree that our young people display poor manners and disgusting behavior because most parents are piss-poor at their responsibility of raising a good and well-behaved person.
My third grade teacher gave me a swat with a paddle (1947) and sent a note home explaining my behavior, which warranted the paddling and requested my parent to sign and return the note. My Father signed the note moments after he swatted me with his belt and told me not to bring anymore notes home from school; I never did misbehave at school again.
I am sure the helicopter pilot's parents were good at their parenting charge and you and I know damn well that many of the pro-athletes' parents get failing marks.
The great football running back, Barry Sanders was once asked why he did NOT celebrate in the end zone after scoring a touchdown. Sanders said there are two reasons why he did NOT do that: "First I wanted people to believe that I had been there before and secondly, I plan to be there again."
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