Recently, I was reading article on a popular Catholic website. The article was discussing the shocking behavior of American Olympians and how the sports culture in professional sports and now bleeding into the college sport arena is tainted with narcissism, animal like behavior, and lack of self control. The author of the article did acknowledge that to obtain a spot on the Olympic team you need dedication, but dismisses this by going on and on about “lewd acts.”
While I agree that some athletes can be narcissistic and grow to believe they do not have self control, this is not the Norm. I believe in recent years our Athletes on the college, professional and international stages have really made an effort to turn around their attitudes. Now more than ever, we are seeing young people take steps in the right direction. I ask the author of this article to look for the good in sports which may take longer to find because the bad is so easy to see. The newspapers, television programs, and reporters everywhere love to cover a scandal, a mishap, and bad behavior yet conveniently forget about the good.
Just this morning a member of the American Men’s Bobsledding Team who won Gold, adopted a beautiful golden retriever on the air. He is a bachelor and trying to set an example for people everywhere. He has had quite a year; went to the Olympics and won Gold, now launched into public eye and media circus, and all the while being a stand up guy.
Maybe, what today’s young people need more than ever is encouragement! I can say as a member of the under 20 club, that I am tired of hearing, “Your generation is so screwed up!” Just as any generation, there are members that seem to ruin the reputation for us all. But, let’s also remember that we are not perfect. We are human. We should pray for our brothers and sisters; who unfortunately are in the public’s eye. I am sure that this increased pressure does not help with the personal battles they are fighting.
Perhaps, what the younger generation needs also is compassion from older generations. Being jaded by the message of, “you generation is a mess” I tend to turn a deaf ear. However, if young people like me were shown compassion, I think it would stop them dead in their tracks. The younger generation is making an effort to clean up our acts, at least some of us anyway. Maybe, the older generations should take the same attempts to be less judgmental and more compassionate.
-Heated Young Person!
Kiaya
Blog:
kayakmango.blogspot.com
I have thought long and hard about sharing this with you, but I know you will all be encouraging and supportive. That's what I love the most about you ladies! I even created a blog about it...but it only lasted one day. I took it down out of fear, I guess.
