When I was in
high school I competed in track and field as a high jumper. I was very
good, later reaching the exalted height of 7 feet. That’s without a pole,
just me and my skinny legs. But
at the Upland Invitational track meet I only made two jumps to win, or so I
thought. When they called
out the winner, it was my opponent.
I looked around
to see if it was a joke, stared at the judges to see if they were rechecking
the stats, but their decision had been made. I had two choices, accept my loss or
fight for my victory. I
tentatively approached the judges table; they had just awarded the gold medal
to my opponent and I quietly said “I think you made a mistake.”
After a few
anxious moments of just standing there the judge on the end looked up and said
“what?”
“You made a
mistake. I won the high jump.” He
looked at me with a sorry face and with a tone of conciliation, “Young man,
we’re sorry but you did not win and the award has been presented.”
“But I had fewer
jumps then he did.” I blurted.
It took a few
more exchanges and silent consultations but they all agreed I had won, I did
indeed have fewer jumps and we both cleared the same height of 6’8” to be
exact. But they were reluctant to reverse the decision.
I tried one more
time. “Excuse me!” Speaking
to the entire panel, “Did I win or not?” They all agreed that I had, “Then I
want my medal,” I demanded in a raised voice. I got my medal but no one on that
panel was happy about my insistence; they complained to my coach who complained
back to me and told me that I was acting like a child and was being a poor
sport.
The learning that
took place on that day has served me well but we’re in the same place as a
country as I was as a high jumper, so many years ago. We’re being told that what we do has
no meaning, it has no value and there is no reward for our efforts. In fact we are being punished for
doing what we are asked to do, even when we excel in regards to those requests.
A few years ago
the electric providers did the same thing, telling us all to conserve, raise
our thermostats to 80 degrees, only use major appliances during non peak hours
and take shorter showers. We complied but they raised our rates with the
blessing of the state regulators to compensate there losses due to lower usage.
So my question is
why should we bother conserving or even serving when in the end we get kicked
in the teeth for our efforts? Why
should we go out of are way to use less water, suffer the heat, pay our school
taxes or any other sacrifice when we know in the end we will end up paying more
and getting less?
I’m sure you have
your own stories of a government gone wild. Please share them. This is not about a cheap little medal
from some obscure sporting event; this about our lives, our rights and our
freedoms. This is about the few (the privileged and
powerful few) telling the masses to sacrifice so they don’t have too.
Saying what is
right is one thing but changing what is wrong is another. All I can do is write and hope others
read (and comment), but there is so much more at stake, so much more to loose
if we do nothing. Our
efforts can only succeed if we work together. We need to stand up to the
judges and demand our rewards for our labors just as I did in demanding my gold
medal. We need to insist that they listen and be resolute in our resolve for
justice, or at least hold them accountable for the stewardship's they covet.
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