Death and Relations Can be Painful

Modern Day Gladiators Get PAID!

The more advanced our society becomes, the more we remain the same. Watching the fight tonight with my grandsons (watched first round, and had to leave.  Too violent for my taste.), I'm reminded of the gladiators of olden times. They were given a sword, a shield, sometimes armor, placed in a ring in front of spectators, and expected to fight until the death of one of them.  Occasionally, one could earn his freedom by being a champion.

Today, we do not label them gladiators.  We call them boxers or fighters. We call them football players. We call them basketball players.  Each a particular kind of gladiators who is expected to play, and defend their titles as if their lives depended on their success and/or failure. They are paid big money just to play in these sports. We set them on a pedestal when they win.  We give them trophies in addition to money to show how much we appreciate their skills. Each year we anxiously look forward to the next season to see who will be entertaining us!  The players play with injuries, and pain, not for survival but purely for our entertainment

Thousands of dollars or paid, wagered, and otherwise spent to watch these modern day gladiators.    The more brutal the sport the more we enjoy it, and the higher the stakes.  It seems that we will do just about anything to see them play, and then put our children in training so that they too can one day bring home the money. Many of our children suffer injuries that will last them a lifetime. They sustain injuries playing football, basketball, soccer, and yes boxing.  Each hoping to be the next $72 million winner.

With these modern day gladiators always on center stage, why do we wonder why our children do not value education. Education doesn't pay. Teaching is one of the lowest paying jobs in America. Police officers and firefighters are also not  paid very well for protecting us and saving our lives. There is no money in honest work and honest living.  Our Congressional representatives believe that paying $13.10 an hour will upset our delicate economy.  However, no one blinks or bats an eye when one person  boxes for less than three hours and gets paid $72 million or when one basketball player gets paid $53 million plus deals and more for one season of basketball.

We want our children to value education; to appreciate are; participate in the classicals, and be a functioning part of society, but we know that if they are not exceptional in some way, they will be forced to give up their dreams.  So, each year, some of us become soccer moms to start our children on the path of future gladiator or basketball moms hoping for the next Michael Jordan.  I do not believe that I have ever heard of a teacher mom or an artist, mom or even a doctor mom (and some doctors actually make bank).

If society is to value all of its people, then something has got to change.  From my vantage point, there is nothing more valuable than education.  We know that education, open doors.  In addition, we know that if there is to be change, then change must start with us.

Let's not shoot our modern day gladiators, but let's stop valuing them as the only hero worth modeling after, and hold up some of these great writers on WDC, and some of these struggling artists in our community.  They are great hard working role models that I am proud to be associated with, and count among my friends.