I have always found Under Armor's marketing campaigns rather humorous and relatively unimpressive. I mean, I have not been swayed to go out and buy their products (and can someone please tell me what is up with their new "Click, Clack" campaign . . . what does that even mean?). And while I wish this post could be dedicated to mocking Under Armor's original slogan (the now infamous . . . that's when you're more than famous, you're INfamous . . . "We must protect his house" . . . taken a little too seriously by the Kansas City Chiefs' mascot earlier this season), it is not. In fact, it is about something completely different; this entire introduction was just so I could link to the Kansas City video because I really enjoy it.
Now, to the real point of this post. I hate to do it, and I had told myself I would not do it, but I have to take a moment and get a little political. Do not worry, I am not going to try and tell you who you should vote for or which party is better and why; I would never do that. That decision belongs to you, and you alone. What I would like to do, however, is take a moment to discuss two problems that both parties should be talking about on a daily basis (and neither includes the word Iraq): (1) the sad state of American households, and (2) the war on drugs.
I usually get excited when I have a story to support my post, but not for this one. As you may or may not know, the two eldest sons of Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid were recently sentenced to up to twenty-three months in prison for several drug and firearm related crimes. During the sentencing hearing, Judge Steven O'Neill described the Reid's home as "a drug emporium" and found "there isn't any structure there." This, of course, prompted sportswriters, sportscasters, and radio personalities (including my main man Dan Patrick...welcome back DP, it's been a great month of morning radio) to ask whether Coach Reid should take a leave-of-absence from the Eagles organization to be his family during this time. This, of course, brings me to my first point: the sad state of American households.
This nation is in need of a massive priority shift. On a daily basis we read about young celebrities doing stupid things, kids killing each other, kids doing drugs, and the like. And when something bad happens, the parents are out there pointing fingers at everything and everyone else. Blame it on the music, blame it on the television, blah, blah, blah. Blame it anything you want, expect my child and except me. No one ever wants to blame the household in which these kids are raised because then we have to face the real problem.
The current state of our nation, driven by money and power has developed a growing class of people who prioritize their life as follows: (1) money, (2) work, (3) money, (4) conspicuous consumption, (5) money, (6) popularity, and (7) family. I would even go so far as saying we are lucky when family falls within the top ten. And no family wants to deal with their own problems, believing it can just be solved with money. Let's send the kid therapy, a private school, or, my personal favorite, let's sue someone.
My Dad will be the first to admit that he worked hard and he worked a lot. He has flown around the world on business trips at least ten times that I can think of, and has accumulated so many frequent flyer miles on American Airlines that he has a guaranteed seat on any flight he needs (read: he can kick someone off a flight to have their seat . . . which he has never done and will never do). Working hard paid off for my Dad, and he became very successful. You have to be pretty financially secure to retire early in this day-and-age, and he was able to do so, and is loving life. But while he was working 12-hour days and traveling weeks at time, one thing remained the same: his family came first. He did not miss holidays or birthdays, we had a family vacation every year, and he was the coach of most of our youth sports teams. He also would tell you he could not have done it without his teammate/partner, my Mom, who ruled our house with an iron fist (and a wooden spoon . . . don't even get me started about how people don't think it's right for people to discipline their with a little whack on the bottom). And when my Brother and Sister and I got in trouble, we had to face the consequences. Mom and Dad were not there trying to blame someone else. They have always their children in all of our endeavours, and while they might have tried to assist us in making the right decision, it was our decision to make, and ours to deal with in the end . . . but never alone.
We should have seen this coming from a mile away. Back in the early 1990s, a friend of mine, Zach, was having some trouble in high school; he was close to failing out. All he wanted to do was to go on the class ski trip, so that he could spend a weekend away with his cheerleader-girlfriend Kelly. But the principal would not let him go unless his parents came in for a meeting first. Well, Zach's dad, you see, worked a lot and was never around, and Zach did not want to disappoint him, so he got an actor/waiter to impersonate his dad so he could go. In the end, his dad found out but Zach was still having a hard time communicating with his dad. How did Zach finally get through to his dad? If you answered super-large 80s cell phone, you are correct. And though their reconciliation was touching, their story showed the tragic path down which this nation was headed.
And that brings me to point two . . . which I will discuss next week (ohhhhh . . . dramatic cliffhanger).
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