What is the Cost of Patriotism?

Bravo to the NFL. The decision to delay the game for the safety of the fans and players in Pittsburgh on November 26 was well thought out, most probably a plan for just such a contingency implemented years ago. The decision to forgo the National Anthem to save a few minutes was a spur-of-the-moment bout of stupidity for which all professional sports will take hits for years to come. An extra ten or fifteen minutes tops was saved in order that a tradition that dates WAY BACK was abolished. Is that the true national "anthem"? $$$ - The drive of the almighty dollar, waved under the noses of NFL executives, completely ignored a landmark of sorts.

The epidemic could spread in the worst way - soon schools and businesses across the country will cease flying the flag outside their buildings because the cost of the people in putting it up and taking it down. Boys and girls alike will stop wanting to serve their country because the financial benefits are solely in the private sector. Acres of purple mountains and amber waves are over developed for suburban housing, while cities turn into slums. Politicians will begin to bend away from the good of the nation to seek compensation for themselves. Yet I digress.

This day I am ashamed to be a rabid football fan. This day I feel foolish as an American, being laughed at world wide for the greedy stupidity that permeates professional sports. All I can imagine is that the players union of the NFL is so pathetic that this could only happen in football. Baseball's union would have had lawyers on the field with an injunction preventing the kickoff until the proper amenities were observed. Not for the love of country, but because of psychological repercussions if the same routine is not followed to the letter.

My cynicism knows no bounds today - I am emotionally in pain for many reasons today. And here I sit, breaking from my schoolwork only long enough to scribble this on a blog. I yearn for the day when I can make a difference in this world. Maybe I won't change the whole world, but just a little corner of it.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, because by itself it is doomed!