Thoughts....
Watched a high school football game this past
Friday. It struck me as ironic in that it is such an honest place, that
football field. Two teams competing within the rules and measuring themselves
against one another as individuals and a team. Brains, effort and teamwork
won-out. Merit, on a level playing field won. One of the last, best, true
places in our society is such a contest, whatever the sport.
In British Columbia, our BC Liberal Government
could never abide by such a scenario. They would have insisted on rules that
predetermined the outcome of the game. They would have locked-up the referee's
decision making by ignoring it and appealing their rulings. They would have
rigged the PA announcer to skew all commentary in their favor and made the
deeds of the opponent moot through filtering/biased editorial. They would have
locked-out the opposing team from its practice field and paid its parents to stay
away. Finally, it would have attempted to starve its opponent into submitting
to the predetermined outcome by withholding the means to access food and
shelter, all the while berating them for holding up the game. As the BC Liberal
opponent struggled valiantly on the field of play, the BC Liberal Head Coach
and her assistants would gloat, taunt and cry foul at every turn. They would
reference rules that they made-up and minimize at every turn the calls for fair
play, by the rules, for the kids.
I think something neat may be happening in this
scenario. You see, the opponent of the BC Liberals kept playing hard and
honest, they stuck together and did not falter. Slowly, and with ever gathering
power, the onlooking crowd, witnessing this farce, began to take note and make
their voices heard. The PA announcer was drowned-out and his commentary
ridiculed. The referee's found courage from the crowd's voice and inspiration
from the BC Liberal opponent's courage, conviction and integrity. Calls were
made for an honest head referee to officiate the game, to make calls that both
teams had to live by. The BC Liberal squad refused this, saying their
"fixed process" and "predetermined outcome were too important to
be left to referees. At this point, the crowd too felt humiliated and
marginalized. They now saw this as a fraud being perpetrated by the BC Liberal
Coach and her staff. They decided to intervene on behalf of the BC Liberal
opponent, they took to the field and would not let the game continue, demanding
with one voice that it would be shut down until the rules were obeyed, the game
officiated fairly, and the outcome respected on merit and reason. Generally,
they Struck for honesty, process and to ensure that future games would always
be played on a level playing field, for their Sons and Daughters, Brothers and
Sisters, were next on the BC Liberal schedule...