So, I'm trying something new. In an effort to keep things interesting, I'll be posting each Tuesday about something that's caught my attention. Something that's made me think about things in a different way, and perhaps, as in the case of today's topic, made me change my original opinion on the subject.
There was a story on the news last night about a couple of local middle school girls who had joined the wrestling team, only to have boys on opposing teams refuse to wrestle them. The story focused on the girls and their parents, and the slant was that, in the opinion of the girls' families, the opposing teams were sexist for allowing the boys to forfeit, rather than compete against the girls in a match.
As I watched the story on the news, I was irritated. Shouldn't girls have the right to play on the same teams as a boy, if they have the athletic ability to do it? After all, Title 9 was passed back in 1972, affording girls the same rights as boys to participate in any school sanctioned activity, including sports. If a girl can hold her own on the football field or the baseball diamond, more power to her!
However, as I listened to the radio this morning, the morning DJs were discussing this issue, and some of the parents of the BOYS who refused to wrestle these girls chimed in. Even one of the boys on the same team as one of the girls sent in an email. And they raised some valid and thought provoking points.
Paraphrasing: This is the South, where boys are raised to treat women with respect. Some of the boys had a serious moral objection to wrestling a girl. Also, wrestling is not like football. It's a little more intimate than just tackling someone; in order to pin someone, they must be chest to chest. A little awkward in a girl-on-boy match, don'tcha think? One of the boys who forfeited did so because he just wasn't sure where he could put his hands in a match with a girl. One of the boys who did wrestle a girl, lost his match (he says) in part because he was so uncomfortable.
So while I'm all for girls playing any sport they want, this particular story got me thinking. Football, baseball, soccer... all those games can be co-ed comfortably, since there is a minimum of contact. Even a tackle is not nearly as intimate as a wrestling match. Wrestling is almost constant contact from what I've seen, and I can understand how some boys (and their parents) would be uncomfortable with a co-ed wrestling team. We are talking about middle school aged boys and girls here after all.
Now that's not to say that I think it shouldn't be allowed. I just think that parents and students on both sides need to make an attempt to see the other side of the argument before calling the boys and their coaches sexist wimps, and calling in the news media. Accept that they are going to make people uncomfortable. Consider that perhaps a boy refusing to wrestle a girl out of respect might not be such a bad thing.
Accept that their girls might be the only ones who want to wrestle... now. Maybe they're paving the way for other girls at other schools to say, "Hey! I want to wrestle!" Every movement has to start somewhere!
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Put Your House In Order
I like that phrase. It seems that it is applicable to all aspects of life. It can mean so many things, and may mean something different to everyone.
Right now, I'm feeling that I need to put my house in order. Literally, my house; the place where I live. But it goes deeper than that. There are so many things I feel I need to put into order, that sometimes I just don't know where to begin. I suspect there are many people out there who feel that way.
Without going into details, here are my "houses" which need to be attended to this year. Ask yourself (and feel free to comment), what are yours?
My Home: It's drowning in clutter, which affects every other aspect of my life.
My Health: The momentum that I had in 2009 when I lost 70 pounds is all but gone.
My Finances: If you're not drowning in debt, be very, very thankful.
My Relationships: This covers my relationships with several people in my life. Some of them require serious attention, and others, I'd just like to find ways to improve upon and grow closer to.
We all have things in life that we're not satisfied with. Some are relatively minor, others are gargantuan and can feel impossible to deal with. Every January, we all make resolutions. Things we want to change about ourselves or our lives, or just do better, be better at. By February, many of us have failed at many or all of our resolutions, and we continue to live a life that we're not fully satisfied with.
I realize that I've been living too much of my life looking ahead or looking back. Wishful thinking about the things I could have done back then, or the things I would do in the future (if I only had a million dollars), or worse, kicking myself for NOT doing this, that or the other thing in my past, because it's holding me back from the future I really want.
There will always be things that I might wish I had done differently. But the fact of the matter is, I didn't. And I can't go back and change that now. All I can do is deal with what is in front of me, right here, right now. So much of it is good, so on that basis alone, I cannot begrudge the fact that I didn't do things differently back then, because I might not have those good things now. And the things that aren't so good? Well, I just have to look at them as the jumping off point. A place to start.
Right here, right now is a good place to start... to put my house in order.
Right now, I'm feeling that I need to put my house in order. Literally, my house; the place where I live. But it goes deeper than that. There are so many things I feel I need to put into order, that sometimes I just don't know where to begin. I suspect there are many people out there who feel that way.
Without going into details, here are my "houses" which need to be attended to this year. Ask yourself (and feel free to comment), what are yours?
My Home: It's drowning in clutter, which affects every other aspect of my life.
My Health: The momentum that I had in 2009 when I lost 70 pounds is all but gone.
My Finances: If you're not drowning in debt, be very, very thankful.
My Relationships: This covers my relationships with several people in my life. Some of them require serious attention, and others, I'd just like to find ways to improve upon and grow closer to.
We all have things in life that we're not satisfied with. Some are relatively minor, others are gargantuan and can feel impossible to deal with. Every January, we all make resolutions. Things we want to change about ourselves or our lives, or just do better, be better at. By February, many of us have failed at many or all of our resolutions, and we continue to live a life that we're not fully satisfied with.
I realize that I've been living too much of my life looking ahead or looking back. Wishful thinking about the things I could have done back then, or the things I would do in the future (if I only had a million dollars), or worse, kicking myself for NOT doing this, that or the other thing in my past, because it's holding me back from the future I really want.
There will always be things that I might wish I had done differently. But the fact of the matter is, I didn't. And I can't go back and change that now. All I can do is deal with what is in front of me, right here, right now. So much of it is good, so on that basis alone, I cannot begrudge the fact that I didn't do things differently back then, because I might not have those good things now. And the things that aren't so good? Well, I just have to look at them as the jumping off point. A place to start.
Right here, right now is a good place to start... to put my house in order.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)