Doing the Right Thing -- A Conclusion

Every fall, the different sections in the MMB gather together to craft flag football teams and play each other. It's a great release, and a nice way to get out every Sunday morning and enjoy the nice weather before hitting the books. I'm in the trumpet section, and I've loved playing football so much. I played back in 6th grade, but that was it. It's still my favorite sport, and I get extremely worked up over the Wolverines and the Green Bay Packers.

I play right tackle on offense, and during our third-place game a few weeks ago, there was a disagreement. Our center is a fifth-year senior (call him Joe), and likely won't play next year. I was asked to play some snaps at center to get experience for next year, but, for nostalgia's sake, he wouldn't let me. This wasn't what bothered me the most. Another freshman (call him Jack) who usually played D-Line wasn't getting to play at all because this guy wouldn't leave the D-Line either, a position which he rarely plays in the first place.

Your captains for today's game are Denard Robinson, Jordan Kovacs,
and Tristan Luoma! *cheering* *more cheering*

I got frustrated near the end and asked him to let Jack play. He turned to me and said, "It's my last game, I'll do whatever the hell I want. You stay here for five years and see how easy it is to leave."

Half-understandingly (he makes a good point), I told him that Jack has hardly played today. That didn't change anything. I went off the field once it was over, when a Sophomore (call him John) came up to me and told me to let it go. He told me that he understands how we should all get to play where we usually do, but it's a hard time for him (we really take flag football seriously, by the way. This seems like a harsh exaggeration but it's pretty legit) and that we should just let him be. I shook it off, and Joe came up to me after and apologized, as did I. It was settled.

John's a wonderful guy. He's polite, funny, very responsible and friendly. He always does the right thing. He's never consumed alcohol or smoked, and he's always willing to lend a helping hand. Recently, I've been thinking about doing the right thing, and how important it is in life.

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Martin Luther King, as I learned in elementary school, was a man who stood in front of a bunch of people and told them he has a Dream. In middle school, I learned that he was fighting for African American rights. In high school, I learned that he and his people had suffered for a long time at the hands of the US Government, and that by working his ass off and leading his people, he was able to fix this situation. 

Much of this class has been about political theory as a whole--how has it evolved, what worked, what hasn't worked, who's right, who's wrong... Through it all I understand two things. First, I don't want to be a PoliSci major but the content continues to fascinate and engage me. Second, I will never be as right as Joe, or as Martin Luther King Jr..

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I learned somewhere along the way that he was assassinated. A blip in the radar. He was shot in the head before giving a speech in Memphis. 

He was shot in the head.

http://halogentv.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/org_wdyson_0407.jpg

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Being right is a very hard thing to grasp. If you're a human being, odds are that you've erred. That's okay though! I like to believe that for everybody acting in poor spirit for whatever reason, there's somebody to combat it, and, unfortunately vice versa. I've seen the latter through many things.

1. Gay Marriage.

I support gay marriage 100%. I'm a proponent of love, no matter what kind. However, it seems that, for each person who is with me, there is somebody against. Facebook posts on the "Christian Republican" page ask you to like a picture if you agree that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and the comments underneath reinforce this belief. Gay marriage is condemned in the bible, so it should be condemned in America. Maybe there's some deeper argument to it, but to all of the people who say that homosexuals are sinful in their ways because they choose to disrupt society with their sexuality, I say, let them love. 

Very relevant. Read, be informed.

2. Water conservation.

I support conserving water. Hailing from the U.P. on the shores of Lake Superior, fresh water has been a huge treat throughout my life. I've gotten sublime tap water throughout my whole life, and I believe that this is something that is fragile. Clean water is fragile. The Mississippi River flows through many states, and it is absolutely disgusting at the bottom. As amazing as water is, it's nothing we can take for granted. Somebody in my hall likes to study in the bathroom because there's no wireless or phone reception, so he won't get distracted. Okay, oh well. What makes me mad is when he turns the shower on to drown out noise for hours at a time. I'm not kidding. For everything that I stand for in water conservation, somebody negates my efforts. http://wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/ -- see number 23, and do the math. That's how much water he is wasting.

3. Recycling.

A pretty basic concept. Who can argue with reusing bottles and cardboard? Perhaps one of my best friends can. He has a cabin in Wisconsin to which his family travels every summer. It's their getaway. It's so quaint and right on the edge of a beautiful inland lake. I've been there many times, and I'll keep going back as long as they have it. One thing. They burn their trash. Everything. Cans, bottles, papers, plastics, food scraps... It's disgusting. All of the chemicals being expelled into the air for whatever reason don't deserve to be there. While waste management is indeed an icky thing and there's no one way to properly dispose of things, burning just doesn't make sense. Awful odors fill the air, different colored flames come off of the fire, and it hurts me. I try my hardest to recycle everything that I can, and to properly throw away what I can't. Don't we all? No.

Things like these remind me of how broken we can be. We're disturbing our earth, both socially and physically--the same earth that provides so much for us. We try to do so much right, but there's always somebody doing wrong to make it seem worthless.

An important thing to consider, however, is that if people like us, the do-gooders, weren't doing what we do, our country would be in absolute shambles. If we were overridden with crime and destruction and pollution, imagine something like Gotham. We're the hero that A2 deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

WHERE'S BANE?!
Image originally from: http://inothernewz.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Batman.jpg

Am I perfect, then?? Of course. Look at all of the good I do! I recycle, support gay marriage, bell-ring for Salvation Army, do extra chores around the house, comfort friends... I do it all! Right?

...right?

Of course not. There is no such thing as perfection. My girlfriend and I have discussed this, actually. Despite being extremely happy with one another, neither of us are truly perfect. Nobody on this earth is perfect (sans Chuck Norris). Different personalities, different intelligences, different looks, it call comes into play. Perception, too, changes things. One person's perfect may be another's imperfect. 

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I look up to Joe as a friend and colleague. He does what is right, what makes others happy, and will sacrifice his self to make others happy. He's undoubtedly a do-gooder.

Too, for the same reason that Dr. King was considered a troublemaker, he was undoubtedly a do-gooder.

In fact, Dr. King epitomizes "doing the right thing". He's a man who chose peaceful civil disobedience over violent outrage. He's a man who saw a problem--a problem bigger than any other of which we're aware--and took it into his hands. He's a man who said nay to The Man and stood up for what's his. He's a man who spoke to the masses. A freedom fighter. A man under God. A leader. One of the best.

A Leader and Best. We can move the masses. We can fix our ailing country. We can't do it alone, but we can lead the world. We are the leaders and best, let's prove it.