LIFE, JUDGEMENT, CONSERVATIVE, LIBERAL, DIFFICULTY, PEACE

I write regarding a situation arising out of a football game and its application to larger matters in life.

Please join me in an exploration of symbolic meanings of importance in our routine lives.

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Due to the difficulty I have in dismissing an occurrence arising out of a football game, I think there are bigger issues involved here that deserve thought.

For those disinterested in the symbolic lessons to be found in our sports, this may seem to be a foolish exploration. For others who see the possible lessons for us to be found in our routine life circumstances, sports for instance, you might find some interesting thinking to pursue here.

I speak of the recent football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills. Sports fans immediately know what my subject is. For others, I give some context.

Trailing by three points with about a minute to play, the Chiefs were at fourth down near midfield. Hope was slim they could pull out a victory in this hard fought game.

The play:

A well thrown pass by one of our greatest quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes, was caught by one of our greatest tight ends, Travis Kelsey, who ran for a few more yards up the middle of the field but could never make it to the end zone.

He suddenly made an unusual maneuver and threw a lengthy lateral to his left to another Chiefs player, who did the unexpected run for a near miraculous touchdown which was an almost certain game winner.

I did not see this play live, but have seen it replayed more than once. I don’t know to whom the lateral was passed or the exact yard markers at which the play unfolded, but you get the general idea.

The Kansas City team and fans went wild in cheering this remarkably well executed, unlikely, and almost certain game winning play, one for the record books.

Then, calamity struck. The play was called back for an extraordinarily minor penalty of a Chief having lined up a couple of inches off sides.

All watching this game went into shock. Mahomes exploded. Most everyone was in disbelief.

The Chiefs lost one of the most remarkable plays in history, and lost the game.

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I have had great difficulty getting this event off my mind. I have argued it with myself. The conservative in me says, “It was a clear violation of a rule. The Chiefs player was a few inches off side at the snap of the ball. “The game relays on its rules. They must be in-forced, or you have no game”.

The liberal in me argues that referees have judgement in what penalties they call. Should they not be allowed to not call clear penalties when the circumstances are that the violation is the most minimal in the game and could have no possible effect on the play, and the play is clearly the most important of the game, one on which the entire game would be decided.

Should the judgement a referee has, under these circumstances, allow him to fail to call a most minor infraction that has no way of influencing the outcome of the play, much less the game?

I appreciate the difficulty for the flag throwing ref. He saw the infraction and in spontaneous fashion without thought threw the flag. It was technically the correct call, but the consequences of this most minor infraction were overwhelming.

It is unfair to seriously chastise the ref, but I think he demonstrated a lack of proper training and appreciation for the circumstances of the moment. He failed to exercise proper situational awareness.

Should this burden of discretion be placed upon the referees? Would this discretion of judgement disrupt the enforcement of the rules?

Conservative: the rules must be in-forced for the game to be played without exercise of judgement discretion on the part of those charged with enforcement of the rules.

Liberal: should not the clear discretion granted to the referees in calling violation of rules not allow for the referee, under special circumstances, to fail to call a clear technical violation that is so insignificant that it could have no influence on the outcome of the play, and in this instance, the game?

You see that the conservative and the liberal in me fiercely debate these questions.

“Well, ok, it is just a freakin’ game.” Or, is that all we are called to consider here? Do our games have symbolic meaning in other more important aspects of our lives?

Consider, we are not to tell lies. When we lie, there should be consequences to pay. But, when a lie is so insignificant that it has zero effect on our lives, do we have discretion to ignore it? My liberal says, “Of course we do”.

Sometimes efforts to punish a lie do more harm than the lie. So, we don’t throw the flag.

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I have gone back and forth arguing between my conservative side and my liberal side. I have finally come down on the side of my liberal.

Life requires we exercise judgement in most every decision we make. In doing so, we should consider both what works and what is fair. If fairness does no harm, we should seek it.

The burden of decision making in our judgements is great, but it is good to have freedom to exercise judgement, to either severely enforce rules without exception (conservative) or to make exceptions where fairness call for it.

Our daily lives are filed with symbolic suggestions that I suggest we pay attention to, and learn the lessons presented by those symbols.

Conservative thought recognizes the slippery path we step upon when we make exceptions to the enforcement of the apparent rules of our lives.

Liberals emphasize the need to place fairness at the forefront of decisions.

It is good that we have these two different inclinations of conservative and liberal tugging against each other. It is in that tug of war that we are most likely to achieve the most efficacious outcome, so long as it does not turn into real war.

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The current tendencies of both liberal and conservative to demonize the opposite opinion as if any position that disagrees with our their choice must be wrong.

This divergence away from unemotional dialogue, away from the tradition of the dialectic exploration, poses a great danger to our society.

When either conservatives or liberals determine they hold absolutely the only truth and refuse to even consider the oppositions position, much less search for a middle ground, the division grows greater and more dangerous.

In our current politics, each side tends to blame the other for taking an inflexible position. When either side takes a step toward reconciliation, it is seen as weakness.

Either side which takes advantage of the other’s outreach is causing danger. This must stop.

Frankly, I don’t think it is a liberal inclination that causes me now to see the former Conservative Party called “Republican” as being the biggest offender of these principles.

Under Trumps inordinate influence, they are clearly inflexible, and seem to be driven toward division in their quest for power, even to the point of threatening civil war.

This is not to say the liberals are innocent. They are not, but of the two, the former Republican Party, under the false flag of the GOP is the most intransigent and poses the greatest danger of violence and destruction of our government.

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I did not set out to dive into our political divide, but I find it difficult to avoid. I wish I could just say “Screw politics” and ignore it but, we can’t. Our nation is in danger.

Having once more fallen into the cesspool of politics, I remind myself and you that we have our daily lives to live as best we can, and that was the purpose of this little philosophical swim.

I wish you all (both of you) well, and hope this season of peace will aid in our quest for reconciliation. To experience peace, we must practice peace. That begins at home in this beautiful season.