I dont normally comment on social issues. While I am fiscally very conservative, Im socially quite liberal. I dont care what you inhale and I am not worried about who you marry. But this Adrian Peterson thing has me disturbed. In case you missed it, Adrian is a running back for the Vikings. Maybe the best in the game. Maybe the best that ever has played. He was recently indicted for child abuse by a Texas grand jury (TEXAS, mind you, not some left wing treehugger state). Hed whipped one of his sons with a tree branch badly enough to leave open wounds requiring medical care. Now its come out that he was investigated previously for the same thing with another one of his sons, administering a whipping that left the boy with scars. Adrian has said he was just disciplining the boy, that any injury was unintentional, and that he was administering the same kind of discipline that he had received from his father, which has helped make him the success that he is today. And thats where I lost my mind. Adrian is a success because he won the genetic lottery and is a physical freak of nature. He is successful because he is stronger and faster than the average human being, and makes millions of dollars from the NFL. Does his mental toughness and discipline figure into that? Absolutely! But are they the REASON FOR IT? Oh, hell no. There are tens of thousands of football players in high school and college who are just as tough, just as disciplined, but will never see an NFL field. Why? Because they dont have the physical gifts Adrian does. So the odds of Adrians sons becoming the success that he is are remote. Sure, there are some families where fathers and sons play in the NFL. But very few. And even fewer where the sons meet or exceed the fathers level of success. But let me tell you what his boys WILL inherit from him. They will inherit the tendency to beat their own children someday. Adrians daddy beat him, Adrian beats them, and someday theyll think its discipline when they beat their own kids. While the chances of them being a success like daddy are remote, the chances of them beating children like daddy are quite good. Unless you are putting on gloves in a ring, or defending your own life or the safety of your family, IT IS NEVER OKAY TO HIT SOMEONE ELSE. Not a woman, not a child, not even another man. Violence is wrong, might does not make right, and we have to stop celebrating a culture of toughness that makes it seem otherwise.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Sep 2014 16:30:12 +0000
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