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Because I feel that sports teach very bad values, such as
competitiveness that does nothing to improve the common good, I get
especially outraged when minors are involved, especially in violent
sports such as boxing, or when taxpayer-funded facilities are involved.
I really have no problem with professional teams which play at stadiums
built by the team's owner. They are adults, and if they want to waste
their lives playing silly games, that's up to them. However, when
politicians want the taxpayers to pay for the stadiums, that irks me.
Sure, some of everybody's tax money goes to pay for things they don't
want to support. That doesn't mean we have to be quiet about it, though.
While I was on my way to take a picture Tuesday afternoon, I was
listening to the radio, and I heard a story about a boy who was killed
when he got hit in the head by a baseball. They went on to say that
people in some areas propose requiring all young athletes to wear
helmets at all times, and that some school districts are considering
ending all sports where students could face dangerous situations.
If the schools remove all potentially dangerous sports, that wouldn't
leave much, would it? Whenever one person is trying to outrun, outjump
or outwhatever some other person, somebody stands a good chance of
getting hurt. Two boys I went to school with were killed indirectly by
football. As I remember it, one was tackled during a high school game.
He refused treatment because he didn't think he had any serious injury
and died later that night from some type of brain trauma. The other boy
was playing football with friends in a fairly quiet neighborhood, chased
the ball into the road, and was hit by a car. I think he was killed
instantly.
Teaching kids to compete against each other in activities where one wins
by being physically stronger or taller not only hurts the self-image of
many, but doesn't prepare them for the reality that in most professions,
brains count for a lot more than brawn. Very few children grow up to be
professional athletes. Concentrating on building a muscular body is not
only shallow, it doesn't equip a person with skills that will actually
be of use later on in life.
On the other hand, some children don't seem to have much of a choice
when it comes to sports. Many parents seem to live vicariously through
their children and try to make up for what they perceive as failures
during their own youth by pushing their children to excel in one sport
or another. We ran an article from one of our local citizens on that
subject not too many months ago. I think it concerned parents' behavior
at little league games.
Several years ago, I read that some people in various professions that
deal with young children were changing the rules of many games to make
them cooperative instead of competitive. That way, everybody has fun,
and everybody wins. Maybe they're onto something there. Childhood is for
learning and having fun. Competition is the sad invention of greedy
adults, and children are better off without it.Editor's Note: Cara Alligood is an Enterprise writer and advertising
administrator.
YOUR VIEWS
Children's museum has something for everyone
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Dear Editor:
I understand that citizens of Pecos are trying to acquire monies to
build a recreation center for our young people. I hope that the `powers
that be,' who finalize its design, accompany a few young people to the
Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans prior to their decisions. If
I typed a thousand adjectives synonymous with superior I couldn't convey
to you the expression on the faces of the children I saw there.
Our five senses or the basic ways we learn are addressed while covering
all of the primary scientific discoveries accumulated over the centuries
which have gained us our space age knowledge.
This is accomplished by using displays which incorporate large gross
motor skills, higher level thinking skills, (`what if' question are
attached to each exhibition), nooks for the creative arts are everywhere
and running room and cat walks connect the activities. Everything is
made of cast iron/ painted brightly and covered in plexiglass but still
allowing wiggly, inquiring extremities to manipulate them. The visual
and sound exhibitions contain computers and cameras which are child
proof. Even hands-on basketball and hoops with geometry explanations are
included.
It is a place for every child - ranging from squealing toddlers to
puzzled grandparents finally grasping how lightening works.
The Louisiana Children's Museum all began with dreams and an empty
three story warehouse. Do take a child you know and see what is
possible. We can have a facility that beckons young people from hundreds
and hundreds of miles around.
All the exhibition are underwritten by ABC television, fossil fuel
companies, electric companies, etc.
MARILYN ODEN
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail: news@bitstreet.com
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