Embrace our humanity with arms open not a finger extended

Mark DeLap
Posted 7/2/20

An Opinion Editorial by Mark DeLap

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Embrace our humanity with arms open not a finger extended

Posted

We are all human beings. The key word being, human. We go through life, learning. At the end, we’ll ponder and reflect. The great question that we will all ask ourselves is, “what did we learn?”

We laugh, we cry, we make mistakes, we pick ourselves up and go on. The adage, “just don’t do it again” is folly. If anyone reading this has never made the same mistake, then perhaps this world is just not perfect enough for you.

In the midst, we must try to remember to keep our fingers to ourselves. As evidenced in history, pointing them never really adds anything to the fruition of projects. AND, if you’ve ever had one pointed at you – it can be as scary as a weapon of mass destruction.

We look, then, for excuse, denial, blame to name a few that will act as a balm to attack. All items within the human spirit that can take the focus off finishing as a team.

This past season in the midst of the madness, there was a basketball team that had fought hard to stay with a very superior team. They were in it until the end. A freshman made a costly mistake and the timeout was called.

There was still time to plan. There was more than enough time to rectify. It was an opportunity to rally the young troops, but the coach, instead took that precious time to tear down rather than to build up. He cajoled and emotionally whipped that young man. The coach was still in the player’s face as the rest of the team walked, much befuddled and bewildered, back onto the court.

That young team fought hard and lost by a few points.

In our town we have some major and perhaps painful decisions to make concerning the running of town in the midst of a world gone mad. If we change our focus in crisis to covering our backs, beating each other up and blaming people past and present, then surely the ones who will pay the price will be the next generation. The ones who will come and walk in our footprints and the ones who have watched and learned everything we are doing. At home, at school, in business and in the world at large.

We are human. We make mistakes. We face tough obstacles in life. Hopefully we will learn from coaches who will educate and not exterminate.

Our time would better be spent trying to find a solution rather than fighting one another. The fight is not to defend our pride, but to defeat an insurmountable obstacle. There is a championship at stake in Wyoming and it’s time to rally the team.

And very simply. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it, but if it is broken, find a way to the solution.