Tim Tebow: A Real Role Model ?

I know, the first thing some of you will say is why is he talking about this guy? Those who really know me, will know why. I learned of him while he was in high school and my wife and I talked about his outlook when they interviewed him then. He comes from a family of Christian missionaries who chose to home school him, but allow him to participate in high school athletics and other extracurricular activities [this can be done in any school district-your taxes pay for it]. I’m not a fan of Florida, but after seeing how this guy has handled himself with all of the notoriety and used it to witness while still doing mission trips between seasons/classes, I am a Tebow fan.


Too often you see athletes who proclaim their love Christ, but let that get lost as their fame grows. This kid exhibits a great combination of athleticism, character and faith, not to mention being humble at the same. He was even criticized for using yet another opportunity to share God’s word by putting John 3:16 in the black paint under his eyes for the BCS bowl game. Then he opted to stay in school for his senior year out of loyalty to the school. Come on!


Both on and off the field this kid has carried himself as a role model. Hos exhibitions of Christ’s love transcend racial boundaries. I don’t care what race, if you have a son who’s an athlete, this kid is someone they can look up to and pattern themselves after. On the field, he earned a Heisman trophy, a tremendous work ethic, and he has now earned another national championship. Off the field, his love for Christ is shown in his missions and ministering in hospitals and prisons.


How many other college players (or pro for that matter) are there out there that they mention their mission trips and prison ministry almost every time they’re talked about (on TV, in print and on the radio). It reminds me of when Kurt Warner was vocal about his love for Christ and they cut him off. It’s funny for me to watch some of the sportscasters squirm as they share the things he does. Sometimes, I think it’s because of human nature. They can’t explain why he does what he does. They can’t explain why he doesn’t take a camera crew with him every time he goes. This kid (who’s not even making pro money yet) does so much for others that some people have to ask themselves Why? The beautiful thing is they really know the answer, but don’t want to admit it. I know what it is and I’ll say it--his faith in Christ and his walk as a Christian.


This blog has been mostly about political topics and stuff, but I care about and think about more than politics. This kid has shown himself (to date) to be the real deal. I hope when he gets to the next level he keeps it up. He’s a role model for kids, other athletes and Christian men. He’s handling himself in the way we, as Christians, should live, with an abundance of good works, living a life above reproach and boldly sharing the gospel whenever he can. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Tebow is perfect, but like many Christian athletes before him, he’s using his spotlight to exhibit to others what it means to be a Christian. Whether you like Florida, the SEC, or not, Christians ought to be a fan of this kid and back him up on that. We ought to all strive to live that kind of life as an example for those we come into contact daily. Pray for God’s continued strength and guidance for him. He’s the real deal!

It’s Just My Opinion, But I’m Not Wrong!

YOUR President...MY President...OUR President

Every since Nov 5 we have all heard it and some of you reading have made some of the statements, but have you really put it into perspective? I sat listening to Warren Ballentine (yes frat I’m calling you out) and he made the statement that makes my skin crawl. He said, “Y’all’s president only has a few days left.” “My president will be sworn in on Jan 20th” To be a barrister and one who quotes the constitution on a regular basis this bothers me. While I’m talking about Ballentine, he’s not the only one who makes foolishly racist statements like this. Let’s look at it this way…if a white person would say, ‘…my president is leaving office on Jan 20 and y’all’s president will be sworn in that day.” There would be picketing, protesting and acting a fool until he was thrown off the air. No, not in this case; he has callers calling in agreeing with him and saying the same racist crap. There were even some idiots calling in after the shoe throwing incident saying they wished Bush would have gotten hit. How stupid can you be??? He is still YOUR president as long as you live in America!! Others saying, “…secret service better respond better when Obama takes office...” What??? Dumb as all outdoors!!!


Here in Dallas there will be an inaugural ball at the House of Blues. I heard the ad for it on the radio a couple of times, but then one time I really heard it. The radio personality said, “…come out and celebrate the inauguration of our first president.” What?!?!?! He’s not our first president!!! He’s our 44th president!!! The black community lauds Ebony, Jet and Essence for hiring permanent white house correspondents to start working after the inauguration. What?!?!?! Did these magazines just realist they are in America??? This is crap. How would the black community react if several magazines or television networks pulled their white house correspondents now that Obama’s president? How about if Fox decided they didn’t need a White House correspondent any longer? What’s different about that than BET sending one now; after all these years. Even when they had a legitimate news program (thanks Jackie and Ed), they didn’t have a full time DC correspondent.


We keep whining about what ‘main stream media’ and white folk do to slight us, but if you turn the mirror around we do the same thing, if not worse. I love being American and I love being black. I ain’t African American/Afro-American or whatever else you want to call yourself. Divisiveness must end and we must begin with ourselves sand stop using the actions of others as justification for our own ignorance. As I say this I think about the HBCU’s; I won’t go there now, but think about how you’d look at a school that bragged about being a HWCU. With an African American (he’s truly one, a generation away from the continent) in the White House we need to stop separating ourselves from our other countrymen. We’re all Americans and regardless of who’s in the White House they are YOUR president, MY president, OUR president!!! Even if you don't respect the man, respect the OFFICE...President of the United States. Not President of black people, Asians, whites, or any other segment of our population, but president to ALL Americans. If you don't consider yourself American, then move to whatever country you claim and get the hell out of mine!

It’s just my opinion, but I’m not wrong.

Was it a Waste?

We all recall the turn of events that shaped national headlines for weeks in late 2007. We all recall the busses converging on rural Louisiana to protest the treatment of 6 young men labeled the ‘Jena 6’. These young men [Bryant Purvis, Corwin Jones, Mychal Bell, Jesse Ray Beard, Robert Bailey, and Theo Shaw] were charged with attempted murder for assaulting a lone white school mate [Justin Barker] in response to the hanging of a noose on a tree in the schoolyard. Many of us have read the stories and know the background of the situation. However, I was looked upon as deranged when I asked a question about this situation. While everyone was rallying, organizing to go to Jena, and protesting the injustices, I was asking questions. I wanted to know a bit more about these young men and their histories. I wanted to find out a bit more about Justin Barker as well.


Historically, we have been a people who reacted on emotion rather than information. Case and point, the Tawana Brawley case that propelled Sharpton into the national spotlight. This turned out to be a lie. The stripper and the Duke Lacrosse team…no comment. You see, we have too many folks who cry wolf and we keep jumping to their aide before we find out the whole story. The actions of these young men since the whole rally, protests, etc. has shown me that I was right in the first place. My personal opinion was that they were properly charged with attempted murder. I don’t care what they hung from a tree, to have 6 people jump on one, you have the propensity to kill them (regardless of the race of the individuals involved) therefore, even without the presence of weapons, the charge was adequate in my opinion. However, somebody thought it wasn’t right so they protested.


Then, after the charges were reduced and everything was resolved they were paraded around the country as heroes. They went to the BET image awards, several talk shows, etc, it was one big party. It was almost as if their actions were being lauded as proper. The result of which is one of the young men moving to Dallas to live with a relative, who played for the Cowboys, and trying to run over a white boy at his new high school with a car, because he made him mad. They gave him probation and community service. Another one was later charged with assault for another fight he was involved in. Oh, by the way he had also been charged with trespassing for another incident he was involved in. Another one was charged with simple battery, simple criminal damage to property less than $500 and simple assault. He was given a suspended sentence and house arrest. He also had 13 disciplinary actions against him at school (recommended for expulsion). They later suspended his probation and allowed him to move to Connecticut to use Jena 6 defense funds to pay his tuition at a private school. Then you have the moron of the year who was arrested for leaving the jurisdiction while on bail and speeding in an uninsured vehicle. Later, there was the shoplifting, resisting arrest, and simple assault charges that were levied on Christmas Eve.


Some will argue that these young men got into this trouble because of the attitude toward them in the Jena community. This can be refuted by the fact that several of these young men’s troubles continued when they let the small Louisiana town. Others will say that the pressure of this whole situation was too much for them to handle. To this I say, as I often do, that we all have to deal with the decisions we make in life. They decided to work as a group (of six) to fight, and possibly maim or kill, one classmate and therefore need to deal with what goes with that. Then, to further exhibit the intelligence, or lack thereof of this group of miscreants, Mychal Bell uses a .22 caliber gun to try and kill himself. When I heard this I said, “What?!?!?! Why didn’t he just hit himself with rocks?” How stupid can you be to use such a small gun to do the deed? Being from the country he had to know that he wouldn’t be successful. To further exhibit his stupidity, he shot himself in the chest. What?!?!?!? He didn’t want death, he wanted attention. Nothing more! All reports state that it was a non life threatening injury. He’s shown himself to be an ignorant coward who misses the spotlight so much so that he’ll do anything to get back into it.
By the way, I’m also sick of black folk using the excuse, “If it had been a white boy…” How about this…how about we don’t commit crimes or put ourselves in a position to be maliciously prosecuted? How about that? It’s time out for us to justify our actions, or errors in judgment, by the fact that others are getting away with it. That’s crap and we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than that. We can do right, we can walk the path, and we can be role models for your own kids and clean up our own communities.


What took place with these young men in Jena was a travesty on many levels. These young men weren’t treated fairly by the legal system, but no in the way that you’re thinking. We live in a society that levies penalties on its citizens for their actions, or infractions of the laws that are in place. What we have effectively told these guys is they were right to beat their classmate to a pulp with a 6 to 1 ratio. What we have told them is that they are above the law, and many of them are living like they are. What we told them is that if we protest, make noise and scare some folk we can get out of trouble, even if we are wrong. I don’t care if some Asian kid, white kid, Hispanic kid, or any other ethnicity got away with it. I was raised with the mindset, don’t put yourself in a situation you aren’t willing to suffer the consequences for. Yes, they should have been upset about the noose in the tree. Yes they should have been upset about the other events that took place in their community. However, none of that justifies one student being assaulted by 6 at the same time. They chose this path and should have suffered some consequences for their actions.


However, our community lauded their actions and treated them as heroes. Now we see the result. Had I been one of the ‘Jena 6’ my mother would not have allowed the parading across the country from show to show, event to event these young men did. They were wrong for what they did and should have suffered the consequences for their actions. Since they didn’t, and haven’t for consequent actions, they will continue to act in a manner that is above the law and outside of the parameters of our society. We created this monster, now we’ll have to wait to see how it looks as it grows up. Don’t get me wrong, they can change, should they choose to make different decisions, but based on present actions and immediate past decisions, I don’t see it.


It’s just my opinion, I Pray I’m Wrong.