Mouths Open, Brains On Standby

Two posts ago I said I was going to work on one called "A Tale of Two Idiots."

At the time, I had in mind to talk about Mark Sanford's current real life soap opera - and Obama's crazy health care proposal and socialist tendencies. But there's been some interesting things transpire in the last week and a half or so that a title change to "A Tale of Three Idiots" doesn't really have as good of a literary ring.

In question are the following cast of characters: Mark Sanford, Joe Wilson, and Kayne West.

They're not exactly a group that you would imagine would play cards together late at night over a bottle of scotch and cigars. I can't quite picture them all hanging out at a ball game together either.

They're just not what you would call "birds of a feather."

One thing they do have in common though is that they have each found themselves in the spotlight lately for not being able to control their mouths.

First off, let's talk about Sanford.

This guy has been shooting himself in the foot since (re)setting foot in Argentina in June to meet up with his mistress. It started off with his bizarre press conference when he revealed his affair. From there it went to disclosing more sordid details about his affair. He goes on to talk about his "soul mate." Then as people start to ask for his resignation, he gets defensive.

He must think that we're going to let this slide.

Well guess what Mark? It's time to resign. Your colleagues have tried to explain to you why this is going to severely impact your ability to govern over the final 15 months of your term. Just do it. Just resign. Stop back talking everyone. Stop running your mouth. Stop trying to justify your own stubbornness and why it's best to keep you around. Just let us move forward with Andre.

Should Sanford had disclosed all that he has? We expect our leaders to be honest and forthcoming with us. Which he ultimately was -- to an extreme, mind you. But to continue to serve as a distraction when you should have realized that you're continuing to serve as a distraction is irresponsible.

We look for leaders. Leadership calls for responsibility and honesty. Sanford's sort of a mixed bag on that.

Next up, Joe Wilson.

Joe is one of those guys who speaks his mind. Ordinarily, that hasn't been in such a controversial way as what happened last week when he yelled "You lie!" in the middle of Obama's address to the full Congress. He's a die-hard Conservative who I admire very much. I'm a big Joe Wilson fan.

Bad place to say that though, Joe.

What I think we all can learn from Joe's case, in particular, is that people should be able to and should question their leaders. They should be able to and should question policies and the logic behind them, whether it is a policy that is being proposed or already in effect. But you should realize there is a time and place for doing and sometimes you need to step back and think about that....And you shouldn't just blindly vote, support, or go with what is being handed to you without thinking it through.

Yes, calling the president a liar in such a locale as the the halls of Congress, in a forum such as a public address by the president to the fully assembled bodies of Congress is in bad form. No matter your personal opinion of the president (or any leader you have issues with), you should respect the fact that they are the president.

I respect the fact that Obama is the president. I respect the man. I may not like him, but like and respect are two different things and more people need to learn to differentiate between the two. With the President, in particular, you need to at show respect for the man and the position in which they sit.

Instead this whole Joe Wilson thing is turning into a political circus. Just like what Sanford has done by opening his mouth continually.

But, Joe, to throw yourself in he spotlight ... the negative spotlight, with no warning... have you been reading from Sanford's 101 Points For Personal Destruction?

Were Wilson's actions disrespectful? Yes. Was he wrong for voicing his opinion? Maybe, maybe not. But he did apologize to the President. And that should be case closed on it.

Leave it alone. The man doesn't need to be punished any more. He doesn't need to be censured. All that is is a political ploy by the Democrats to shame a man. I'm sure he feels ashamed enough as it is.

Honestly, I don't see anything wrong with people having an opinion. Everyone has them. Everyone is entitled to them.

But people really need to think before suddenly voicing their opinion in a manner or forum which is inappropriate and will hurt themselves and the cause which they represent.

Which leads us to offender No. 3 - Kanye West.

What Kanye did by taking the stage Sunday night during the Video Music Awards, interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, and belittling her work in front of the entire world was just complete and utterly disrespectful, shameful, and wrong.

Miss Swift is a young lady who was worked hard to accomplish what she has at a young age. This was her very first VMA -- awarded by an organization that has been so focused on hip hop, trash, and sleeze in recent years, who instead, on an amazingly positive note, decide to award it to a wholesome country artist. That alone says a lot.

This was her moment. And he took it away from her. That shows a complete lack of manners and respect for other artists.

Some in the internet discussion boards since the incident have called it racist. Whether it was racially motivated or not, Kanye should be ashamed of himself.

So what's up with all the bad behavior? Well, I can see how each could potentially think that they have nobody to be accountable to but themselves. And without the accountability I guess they think it's better to ask forgiveness than permission to act out of the ordinary.

In each case, though, there is a line of accountability. Wilson and Sanford to their supporters, the people who put them in office, and the entire constituency of South Carolina; West to the fans that look up to him, for whatever bizarre reason they do, and see him a a role model.

People in these types of positions are supposed to be role models. So what do we do with our role models? Do we discipline them?

We definitely should hold them accountable.

More and more political officers and leaders in South Carolina are calling for Sanford's resignation and trying to hold him accountable. Will he resign? Who's to know...

Should the House censure Joe Wilson? That is an obviously political move by the Democrats to put their finger down on the other side of aisle more and more. Is that really censureship or censorship? He's already apologized to the president. Now they want him to issue a public apology on the floor of the house.....Will he? Who's the know...

Should MTV let Kanye get away with his actions? Personally, I think they could take better steps to control the accessibility of the stage during events like that. Again, he's entitled to his opinion. But to opine in the manner he did, he probably would have been better off to sit in his seat and yell to the presenters "You lie!" Would he? Who's to know...

I admit my ideal outcome in each of these cases isn't consistent. But while the circumstances and back story in all three cases are different, the actions are very similar in nature.

All of these are just examples of why people sometimes just need to keep their mouths shut. Is it worth the trouble to cause trouble though? Really?

I guess it's just a case of people opening their mouths with their brains on standby.

God Bless America

It's been eight years. It feels like yesterday. It's a day I will never forget. I hope you won't either.

Let's move forward with hope -- hope that we as a people will learn from tragedies like this not to hate. Hope that we will all work together for the good of mankind. Hope that our children and future generations will not fear one another.

Please always remember what happened on September 11, 2001 and never forget those who died, the families affected by this tragedy and how we came together as a nation.

Never forget the heroes that emerged -- those that died, those that survived, and those that continue to fight for our freedoms.

God bless America.

What Else Is Going to Come Flying At Me?

I got beaned in the head today with a volleyball. Not that that has anything to do with anything, it just happened to be the first thing that came to mind when I decided to sit down and try to blog tonight.

I'm trying to get back into the habit of posting more. I know the posts here on MM have been a little sparse lately. But life happens. And work happens.

Work seems to be happening a lot lately. It's just that time of year when we're busy with back-to-school activities and such.

That's what I was doing when I got bonked by the aforementioned volleyball.

I started the day running late to shoot a cross country meet. Luckily I made it there and to the side of the starting gates with about 10 minutes to spare.

No I did not get run over by one of the runners. It's pretty easy to stay out of the path of another human running in a generally straight line.

But I was assailed by renegade volleyballs on four occasions later in the day when shooting multiple games in a tournament that the college I work at was hosting.

I caught one in mid-air when I had the camera down for a moment and the ball sailed into the bleachers. Another landed right beside me as I was crouching down to get off a shot. Then I had one come in low, right at me, that I saw out of the corner of my eye and was able to dodge.

But the evil one -- and I don't even know who hit it, came along right as I was about to press the shutter. And all I could do what say "Where did that come from?" (as if it was any real mystery) and make a few girls sitting near me laugh.

This isn't the first time something like this has happened.

I've had to jump out of the way on several occasions during wrestling meets or basketball games when players have sailed over the edge of the court or mat.

I had a softball hit the fence probably less than six inches above my head the first weekend I started using my work Nikon. I jokingly told my boss about that the following Monday. He laughed a little and said "Just make sure the camera stays out of the line of fire."

Gee thanks .... So much for my head.

I should be thankful I at least haven't gotten hit by a 85 mph baseball. That would do some damage.

But I guess it's all a hazard of shooting sports photos.

So 'tis time to be more vigilant about renegade objects coming my way. Or get out of the way myself.

Eh, not likely to happen. I like a challenge.

Oh, and by the way, I think I just came up with the title and topic for my next post. It's called "A Tale of Two Idiots". Stay tuned...

Jeremy

I hadn't been at work more than about 30 minutes or so when I learned about what happened to Jeremy and his brothers.

My phone rang. I didn't recognize the name on the caller id. It ended up being a guy who works on the SC Runners Web site, is an area cross-country runner, and is a journalist with one of the major dailies in the area.

Jeremy and his brothers Dan and Ryan had just been visiting some family in North Dakota and were returning to a summer mission program in which they were participating in at Yellowstone.

There had been a very serious accident. Dan and Jeremy were thrown from the car. Ryan had suffered minor injuries.

Jeremy was airlifted to the Bozeman hospital. That night an article ran in the Bozeman paper that there had been a traffic fatality in that wreck.

Obviously there was a bit of a misunderstanding as to Jeremy's condition. The authorities admitted to that.

Some tests were done which indicated that Jeremy didn't have any brain activity. He was put on life support.

His family talked to his high school cross country coach. His coach relayed news of Jeremy's accident to the person who called me on the phone those 30 minutes or so after I got into work.

He wanted us to know - and to let Jeremy's college cross country coach, Mike, know.

I sat back in my chair as I heard the news. I took a deep breath. I asked what had happened. I asked how Jeremy's family was doing. I told him to let Jeremy's family know that he, his brothers, and their entire family were in our prayers.

As I got off the phone, I took a minute to take everything in. I was still in shock. I said a prayer for Jeremy and his family.

Jeremy went through surgery the next day to relieve the swelling on his brain. They did another test which showed Jeremy did have brain activity. He's been on a respirator since. But there have been some positive signs.

He has responded to some voice commands. There have been some movements also. He has opened his eyes slightly.



I didn't know Jeremy very well when he was a student-athlete on our campus. He ran cross country and set numerous school records which still stand. I had talked with him a few times though.

The first time I ever met Jeremy was a brisk Saturday morning before our team was to run the annual Eye Opener race in Spartanburg. He and his teammates were all smiles. They were hyped up to run. I introduced myself, shot a few photos with him and his teammates, and then shot their races. Jeremy came in 6th in our division.

I interviewed him for a profile story in our alumni magazine a few weeks prior to his graduation.

Jeremy is the type of guy who always had a smile on his face. He's the type of guy who always had friends around him. He's determined. He's strong. He's a fighter. He's a role model. And he's a very strong Christian.

I learned a lot about him in the hour or so that one day when we talked. His coach, Mike, always talked highly of him. His teammates always did. He became a brother to his teammates as they all became brothers and sisters to him.




Getting back to the morning of that call.... so I'm sitting there at my desk after hanging up the phone. I look up our cross country coach's number and dialed what probably is the hardest phone call I've ever had to make.

I told him about Jeremy. I listened as he stumbled for words. He was in disbelief. I still was too. Then I sent out an email across campus to our faculty and staff telling them about Jeremy.

It's been six weeks now.

Jeremy has shown that he's a fighter. He's shown he's not yet done. God is keeping him here for a purpose. We may not know right now what, but God is watching over Jeremy.

I pray he recovers. Nobody knows for sure what will happen. Only God does.

It's been a shock for the tight knit family that I work with. It's been weeks of prayers. From friends, from family, from alumni, from students - from our entire community.



I never thought when I took this job that I would become friends with so many of these students. Part of me at first was like, 'That's really not my job to be friends with them. Sure I need to be cordial. But it's probably not a good thing to be friends with them.' The other part though, 'Well, if you want to be effective in your job you have to get to know the students to be able to tell the news media and the alumni what these students are doing and about the things going on on our campus.'

I never knew that I would know so many of them by first name. Become friends with some of them on Facebook. See them on campus and ask how their day is going - or what they think of Kim's SMC 101 class. That's what makes this job so fun.

But you really can't help but establish friendships with them -- and want them to succeed. When they do awesome things, you get excited for them. You're taking photos of an athletic game and all of a sudden you're yelling for them and cheering them on. They get injured in an accident late one night on campus and you say a prayer for them.

Then at the end of the year you say goodbye to one group, wish them the best of luck, and three months later welcome another group to campus. There are some that I've even stayed in touch with as they've gone on to places like Clemson, Southern Wesleyan, Winthrop, Florida Atlantic, College of Charleston, or even Syracuse.



Again, as I mentioned earlier, I don't know Jeremy very well, personally. But I know his character. And I know what kind of an impact he has had on our campus - with his friends, his teachers, our coaches, our staff -- with his extended family.

But for his real family -- there is no way I could possibly begin to talk about what they're going through let alone even imagine it. We hear through Jeremy's CaringBridge Web site how he and his family are doing. We hear from his friends. We hear from his former teammates.

And we continue to pray that he recovers.

Jeremy is in an acute care facility in Spartanburg now, as his family talks to a facility in Atlanta. His brother Dan hasn't totally recovered either. He has a long road ahead of him also. But he's been released from the hospital and is going through outpatient physical therapy in Bozeman.




Earlier this week, our director of student activities and leadership development, Kim, suggested, after talking with one of Jeremy's family members, that we do a run / walk fundraiser as part of our upcoming Family Day / Homecoming activities. So she and I and a few other folks from our staff met a couple days ago and got the ball rolling on that.

The Jeremy Vangsnes 5K Benefit Run will be held at the Spartanburg Methodist College campus on Oct. 3. The money raised from the event will go to a fund already set up to help assist his family with medical costs involved in their care of Jeremy and his brothers.

We're excited about this. We're excited to be able to help out part of our extended family - to help out Jeremy's family. We pray that he will recover. Only God knows what the ultimate outcome will be. But we're looking forward to contributing our little part to His plan.

We're hoping for a few hundred people to participate. It would be awesome if we could get many hundreds of people to participate.

In my time as a journalist, I covered various fundraisers, charity work, service work, etc. It's always great to be able to cover those kinds of stories. But to be on the other side and actually be part of the team that is there to bring about the result of the project is a totally different experience.

Sept. 12, 2001 was one of my proudest days professionally -- not for myself, but for the efforts of the entire team of coworkers that I worked with at WYFF. The station put on a telethon fundraiser to aid the Red Cross' relief efforts following the terrorist attacks of the day before. If I recall correctly, in 24 hours we raised over $300,000.

I know this event for Jeremy and his family is one that I and my coworkers are going to be tremendously proud of. But we're not in this for any reward. At the same time, if we can say that this event, that Jeremy's and his brothers' stories, that his dedication and/or his character will have brought someone closer to their family, to God, and/or to their purpose in life, then that will be a great thing.

At the same time, we'll be helping part of our extended family alleviate some of their financial burden and lifting them up in their time of need. And we'll continue to pray for them, for Jeremy, and for their entire family.

And if you're interested in participating in the Jeremy Vangsnes 5K Benefit Run, just let me know and I'll get you some more information on it.