VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, September 23, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 5A
Learning to carry additional weight
I
’m not exactly sure how it happened, but
it did. 12 years and several months later,
it seems that none of it can be taken back.
The hardwiring that defines you is there to
stay.
You’re a worker. You’re a real life
problem solver. You’re one of the strongest
kids I’ve ever met, and I’m not just saying
that because you’re mine. It’s the truth —
and everyone
around you
sees it. You
don’t like to
be wrong. You
don’t like to
be in trouble.
You don’t like
to fail, and
sometimes
that keeps you
from even
trying.
You’re
about 30 days into the seventh grade. A
grade that puts in you in a whole different
part of the school you’ve called home for
the past seven years. A grade with different
expectations and different teachers, and
different relationships with your friends.
It’s a grade where you’ll have a lot to
carry.
You’ve already started having small panic
attacks about not knowing the right answers,
about not being the one raising your hand
to answer questions, and about having to do
“school” again after a few months off. The
teacher in me is cringing, but at the same
What kind of
people allow
their kid to
struggle, or
even hope for
such a thing?
Quick takes
Distracted driving law starts
October 1 in Oregon
This new law will not faze most people.
They will still yap on their cell phones, just
hoping no cop drives by and catches them
doing it.
— Rod Wayne Nixon
Absolutely the most ridiculous law. They
assume everyone with a phone in their hand
is texting and distracted.
— Margie Packer Loomis
Texas made driving and texting illegal.
Just hope they back it up. Too many have
died.
— Mary Mackey
Does this law apply to police officers and
state officials as well? I see police officers
driving around talking on their phones all
the time so what makes it fine for some and
not for others?
— Lonnie Perry
Forest management
It’s sad that it takes a disaster such as this
to decide reform is needed.
— Valerie Jean Crosby
Trees are worth money. Why let it burn
up? Log the mature trees leaving the next
generation to replace them. The USFS was
self funding for decades, similar to the post
office. We didn’t have mega fires then, and
the climate was not significantly different
than it is now.
— Logan Wood
Hermiston opens its first
disc golf course
I use to play a lot of disc golf back in the
mid to late ‘80s ... FUN!. Sad it took so long
for it to catch on here.
— Ele Creel
Just a matter of time before a wreck is
caused by a disc thrown too far, crashing
into a car window.
Photo by Lindsay Murdock
time I’m so very hopeful.
Hopefulness is one of the best things I
can hope and pray you gain this year. But
here’s the thing though, son ... hopefulness is
developed through struggle. And as hard as
this is for me to think about, and even type
for the world to see and read, we are going to
have to let you struggle — over and over and
over again.
I know what you’re thinking ... what kind
of people allow their kid to struggle, or even
hope for such a thing?
I do. Your dad does. Your grandparents
Weston made it to the front page. Take
that Athena!
— Patrick Wahl
Please let Josh know that his first
grade teacher is super proud of his work.
Congratulations!
One of the great lessons of the Twitter age is
that much can be summed up in just a few words.
Here are some of this week’s takes. Tweet yours
@Tim_Trainor or email editor@eastoregonian.
com, and keep them to 140 characters.
L indsay M urdock
FROM SUN UP TO SUN DOWN
stick with your head held high.
It’s about living your life with confidence,
even when you don’t feel you have any, and
seeing exactly what you’re made of and truly
believing it’s more than enough. You are
more than enough.
■
Lindsay Murdock lives in Echo and
teaches school in Hermiston.
Why NFL games are unwatchable
T
hese headlines don’t suprise me one
bit:
“National Football League TV
ratings down 13 percent in Week 1.”
“NFL ratings in free fall.”
But the NFL’s rapidly
declining popularity
has nothing to do with
televising too many
games a week, too many
commercials, too much
violence or too many
mediocre teams.
It has everything to do
with politics — liberal
Michael
politics.
Reagan
I’m a very political guy,
Comment
in case you hadn’t noticed.
But like most normal
sports fans, I watch football on TV to relax,
to enjoy myself.
I love nothing better than to sit back on
Saturday mornings and watch college teams
play all day.
Colleges still let you enjoy the game, but
NFL games have become unwatchable.
On Sunday, Monday and Thursday the
first thing you see when you tune in to a
pro game are players taking a knee during
the “National Anthem” because of some
political reason.
I don’t give a damn what the quarterback,
the head coach or the owner of the team
thinks or tweets about politics, the president
or the Steven King movie “It.”
All I care is, “Are you going to win or
lose? Can you pass, catch the ball or coach?
Will the game be a good one?”
You wonder why so many people are so
angry about politics these days?
It’s because they can’t get away from
it — not even for three hours on a Sunday
afternoon for a dumb football game.
I watch sports to take a break and to get
as far away as I can from the 24/7 political
news cycle that dominates our daily lives.
But the NFL and ESPN — which is
laying off people because its ratings also are
plummeting — have made it impossible to
take a respite from politics.
ESPN on-air staffers like Jemele Hill
think it’s OK to go on a rant accusing
President Trump of being a white
supremacist.
ESPN’s liberal bosses should
have canned her the way they canned
conservative Curt Schilling a few years ago
for saying politically incorrect things like
Islamist extremists were like Nazis.
But they’ve accepted Hill’s apology and,
despite her previous political rantings, still
employ her.
ESPN’s owners are especially stupid to
allow Hill to keep her job, since her attack
on Trump offended millions of their viewers
in Flyover Country who voted for him.
If it keeps practicing this kind of political
bias, ESPN is liable to find itself being
challenged by the FSN — the Fox Sports
Network.
But I wouldn’t like it any better if I
turned on “Monday Night Football” and
heard Al Michaels and his sidekick Steve
Bannon railing about crybaby Hillary
Clinton and how awful her new book of
excuses is.
If I want politics, I can watch “Hannity,”
listen to Rush or tune in to one of the
Trump-bashing Sunday shows like “Meet
the Press.”
The NFL should keep political posturing
or messaging of every kind out of its games.
It’s up to team owners to pull up their
jock straps and put an end to pre-game
kneel-downs and protests before it gets out
of control.
The owners need to tell their protesting
stars and scrubs that, yes, you have a First
Amendment right to kneel or sit during the
“Anthem” if you want.
But they should add that if a player wants
to make a political statement on game day,
as owners they also have the right to make
them sit out the rest of the season.
■
Michael Reagan is the son of President
Ronald Reagan, a political consultant,
and the author of “The New Reagan
Revolution.”
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
— Cerrah Rose
Weston gets fitness center
do. Your coaches do. The livestock judges at
the fair do. Even some of your best friends
do. We all do. And I can confidently say that
when you have a lot to carry, the only way it
will ever seem like it’s not too much to bear
is when you have hope.
Hope is knowing where you want to go.
Hope is knowing how to get there.
Hope is believing in yourself.
Hope is learned.
You were born for this. You were born
to stand out in a crowd. You were born to
succeed. But you were also born to struggle.
We have to let you experience
disappointment, deal with conflict, and have
the opportunity to fail — simply so you can
experience first-hand that you are able to rise
up again. And through it all, I’m praying that
you’ll come out as one of the strongest, most
courageous, brave young men the world has
ever seen.
Your head’s not meant to hang down
forever. And in the moments when all you
can focus on are your folded hands and your
dirty boots, please remember that daring
greatly in life isn’t about winning or losing.
It isn’t about how much or how little you
have to carry.
It’s about having the courage — and
the strength — to show up in those
difficult situations and let yourself be
seen. It’s about walking into your robotics
class and being willing to not get it right
the first time. It’s about stepping into the
show ring this weekend at the Pendleton
Junior Show with your last steer of the
season and holding tightly to that show
U.S. PRESIDENT
Donald Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande office: 541-962-7691
Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753
Pendleton office: 541-278-1129
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Greg Walden
185 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
La Grande office: 541-624-2400
GOVERNOR
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court Street
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
REPRESENTATIVES
Greg Barreto, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-38
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
SENATOR
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-423
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us