Crime Scene: The Taming of Conviction

There’s a cost to acting based on convictions and this isn’t a newsflash per se. However, the willingness to absorb that cost is rare. It’s a strange dichotomy. On one hand, people know well that personal values are core to who we are and driving forces for how we live but this is often suppressed by some “other” force. Start with two cases in point. First, Dr. Martin Luther King, the iconic leader of the American Civil Rights movement was stabbed with a letter opener by Izola Ware Curry while at a book signing in Harlem. The year was 1958 and doctors were quoted as having said that King was one sneeze away from dying 10 years before his ultimate assassination.King never pressed charges, as I understand it, and asked that Curry receive help from a mental hospital.

While Curry may have been deranged, the historic stabbing made me think that many Blacks could have been upset with King, who became a catalyst for the firestorm that led to legislated racial equality. In other words, I’m sure a lot of people had learned to live WITH racism and didn’t want no preacher man disturbing the “peace”.

I promised cases in point so here’s a second. The University of Southern California, the University of Florida and other notable football powerhouses took the field on Saturday to begin a quest for the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) championship. Cut to the chase. The Trojans and Gators trounced their opponents scoring more than 55 points respectively and holding the inferior competition under a touchdown. The coaches of the titan athletic programs of the NCAA always have a hard choice. Running up the score, not that it was intentional, bodes well for moving up the BCS rankings. But it looks terrible. And let’s play devil’s advocate and assume the worst. If an athletic program is single-mindedly pursuing a National Championship, what coach is willing to wager his job on sportsmanship? A win isn’t a win. A win is when you dismember your adversary because then, a computer can tabulate the level of dominance and move you closer to a place in the pantheon of legendary collegiate teams.

See, my point is simple. We’ve got to keep our heads up and more importantly our character foremost. The goal doesn’t justify the means anymore than job security justifies the blowout or discontent justifies killing the leader of a righteous movement. Standing for what’s right is a hackneyed expression that preaches better than it lives. We live to temper the parts of society that pervert character and integrity in favor of convenience.