NFL: Adopt an Intern
On my private social media, I posted an article regarding boycotting the NFL. A person who I genuinely love and respect that is I guess ‘family in-law’, responded to my post with a very sincere and thoughtful comment; I took no offense at her words, but I did feel that she deserved an answer. This column is what the answer became:
To me Donna this is not about President Trump, a man I did not vote for, just like I did not vote for President Obama; nevertheless, they are/were my President, occupying an office, which again to me, is not about the man as much as it is about the Office.
My entire life, with the exception of the time I spent living in Hawaii, where suddenly I became a Haole, which was neither a term of endearment or a compliment, being a person named Cristina, without an “h”, and having the last name Mosqueda, I can tell you I have never been considered “white” – regardless of any physical characteristics that we may or may not associate with “white” people.
We can then easily click down the list of many, many, many things which did not make me part of the “mainstream” – I am pretty sure I understand bigotry; but again, to me, this is not about bigotry.
I have not heard one single football player who is kneeling during my National Anthem, put forward a plan to address his grievances. All I have seen, please correct me if I am wrong, is a blatant display of disrespect for my country; a country that is not perfect, but it is still my home and there are still thousands of men and women who laid down their lives defending it for me, and thousands of men and women who are still in uniform defending it, that I at the very least, I owe a debt of gratitude and respect to, for their service.
I am tired of all of the divisive rhetoric, seriously I feel like I can barely watch the news or read social media; and honestly I pick my battles very carefully, for my own sake, but I think it is time for solutions.
There are many ways to protest and even more ways to get your message out into the public; but after the protest, what is the solution? I would like someone to tell me, look I see there is a problem with affordable housing in our country, so I am starting this group called Habitat for Humanity – join me in solving the problem!
The anger boiling over in our nation did not begin with the election of President Trump; we have become vulgar, hate filled, ill tolerant and completely disrespectful of everything – where does it end?
These men, who are kneeling during the National Anthem, have a lot of power, good! I am not against power, power enables us to accomplish things that those without power cannot do. My question is how are they going to use that power to address their issues?
I do have an idea. May I suggest that every single professional athlete, hire an intern. Let athletes, take it upon themselves, to find a young person who wants to improve their lives, and hire them to be their interns!
I am not suggesting that you merely mentor someone or spend a few hours or days helping an inner city child learn to throw, hit, or kick a ball; but instead that you bring a young person on to your staff and into your world. Take it upon yourself to introduce this intern to the possibilities of a different life.
The intern should be paid a wage comparable to what to they are doing, let them learn that when you start a job there is an entry level wage, but that you can improve your skills, education and experience, and thus raise your salary. But do not stop there, teach them how to invest and save their money; show them what is available through hard work. Let them see how many hours you actually work out, to become a professional athlete, and then make sure you introduce them to people in your field who are past their prime, so your intern can understand the difference between the person who saved their money for a rainy day and the ones who did not.
Expose your intern the finer the things and the price of those things; show them that a house and car require maintenance and insurance, that everything has a price and we have to pick wisely where we are going to invest our efforts as well as our money.
Set up a bonus schedule for your intern, based on actual metrics, reward positive behavior and also let them see that there are consequences for negative behavior. Help your intern to develop a road map to their own success – you may need to hire some professional help for this to be achieved – good part time job for teachers, counselors and therapist.
You would also expose your intern to the notion of volunteerism, and not through you hiring an intern, but through another arena that you care about and are involved in helping to make a difference.
Finally, they would definitely have to know, going into the program that they must pay it forward; thus when they were done with their internship, they would have found someone else to take under their wing, not as an intern, that requires a bit of money, but they would become mentors, be it to a younger sibling, a young person in the neighborhood or anyone else who could just use a bit of encouragement.
Can you imagine the impact such a program would make? Would it resolve all of the issues in our nation, no; but could this be a step in the right direction? I think so and I welcome your ideas. If you have a better plan, write it up – no vulgarity or intentional desire to hurt or insult anyone, and I will print your idea and help you get the word out to the world!
~ M ~
By the way, let me take a stab at resolving Universal Health Care – what if we offered free medical training for everyone from dental hygienist to brain surgeons, with the caveat that for a specified amount of time, after graduation, they would work for a set, reasonable salary. They could then begin their professional careers with a guaranteed job, no debt, and the knowledge that in X number of years they could go into private practice. Meanwhile, we would all benefit from affordable health care!
Okay, I am done; it is your turn – that is all for now!
