“Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count, always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.”
Regarding Jim Thorpe: I'm reminded of that Greek proverb: "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." The way Jim Thorpe's experience changed amateurism, exposed hypocrisy, and resulted in his restoration and the moral reckoning that went along with it is, in my opinion, a great example of that Greek proverb in application.
When I was a senior in college at a public university in Ohio, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I discovered I needed a humanities elective to graduate. The only course offering that fit my schedule was "American Indian History" as it was called then. I was the only one of 13 students in the class who was not Native American, adjacent, or had a deep lifelong interest in the subject. I learned more in that class than any other in my undergraduate studies.
I have known this about Jim Thorpe for years as he was a hero of my late husband who was himself, a pretty good athlete. As I was reading about Elizabeth Blackwell further on, I remembered that one of my late husband’s aunts as the first woman admitted to the UNC School of Medicine. She graduated and practiced medicine in Virginia Beach, Virginia for decades. I can’t begin to imagine what the few women who broke into that bastion of the elite men’s club had to go through in order to graduate. Took a lot of intestinal fortitude I’m certain.
As for the Olympics in general I have to think about the kind of poisonous atmosphere our athletes will be heading into now that this president has turned the country they’ve worked so hard to represent, into the world’s worst nightmare.
“Don’t allow anybody to make you feel that you are nobody. Always feel that you count, always feel that you have worth, and always feel that your life has ultimate significance.”
– MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
Wow...lots I didn't know in that one Bill! Thanks!
Regarding Jim Thorpe: I'm reminded of that Greek proverb: "A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in." The way Jim Thorpe's experience changed amateurism, exposed hypocrisy, and resulted in his restoration and the moral reckoning that went along with it is, in my opinion, a great example of that Greek proverb in application.
When I was a senior in college at a public university in Ohio, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I discovered I needed a humanities elective to graduate. The only course offering that fit my schedule was "American Indian History" as it was called then. I was the only one of 13 students in the class who was not Native American, adjacent, or had a deep lifelong interest in the subject. I learned more in that class than any other in my undergraduate studies.
I have known this about Jim Thorpe for years as he was a hero of my late husband who was himself, a pretty good athlete. As I was reading about Elizabeth Blackwell further on, I remembered that one of my late husband’s aunts as the first woman admitted to the UNC School of Medicine. She graduated and practiced medicine in Virginia Beach, Virginia for decades. I can’t begin to imagine what the few women who broke into that bastion of the elite men’s club had to go through in order to graduate. Took a lot of intestinal fortitude I’m certain.
As for the Olympics in general I have to think about the kind of poisonous atmosphere our athletes will be heading into now that this president has turned the country they’ve worked so hard to represent, into the world’s worst nightmare.
Good stuff today Bill.