First, a link to the blog that got me going:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/s/#34DKn8/thedailyblonde.com/2009/09/asshat-award-nfls-san-diego-chargers-and-their-rookie-dinner-tradition//

Now, my response:

I have sympathy for your feelings. It is honorable to show concern for the less fortunate and indicates that you have a compassionate heart. Those are qualities to admire. However, there is one hell of a problem with your line of thinking here.

What business is it of YOURS what this kid does with HIS money?

None. This kid started playing football when most other kids were just picking up their Xbox controllers. While other kids goofed off, he was juggling school work, familial responsibilities, church, and any chores, duties, or obligations, other sports, too, with pop warner. Then he moved on to junior high, with more school work and more demanding play. He balanced academics (3.4 GPA) and athletics (including basketball and track) well enough in the military acadamy he attended to receive many honors, and then went on to college at Northern Illinois, where he continued to work harder than anyone else and was continually recognized for his excellence.

We have a kid who has spend thousands of hours in the weight room, on the practise field, and the training room, learning a craft, while still performing well in school. So now he’s been drafted, first round, number 16 overall, and has a nice rookie contract. At any time during school, he could have snapped a tendon and that would have been the end of his career. He could have taken or given a tackle the wrong way and been forced to retire. Accidents happen in sports. Accidents happen in life. Anything could have derailed him and made all of his preparations come to naught. So, while you might see his money as some sort of windfall, it isn’t. He has earned it and will continue to earn it. He has to perform ont he field, continue the grueling work his craft requires, and face the same types of injuries he faced all along… except that, now, he is paid for the work and the risks, all in the name of entertainment.

Because of your obvious compassion, I’m not giving you an Asshat Award of your own yet. The problem you have is that you think it is perfectly all right to decide what to use the earnings of others to meet your own needs. Robin Hood may have been the “Prince of Thieves,” but a thief is still a thief. When you take something from one person to give to another person that you think is more deserving, you are a thief, no matter how lofty your goal is.

The funny thing is that I have yet to meet a professional athlete who doesn’t sponsor a charity of his or her own choice, often giving much more money each year than the average salary of any two or three of the Robin Hoods out in the blogosphere. That is the way it SHOULD be. He earned his money, he decides how it is used.

You don’t have any right to decide what his money should be used for. Until you’ve spotted one rep on the weight bench, put an ice pack on a strained knee after having to soak for an hour, until you’ve had your teeth rattled by one tackle at NFL speed, until you’ve paid a penny of the price he’s paid in blood and in pain, in mountains of school work and lost social activities, until you’ve carried him one step on the path he’s had to walk to earn his pay, what right have you to decide where his money goes?

None.

This is a big problem with our country today. Every joker has his hand out, give it to me, give me some, I want the cheddar but i don’t want to make cheese. We bail out banks, we bail out insurance companies, we bail out auto makers, we give tax money, taken from tax payers who have NO legal choice but to pay it, or else they face jail and ruinous fines, to people to buy new cars! Holy shit, the people who are taking the money don’t pay their own taxes, and damned be the law! Where do you think this all started?

It started with someone who said “there are poor people starving. I can feed them with the money that you throw away, even if it is money that you earned.” That person should also include “never mind that I waste money on shoes, purses, expensive coffee, driving an SUV, titanium golf clubs, sporty convertible, high dollar electronics (made with the most toxic materials outside a nuclear reactor), wearing expensive makeup, little black dress, organic label food that isn’t really organically grown, green cleaning products that use 4 times more energy to produce than standard cleaning supplies,” or whatever, “when I could spend less money on alternative products, and use my surplus cash to feed the poor.”

Do you HONESTLY think that you’ve got ANY right to tell ANY other person what to do with the fruit of their labor? Do you think that it is any different than slavery? Because that is what this whole country is rolling towards, a future where we enslave our own children for the sake of spending money today. It doesn’t matter how kind and charitable your goals are, if you can’t meet your goals with your own resources, and you can’t convince others to support your goals to fulfillment, what gives you the right to take from another to make it happen?

What about their dreams? What about the kids who, right this minute, are soaking shredded knees in tubs of ice water, hoping to make it to the pros on the basis of their ability and hard work? Why do you get to decide what to do with the money that they make from years of sacrifice?