Stop Saying It - Just Do It

There’s a saying out there to the effect “I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will fight to the death for your right to say it.”

I first heard Bob Collins (late of WGN Radio) say that. Dave Kaplan stole it from him and recently I’ve heard Tom Waddle make the same comment. What a load of crap. The sentiment is great if Thomas Jefferson or Nathan Hale were the ones to say those words. It smacks of “I regret that I have but one life to give for my country.”

But in this day and age, I cannot envision any of the above three media members (or anyone for that matter) being willing to give up their life in the defense of letting someone else voice their opinion. It’s bravado. It’s male locker room talk. I’ve thought this for years, from the first time (over a decade ago) that I heard Collins make that comment on WGN. The minute I heard it, I thought “Wow, that was powerful. Hey wait a minute! You wouldn’t lay down your life simply so a guy you’re arguing with could continue voicing a dissenting opinion!”

I’m even more convinced after the Penn State carnage. We have heard evidence of countless “men” seeing first hand evidence of young boys being raped and assaulted and not one of them didn’t anything to physically intervene. A couple of these guys passed the information up the chain of command and then hid in the shadows like cowards.

We’re not talking about defending someone to the death over the right to speak. We’re talking about innocent children being horribly attacked and no one, NO ONE, stepped in to remove them from the situation. The guys that saw this happen were not in danger of losing their lives. They probably weren’t even in danger of getting a black eye. A recently graduated football player and a wrestling coach came upon Sandusky being inappropriate with an innocent young boy. The football player and wrestling coach, I would think, were physically superior to Sandusky and could have easily removed the child from the situation. Instead they turned and left and eventually reported what they saw to their superior.

Too often we have people make statements “If that were to happen to me I would (insert major bravado here)” when you know full well it’s all a bunch of hot air. And that’s fine. So you wouldn’t actually tell the boss to take this job and shove it the next time you’re asked to stay late. You wouldn’t jump out of your car and yell at the moron texting that almost hit you in a parking lot. Who cares? Puff up your chest now and avoid conflict later.

But how can anyone see a little boy being raped or handled in a way that is inappropriate and walk away? It’s time to simply “do” instead of saying what we would do.