While the big news this afternoon is that Rick Santorum is finally out of the race for president, the big story this morning was about the punishment and pending apology of MLB's Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen.
Ozzie, a native of Venezuela, is a former major league player turned coach, and is apparently quite good at it. Since I don't really follow baseball I only know what I hear and read. What I hear is that Guillen is known for speaking before he thinks.
In an interview for Time Magazine, he said "I love Fidel Castro....I admire Fidel Castro........A lot of people have tried to kill him and he's still here".
Oh boy! The Miami Cuban Americans and/or Cubans living in America erupted. Guillen has been suspended for five games and his job may be in jeopardy. Because he said he loved someone.
Now, I have never been to Miami. Florida is flat, swampy, hot and humid, and has hurricanes, none of which appeals to me. I have also not walked in the shoes of the exiled Cubans who had their property seized and who fled the Castro dictatorship 50 years ago. But I also am not interested in living in a place where in order to be accepted, to be elected to public office, or to be a sports figure even, you must share the hate.
Mike Wallace died recently and there were many accolades about his life and career. People who didn't actually know Mike Wallace said "I love that guy". And yet to some, his name is a swear word. They hate him. Back in the old days of Monday Night Football, I really enjoyed Howard Cosell. I didn't know him, and yet I said "I love that guy", even though many couldn't stand him.
Controversial people can have admirable qualities. Ozzie Guillen admired Castro's persistence, his tenacity, while stating that he did not share is philosophy. He said "I love that guy!". He had not been taught to hate him.
People all over the world perpetuate hate and teach that hate to the next generations. It leads to wars and atrocities, death and destruction.
But Ozzie Guillen is in trouble because he used the "L" word. It seems wrong.
Haters will hate.
You are so right. I'm not sure how we're going to deal with some of this hatred we're seeing today. It's so hard for me to understand people who's security rests in guns, who use angry words without thinking, etc. Surely these people are acting before they think but how are we going to teach them there's a better way?
ReplyDeleteI agree that there's something wrong with our world when you are excoriated for telling the truth about loving and admiring someone. Definitely something has gone wrong here. And you're right: it's wrong.
ReplyDeleteAnd the New Orleans Saints may get away with paying players to physically harm others. Seems like overkill to me... If we're going to start to penalize people for saying stupid things we're going to be awfully busy!
ReplyDeletetrue we all need to try the F word-forgiveness of others faults since we all have them...
ReplyDeleteSo well said, Linda. It never ceases to amaze me how little things can get so blown up and big issues go ignored.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed very odd and very un-American that someone could be suspended from a sports management job because he voiced his opinion about anything! I guess even if he said he hated someone I would be aghast that he could lose his job over it - it is even worse that he said he loved someone no matter who it was he loved. Yikes! What is this world coming to?
ReplyDeleteThat hit me wrong when it all erupted. I kept thinking, doesn't he get to have his opinion; doesn't he have freedom of speech.
ReplyDeleteI watched Ozzie's apology, and he wasn't faking it. I don't think that it ever crossed his mind that he would get in trouble for saying what he did.
Guess Florida just isn't like Chicago.
Kathy M.