Author: Rik Goodman

Bend A Knee

While I doubt that many of you don’t have an opinion on the continuing kneeling, sitting and not attending during the National Anthem during NFL games, you can be sure that I have one. Wow, there are a lot of negatives in that sentence. And now you’ll just have to read about it. Admit it, you have to read on don’t you?

I am one person who really respects our flag and believe that standing is proper way to spend the few minutes of time during which the National Anthem is playing. I am also one person who really respects the rights of others to protest and to state their beliefs any way they want. If kneeling before a football game is the way they want to get their point across, so be it. I have heard and read that the players are just employees and they do not have the right to free speech if it affects the company they work for. In this case this is absolutely ridiculous. NFL players may be employees of their teams but they are also public personas that the teams cannot due with out. Players who wish to protest racial injustice in American life should be applauded for their behavior not ridiculed. 

Our esteemed leader (?) has tweeted and ranted about how we should boycott and/or the players should be fired. This is ludicrous. Our boycott would not have any effect on the players. They would still get paid, it’s the teams that would suffer. If you fire the players then, again, the teams suffer and this time so do the fans. No one wins. President Trump has proven once again that he and his followers do not support the rights of many Americans. And neither do they support the rights of any marginalized person in the U.S. The administration seems to be on the side of racism and bias!

I saw a quote today from Peter Malnati, a professional golfer. “I stand for freedom. I stand for ‘justice for all’. I stand for equality, for empathy and for compassion. I kneel to hubris and greed. Therefore, I take a knee for the flag that represents this administration. Not because I don’t love this country, but because I do.”

I wish I could have said it so eloquently (and you probably wish I could have too!).

7 Months and Going Strong

One day after celebrating mom’s 90th birthday we spent the day celebrating the upcoming birthday of our first grandchild. We’ve all heard the term “circle of life” well we seem to be living it right now. As mom enters the last years of her life (many last years), Claire enters the last months of her pregnancy (not too many months) with the anticipation and hope that new life brings.

90 and Still Going Strong

Yesterday we celebrated Louise’s (my mother) 90th birthday. Around 50 family members convened in Laguna Niguel for a combination family reunion / birthday party. Louise, who is a mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt, great aunt and great-great aunt was, in her usual humble way, overwhelmed by the turn out. Family came from as far away as Oregon, Colorado and Michigan just to honor her. 

I want to thank all of you who came out to share in the festivities. The love and respect means so much to my sister and me. To those who couldn’t or didn’t make the party you were all missed. Our family, like all families, has had conflicts and disagreements over the years. Times like this should bring families together together not accentuate the differences, Then there are those who could not make the journey. To those we send our love and concern. 

Louise is the last of her siblings to be celebrating birthdays. How lucky we all are to be part of this woman’s life. She has outlived all her sisters and her brother, proving to all that growing old gracefully is still a possibility in this world of a “in your face” crassness that permeates society. 

Whatever your relationship to Louise, you can’t help but love her.