The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript provides an important service to all readers by encouraging columnists to express thoughts based upon their own experiences, activities, or events within or outside this state or country. Two recent columns were the inspiration behind this letter. They were written by Anna Meigs and Joe Bennham under the heading Viewpoints. Both shared their thoughts on two entirely different topics yet offered lessons or suggestions on how to better understand the world we inhabit.
Anna’s commentary on sharing was a timely addition to our current reservoir of ways to understand the importance of our country’s safety net system, which is another way of sharing. She explained the philosophy of sharing that formed our early societies and allowed people to survive under adverse conditions. From my experience, what she witnessed in New Guinea continues either ceremonially or in practice in other parts of the world, from villages in Africa and South America to the Potlatches of the Pacific Northwest and other indigenous communities in our own country. Thinking beyond self with empathy, along with an understanding of what keeps societies from fracturing, is central to the idea of sharing.
We are now witnessing the growing turmoil and economic pain resulting from cutbacks to our economic, social, educational, and health-related programs, along with the fear of what may ultimately happen as more of our safety nets are stripped away. Perhaps her article could be used as a template to explain in a new way why programs only thought of as “giveaways are so important for the health of our society.
The second article on football impressed me because it made me think about the sport in a way that made sense. I, too, have been one of the people worried about the health of young players. Yet Joe Bennham impressed me with his knowledge of current safety requirements and the importance of offering a sport that draws young men, in particular, away from their cell phones and digital games and gives them a reason to connect in person with others. He offers a way to overcome the loneliness that seems pervasive as people disconnect from being together in favor of using third-party machines as go-betweens, or even worse, being that other party without any in-person contact.
Having raised three sons, I’m quite aware of the attraction football holds over many young men. The only saving grace for me was that football was not a sports option when they attended local schools, although they did find other organized sports-related outlets. His additional comments about learning resilience, acquiring discipline and learning to become team players are equally important reasons to allow youth to play this sport if that is the way to move them away from their machines and into a more interactive and beneficially healthy way of life.