A Time To Stand and a Time to Kneel

In the mid-80’s, a real estate mogul named Donald Trump purchased the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League and took a vocal position among owners of the upstart professional football league. His intention was to get the spring league in its second season to compete directly with the NFL by moving it to the fall.

Unfortunately, for him, the NFL and the TV networks kept that transition from being a profitable one, and Trump responded by doing what he is known for doing. He sued. This time, he actually won. The jury, however, didn’t reward him with the $1.2 billion he requested and instead gave him a dollar. Yes, you read that right. A dollar.

The USFL folded and was never heard from again. Trump, on the other hand, has managed to keep his name in the news for decades since, and he actually convinced just enough voters to cast a vote for him in the presidential election to win despite his long-standing history of not quite living up to his promises or anyone’s expectations.

Knowing that his disdain for the NFL dates back over 30 years, it was no surprise this past week when he took the very unusual path of encouraging NFL owners to fire or suspend any “son of a bitch” who knelt during the national anthem. It was clearly pandering to a base of supporters who don’t understand laws or diplomacy and who certainly lack understanding of what social inequality truly is.

The response from the NFL was swift and not in his favor. The NFL front office offered support for the free speech of the players. Numerous owners – some of whom had donated up to a million dollars toward his campaign – took a firm stance in support of their players as well. Trump ended up looking like, well, Trump.

This wasn’t the first time Trump took shots at an industry and got more feedback than he may have wanted. But this time, he has put his supporters in a position they can’t argue. He is asking them to support a piece of cloth and a song over constitutional freedoms. He has put his supporters in a position that they now have to argue that symbols of freedoms are more important than actual freedoms and actual lives.


A lot of people don’t understand the issues surrounding the national anthem controversy, and in some cases they probably wouldn’t support it even if they did. When Colin Kaepernick first took a knee during the national anthem last season, his hope was that it would spark a conversation about the shootings of innocent black men by law enforcement officials throughout our nation. He accomplished that, mostly thanks to a sitting U.S. President speaking publicly about it last week.

Nobody can say for sure if we will make progress with social inequality in the next few years or even in the next few decades, but it does seem as if we have an executive in charge of our country who is tone deaf to this issue. He described white nationalists as “fine people” while taking shots at those who were merely expressing their right to protest.

You can get upset that people are “disrespecting” the flag by not participating in a tradition that has been around for a while. However, it is a routine that is not required by law, and people seem to be losing sight of that. People who don’t stand for the national anthem are not breaking any laws.

Our military men and women are fighting for our freedoms and most certainly our lives, which are far more important than the cloth and tunes that are symbolic of those freedoms and lives. As a country, we need to join together and focus on what is truly important and stop allowing the rhetoric of the ignorant dictate the direction of this nation.

KD In Need Of An Image Makeover

A few years ago I was thrilled to find out that the week’s service at LifeChurch was going to include an interview with Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder. I had managed to overlook the fact that KD had gone to the University of Texas for a year before being drafted by the Thunder, and at the time I felt like he was a great role model for kids who paid attention to the NBA.

In the interview, he talked about how his relationship with God was the most important part of his life and I came away impressed with who he was as a person. But, unfortunately, a lot has happened since 2013 when that service took place, and this week has highlighted who KD really is.

This isn’t the first time I’ve taken my shots at KD, but he has evolved from being a great person and a great basketball player to being exactly what people don’t like about professional sports. On top of everything he has done to show us just what his character really is, we have self-proclaimed experts on TV and radio telling us that KD’s decision to go to Golden State was merely a business decision and that the fans need to just accept it as that. Unfortunately, that equation factors in billionaire owners and millionaire players without taking into account those who help generate money used to pay the players’ salaries through their ticket and sports memorabilia purchases – the consumers.

What happened this week is just further evidence that KD is a very insecure person who has some growing up to do. His ramblings on Twitter in which he ripped the Thunder coach and the players not named Russell Westbrook were indicative of someone who has had an axe to grind. The bad part for him is that he did it in a way that didn’t follow his plan and he came across looking like “a idiot.”

The thing is, KD is always going to have to deal with the decision he made. The Thunder were up 3-2 over Golden State in 2016 when KD’s abilities suddenly disappeared and the Thunder lost the final two games. As we have learned since then, KD was already talking to Warriors’ players about signing with them as a free agent. Clearly, he was distracted. Otherwise, the Thunder could have easily been good enough to be NBA champions not only in 2016 but the following year as well (had KD re-signed with OKC).

I’ve often said there is a trend in the U.S. these days to hire kids to do the work of adults and KD is another example of that. He may have out-of-this-world talent when it comes to playing the sport of basketball, but his mental state is as underwhelming as that of another famous tweeter who is stealing headlines in the political world.

Yes, I have completely changed my perception of KD since that day I found out he was a part of the church I have attended for years. That probably won’t change because his decision to leave is irreversible, but I still hold out hope that one day he will get it. He needs to grow up and start acting like a man. Then, and only then, does he have a chance of being treated like one.

The Emotions That Come with Death

Some of you may have noticed that I have attended more than a handful of funerals the past couple of years. It is only because I have. In fact, I have probably known more people who passed away the past two years than the entire 45 years prior to that. Some might call that an aberration while I’m sure others would just say it is a byproduct of getting older.

The last funeral I went to was among the toughest, mostly because it was so unexpected. He was the spouse of a former co-worker and a friend, and I hated to see her have to go through the emotional process after she found out her husband had died in a motorcycle accident. Seeing the emotions on her face the day of the funeral was tough, and the mood at this particular funeral was far more somber than any of the other funerals I have attended the past two years.

The surprising thing is that the other funerals had a much more upbeat feeling to them. When people have time to process the imminent death over a period of time, it seems to help people with their perspective on how they want to grieve during the funeral. More and more people seem to be willing to treat it as a celebration of life rather than the loss of someone close to them.

To me, there isn’t a right or wrong way to approach a funeral. Each person’s emotional reaction should be unique to them and they shouldn’t be forced to feel a certain way. If a person’s death is overwhelmingly troubling, you should allow yourself to be touched in that way. One person’s celebration of life may be another person’s worst feeling ever, and there is nothing wrong with either of those.

Probably the worst feeling for me in terms of death was losing my Papa, and over a decade later I still miss him. I was better prepared for the loss of my sister a couple of years later and it showed as I was able to remain somewhat stoic and unemotional throughout the process of setting up the funeral while mourning her loss. I’m sure there were some who thought I should have been more emotional while dealing with her loss, while others may have been somewhat surprised at just how upset I was at losing my maternal grandfather. I couldn’t have predicted my state of mind with either one.

Some things will probably be a constant at funerals – the overwhelming number of flowers, the stiff yet methodical walk of the funeral directors, or the handful of people who are completely clueless as to how they should dress to this type of event. But how people are going to react to the moment is more unpredictable, and that is something that should never change.

Seems Like Something Big Is Happening Next Tuesday

Did you know there is an election next week?

For those of you who read my articles on Nondoc, you probably are aware that the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s special election is being held next Tuesday. If you don’t live in Oklahoma County, I can understand why you might not feel this is your election, but it still should have some relevance everywhere.

The thing is, Oklahoma County has had some problems lately when it comes to its sheriff. And this isn’t just one of those sheriff problems they imagined they were experiencing in Rock Ridge (yes, that is a lame “Blazing Saddles” reference). Outgoing John Whetsel left the office with a lot of problems – not the least of which involved millions of dollars in missing equipment that was discovered missing during a state audit.

That is a problem. But what continues to be a bigger problem for the sheriff’s office is the lack of concern for the problem of prisoners dying in the dilapidated county jail. Whether it is the conditions or a lack of oversight, something is amiss when it comes to the county jail problems. An extraordinary number of people are dying and that is something that should get everyone’s attention.

For some of you, I’m sure you are thinking these are people who have committed a crime and you aren’t all that worried about them. But we have laws and a centuries-old history of court rulings that attempt to override this low-level way of thinking and try to provide civility to everyone. Inmates have as much right to live while they are incarcerated as the rest of us. Plus, many of those who are in the county jail are still presumed innocent while awaiting charges to be filed, or they may be there as part of an appeal being filed for a wrongful conviction.

Having been at the Nondoc-presented debate, one thing was clear – there wasn’t a clear-cut level of concern among the two current Oklahoma County Sheriff’s office employees regarding the issue of county jail deaths. Considering those are the GOP and Democratic candidates, that isn’t reassuring. The Independent (yes, I expect you to do some research before you go cast your vote) was more to the point when it came to talking about the problem. He claimed that it was important to treat inmates as people and not animals.

The candidates were equally as bland when it came to the question about the Black Lives Matter movement as they seemed somewhat surprised and slightly dismissal about it. The always tiring “All Lives Matter” response seemed to dictate the response and it was countered with resounding angst from the bulk of the audience.

I’m not going to try to tell you who you should vote for, but I do think you should know what you are voting for. And if the county jail and how we expect the sheriff’s office to treat individuals aren’t important to you, then I would like to ask for you to re-examine your mindset. Whatever your reasons are or what your background is, I can’t imagine that mistreatment of people is something that is considered acceptable.

So, go vote on Tuesday, Sept. 12^th, and help us make a difference in how things are done in Oklahoma County. And for those outside the county, just know that many eyes are watching because these types of problems don’t tend to happen in just one place.