This is true of every young person with high potential.
What RGIII has to teach
Independence Day is a good time to recall something RGIII said two years ago when he was maligned as a “cornbread brother” for not conforming to someone else’s notion of how an African-American male should act.
In a land of freedom we are held hostage by the tyranny of political correctness
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) April 30, 2013
The Redskins team name does not conform to what some people deem worthy of an NFL club. In the hysteria, that’s the only way to describe it, one side of this controversy has deemed all who support the name “Redskins” as racist with bigoted notions about real people.
It’s America. You get to voice your opinion. The controversy raises topics that should be talked out. Indeed, the grievances of Native peoples would not be talked about at all unless tied to an NFL team.
The football team did not exist when those grievances were performed by arms of government. Sports entertainment companies cannot and ought not be held accountable to correct them.
Opponents of the name have closed their minds to the many counter-arguments in defense of the name. That’s biased thinking. To label defenders with negative expressions of that bias is a form of bigotry.
RGIII called that “the tyranny of of political correctness.” I call it the pot calling the kettle black. Wait, can I say “black” is a discussion like this?
What RGIII has to learn
CSN Washington’s headline in a July 3, 2014 post quotes RGIII’s statement that there are “no ulterior motives in that building.”
ICYMI: RGIII spoke yesterday about the the dawn of the Jay Gruden era, lighting some early 4th of July fireworks: http://t.co/fcqdCPBK64
— NBC Sports Commanders (@NBCSCommanders) July 4, 2014
I winced when I read that. It reminded me of … me.
The great shock coming out of college was the realization that the real world did not work the way they taught in school. The bosses have expectations. They can be critical, sometimes unfairly so, when you do not meet them.
I did not react well when it was directed to me. Don’t lie. Neither did you, but we learned that our critics are not our enemies.
The instant feedback was quite often the best thing that could have happened if it came in time for to make things better before they became worse.
Only Griffin knows what he meant by “ulterior motives.” Redskins fans are close enough to the 2013 turn of events that we can make inferences.
We get better and stronger as we learn to decipher between valid coaching and unfounded potshots. Coach Mike was not wrong about everything he said about RG and the ‘Skins.
If the Redskins won twice as many games than they did last year, the Shanahans should still have been fired. Their program was not moving in the right direction after four years of near-total control. Jay Gruden may not be the answer.
But Griffin contributed to his problem by carrying his emotions on his sleeve. He will have problems with leadership until he learns to keep his eyes forward. Hog Heaven has great confidence that he will figure this out.
The sooner the better, though.
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July 4th is a special commemoration of the world’s first and still most successful example of citizen government.
May God bless America and bless you, too.
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