When I started the Teens Run Yonkers blog, I made a very conscious decision to NOT utilize this site for ideas beyond our approach of using running as a motivator and teacher for encouraging success, leadership and healthy living. And I was sure that I would never talk about politics. I know I'm dating myself when I reference the '70's show All in the Family. Anyone out there remember that one? If you do, you remember the main character, Archie Bunker, the classic bigot of his day. One of my favorite lines from the show was from his wife Edith who used to say, "you know the rule - never talk to Archie about three subjects; Religion, Politics or anything else!". Bottom line, it almost always gets you in trouble.
So today I'm going to break that rule but only because I believe it's relevant to what we are modeling for today's youth who are, in fact, tomorrow's leaders....
Very simply stated, I continue to be incredibly frustrated, disgusted, and I guess plain old disappointed at the way we as a country, people, and society take such a short-sighted view of leadership. Now, I'm not stating any preference for either party but it just amazes me that everything about our election cycle is driven by day to day news and needs. On one hand, before Obama "won" this months fundraising war, I was getting daily notes from my good friends Michelle (Obama), Joe (Biden) and Stephanie (Cutter) - this must be the new technique of making them my good old buddies asking for money. Every day, there was a fundraising "state of emergency" that said if I could just give $3.00 this month, life as we know it would continue. By the way, I do find it interesting that when Romney was raising more, it was all due to special interests and gave him an unfair advantage - now that Obama won August, seems like its OK to have raised more than your opponent.
But let me not play favorites. You know the Romney team couldn't wait to sink their teeth into the job's report that came out the day after Obama's speech. Why? Simple. Less jobs #s last month = Bad, bad president. Good jobs #s last month = Pure accident and most likely something like the sugar high bounce Obama seems to have received. Bottom line, it's all about the sound bite that is driven by the news cycle.
To put this in more everyday terms, I have a daughter starting college next year and started a college fund for her 17 years ago. Imagine me trying to make a decision that could impact where she goes to school (how much savings I have) based on what Apple stock did in the 3rd quarter of 1994 (around the time she was born). Essentially, that's what we're doing these days...
So what does this have to do with running, helping teens or anything remotely related. Just this....What are we modeling for youth - or maybe just each other -when we can't think further than the next day, headline or sound bite? Shouldn't our elections - or perhaps even closer home - the decisions we make - be based on long term results? I really believe one of the things we need to be teaching and demonstrating is how we lead and build for the future. And the future isn't what's in tomorrow's paper, next weeks Time magazine or in next months unemployment numbers. It's what we want to look like 10, 15, and 20 years and beyond.
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