A Better Way

Underlying the gun culture is a presumption of violence and a glorification of violent solutions to bad feelings and crisis situations.

What makes this applicable to a blog that is mostly about guns and gun violence is the threats, on twitter and otherwise apparently, that resulted from the unfortunate outcome of a STUPID GAME, not life and death serious reality - a GAME.

It is one of the good aspects of sports that games of all kinds, sports of all kinds, generates a lot of enthusiasm, or as one sports program used to state in their intro, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.   This is going back a few decades, but good ol' You tube has it archived:

So, I was looking for a thoughtful way to write about the terrible threats, the hateful wishes, in conjunction with our gun culture.  We see people shooting other people daily in this country because they lack perspective, they lack control, they act emotionally, irresponsibly and with immaturity.

And then I happened to come across this, which demonstrated an exceptional individual, a much better cultural value than our gun culture represents.  THIS is what sports and games and our culture SHOULD be teaching, this is what we need to see more of to replace the outdated, destructive gun culture that the reactionaries among us are trying so very hard to retain and enshrine with their claims about freedom, that takes away freedom from tens of thousands of people every year, along with their lives and safety.



And here is the link and the copy from fellow 'Young Turks' colleague Ben Makiewicz's article on Huff Po about this young man:

Forget the Twitter Hate: Little Boy Writes Beautiful Letter to Kyle Williams

Twitter is busy reminding us what's wrong with sports and more specifically, sports fans.

Thanks to Owen Shure, seven years old from Los Angeles, we have an example of what's right.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams, 23 years old from San Jose, is now well known to even the most indifferent football fan. Williams showed his lack of experience in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship game and carelessly allowed a punt to graze his leg. Fumble, Giants ball at the San Francisco 29 and seven plays later, a touchdown and a 17-14 Giants lead.

Then, in overtime, a more forgivable mistake, but one that cost the 49ers the game. While returning a punt, Kyle Williams had the ball poked away by Jacquian Williams of the Giants. A great play, but another fumble, Giants ball at the San Francisco 24 and five plays later, the Giants win, 20-17.

But this isn't another story about Kyle Williams and the stand-up way he's faced his football mistakes. Nor is it about the intentionally cruel, mean, and depressing response of some really bad people on Twitter. This is a story about Owen Shure, who's bigger at seven years old than any of these jackbags on Twitter.

First, in case you missed it -- and you're lucky if you did -- here's a sampling of the ugliness directed at Williams via Twitter:

@KyleWilliams_10 you should jump off the golden gate bridge for that one

@KyleWilliams_10 HOPE U RUN n2 A BULLET DA WAY U RAN INTO DAT BALL...

Jim Harbaugh, please give @KyleWilliams_10 the game ball. And make sure it explodes when he gets in his car.

@KyleWilliams_10. I hope you, youre wife, kids and family die, you deserve it

That last one is my favorite because Kyle Williams is single and doesn't have kids. Mean, cruel, vindictive and epically stupid -- it's a winning combination.

Owen inherited his love of the 49ers from his dad, Michael Shure, a political contributor to The Young Turks on Current TV. Michael is my friend and Owen, I should point out, is my godson. Sundays during the season, Owen races around the house in his Frank Gore jersey, cheering every Patrick Willis tackle ("P-Willie" to Owen) and referring to Alex Smith as "Alex." He's not just the quarterback. He's a friend.

So Sunday, as the Niners lost in memorably disheartening fashion, Owen became inconsolable. He was crying, saying of Kyle Williams, with the distinct sobs of a seven-year-old between each word, "But... why... did he... have to... fumble?"

I can relate to Owen's anguish easily -- as can every other boy who ever truly loved a team. When Roger Staubach and Tony Hill teamed up to beat Lamar Parrish on a little fade route from eight yards out with 39 seconds to play to give Dallas a 35-34 win over Washington in the last game of the 1979 season, eliminating the Redskins from the playoffs, I didn't cry. I broke a lamp. Then I cried. And I was 12.

So I get Owen's agony. Heck, I respect it. He's not going to start following the Los Angeles Jaguars when they finally move to town. He's a Niner fan for life. 2-14 or 14-2, those are Owen's guys.

Which is why, I imagine, it was easy for Owen to pivot from the agony of defeat to the thrill of loyalty. Trying to get his son to stop crying, Michael asked him, "If you feel this way, how sad do you think Kyle Williams is?"

Owen paused a second, then asked his dad, "Can I write him a letter to make him feel better?" And from that, an old-fashioned letter -- the ultimate anti-Twitter, the un-social media -- was born.

Here's the letter (how does Owen even know what a letter is?). I will leave his beautiful seven-year old grammar uncorrected.

Dear Mr. Williams:

We just watched the Playoff game. I feel really bad for you but I wanted to tell you that you had a great season. you sould be very proud, so I wanted to say thank you.

I am your #1 FAN!

Owen Shure
Los Angeles, CA

p.s. your awsome

Next season I'll have a new favorite player. It's Kyle Williams. I'll also have an old favorite little boy. It's Owen Shure.


2012-01-26-owenatgame.jpg 2012-01-26-photo2.jpg

Now I have to admit that I am an admirer of the commentary of this little boy's father on the Young Turks.  His dad doesn't foam at the mouth or yell, and he seems careful to be accurate and thoughtful in what he says.  I like that.

So it shouldn't surprise me that he has raised his son to be like this, but it is still lovely to see.

It was all the more poignant when in researching this piece to find out that this quarter back had been targeted by the opposing team because of his history of concussions.

I hope that whoever thought it was a good thing to tweet the threats doesn't own a gun or other lethal weapon of any kind.  The tweet itself was an indication of poor self-control, bad impulse behavior.  I feel badly for all the other potential gun owning bad sports who may have had their hands on a trigger instead of tweeting at all.

I liked this story not only because it was topical in view of the superbowl approaching, but because it is such a lovely window into that dichotomy of good and evil in people.

I find the concept of the good in people that is expressed by our commenter Greg to be on a par with all the depth and complexity of a three year old's coloring book picture, which is frightening in someone who presumes to be involved with great literature.  It is shallow, it is simplistic, it is not closely related to objective reality.  There IS genuinely good in people, a mix of good and not good.  This young man was an excellent example of the good.  The tweets, presumably from adults far older than this seven year old boy, shows how people - who presumably also have some good in them - are not always directed by that good when faced with frustration or disappointment or any other negative emotion.