The Luck of the Draw

 “Luck” is still one of the ingredients of life.  It helped a couple of times when I “dodged a bullet” in Vietnam.  I have also attributed it to some of the good fortune I have had along the road of life.  Hard work, diligence, skill, determination—they all are important and necessary.  But sometimes you also need “luck.”

 At the end of what may have been the most exciting football game I have ever witnessed—bad luck is what largely resulted in the Bill’s loss to the Chiefs in the recent NFL play-offs.  There were a lot of “Monday morning quarterback” comments on what the Bills could or should have done differently, but the biggest difference was that, at the end of regulation time, Josh Allen called “tails” instead of “heads” on the coin toss to determine the first possession in overtime.  Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes got the ball—and the rest is history.

 Had Allen called “heads,” the way the Buffalo Bills offense was playing— I think they would have gone down the field and won the game.

 It was that kind of game.  At the end, it didn’t seem like the defenses for either team were even on the field.  Allen took the Bills down the field with only about two minutes left in regulation time to score a touchdown and take the lead.   Mahomes took the Chief’s down the field with only 13 seconds left and scored a field goal to tie the game.  Tell me, have you ever seen anything like this in your life?!

 It has been interesting for me to see how “existential” Bills’ football has become in our family.  Part of it is due to the fact that we choose one Bills home game each year as a gathering spot for a family get-together.  Part of it may also be due to the fact that here in the “back-water” of Western New York, in the fall and winter—we need the stimulation of watching the Buffalo Bills.  And “boy!” have they been fun to watch this year!

 In retrospect, I don’t think—maybe until now—we have ever realized how tough it was for those Bills in the 1990’s to make four trips to the Super Bowl.   To play through a grueling season of 16 or 17 games and claw your way to the top of a division, then conference title, and then to finally get to the Super Bowl… is an almost insurmountable task. 

 During one of those Super Bowl runs, Jim Kelly related that Coach Marv Levy (a World War II veteran) once posed the question to the team in the locker room during an away game— “Do you know why Hitler lost World War II?”   Dumbfounded, the players looked at each other, then Levy gave the answer— “Because he couldn’t win on the road!”  The team left the locker room, went out on the field and won that game.

 It is hard to win “on the road,” and it was sad to see the Bills lose to the Chiefs. But I don’t think the Bills lost any fans that night.  Next year is coming and “hope springs eternal from the human breast.”  Maybe next time, the play-off game will be in our stadium, the coin toss will go our way and we will win—the“luck of the draw!”

The Obligation of Civility in our Political Discourse

Some years ago, our then Congressman, Amo Houghton, was honored in Washington, D.C. for being the epitome of civility in politics. It came not long after Congress had descended into acrimony following the ascension of Newt Gingrich to the Speaker’s chair after a brutal “take no prisoners” campaign he had waged to attain that office.

Amo knew that Democrats were no more evil than Republicans, and that once you started defining your political opponents as bad people — there could be no possibility for civil public discourse. You can have political differences without demonizing your opponent.

Recently, I read an article of how the polarization and “demonizing” process has split the community of Enid, Oklahoma. The issue this time was vaccination. Anti-vaxxers in that community, attacked the public health system and argued that those urging vaccination were hostile, despicable people associated with “metropolitan elites” who were trying to enforce their way of life on small-town, rural America. It is hard to bridge differences when public health concerns descend into political controversy and name-calling.

One form of incivility in public discourse in our own community that I have observed are signs on lawns using a four-letter word to describe our current President. To me, such words should have no place in principled discourse. They are not just gross, but are obviously also being read by our children who are riding buses on their way to school. What conclusions do our kids draw from this? Is public profanity now acceptable in the community? Do we want this kind of profanity to be taught in our schools? Maybe it is time to act as a community to remove these signs.

Though some of our local governments have ordinances limiting political signs to a certain number of days before an election, I have no problem with people who have already put up a sign or are flying a flag for those they want to see elected in 2024. If you want to fly a flag for your favorite politician or the Buffalo Bills — it is all right with me. Just don’t get sucked into the mud of using four letter words in so doing to describe those you hate. That is not the American way or, in my view, the Christian way.

"We don’t teach our kids to write hate signs using four-letter words in school. Why should we allow such signs in our community?"

Let’s go back to the schools for a minute. I have been pleased to see some of my grandchildren getting involved in student government at school. It is a wonderful process of introducing them to civic engagement and the need to work together on common problems. We don’t teach them to write hate signs using four-letter words at school. Why should we allow such signs in our community?

We have always had political differences in America — that is part of our political DNA. But, that has not meant that we need to demonize or down-grade those on the other side of the political aisle. You are not a bad person because you have differing political views from mine — we just disagree on some things. We take those differences to the ballot box on election day and once the results are announced, we move on and accept the results until the next election. That is the American way.

Civility in our public discourse is not an option, it is an obligation. We need to do a better job as adults in setting an example for our kids.


Rolland Kidder

Remembering the Simpler Times of Fourth Grade

I think that the older you get, the more you remember old times. For some reason, maybe because I see my grandkids going off to school every day–I started thinking of good memories from when I was in fourth grade in a one-room school house.

The school was called “Busti #7,” and it was located on Garfield Road. We had a wonderful teacher, Mrs. Kronmiller, and she taught all four grades.

As a fourth-grader, I was actually in the “senior” class–since, the following year, I would be transferring into the big City of Jamestown school system for fifth grade and beyond.

Every morning and afternoon in that small school house, we would have a 15 or 20 minute recess and, on good weather days, Mrs. Kronmiller would let us play outside.

Boys being boys, we often played a game called “Cowboys and Indians.” This was back in the days of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry in the movies. On Saturdays, before television, we would go downtown to watch westerns at the matinee at Shea’s or the Palace theater.

What we would do in the game was divide a group of boys into two opposing camps, hide in the bushes, then on a signal attack each other. It wasn’t a physical attack. (Mrs. Kronmiller wouldn’t permit that.) But, we would point our fingers as guns, or draw our arms like we had a bow, and then run around making a lot of noise–finally pretending to be hit–we would fall to the ground.

When that happened, what came next was the best part of the game. We each had a favorite “nurse” who would come to our aid, wipe our brow, console us–and then the game would end.

I have never forgotten my favorite nurse. Her name was Elaine. She was in second grade and she was beautiful. The girls were a part of the game and were always there at the end. After the recess was over, we would go back inside for more instruction–but on those days, the highlight I remember most was being nursed back to health by Elaine in a make-believe game of “Cowboys and Indians.”

I would imagine that such games wouldn’t be allowed today. The name itself seems out-of-place and would probably be deemed to be politically incorrect.

"To all the girls I’ve Ioved before, who traveled in and out my door. I’m glad they came along..."   - Willie Nelson

 

But, it was my first awakening to the significance of girls. It felt good liking and being liked by them.

Which brings me to one of the all-time great songs by Willie Nelson. What started in fourth grade is still true today. Though I have been happily married for nearly 50 years, I still sometimes hum that melody: “To all the girls I’ve Ioved before, who traveled in and out my door. I’m glad they came along, I dedicate this song…to all the girls I’ve loved before.” Elaine was probably my first love.

Some things in life never change. That memory from the fourth grade is still with me.

Rolly Kidder

Jamestown Post-Journal

Political Differences As American As Apple Pie

LOCAL COMMENTARIES

JAN 1, 2022

ROLLAND KIDDER

 

Back in 1964, when the Republicans ran Barry Goldwater for President, the Chad Mitchell Trio came out with a song describing (somewhat cryptically) the Republican Party. Here are a few of the lyrics:

[Let’s go] back to the silver standard and solid Goldwater…

Let’s go back to the days when men were men

and start the First World War all over again

[Let’s go] back to when the poor were poor, and rich were rich

and you felt so damn secure just knowin’ which were which!

Okay, it was a bit “over-the-top” but, nevertheless, it highlighted the fact that, at the national level, the Republican Party was not the Party of change. The themes of: “Let’s keep things the way they are, or, even better, ‘go back’ to who we used to be”–were as Republican then as they are now. It is the Democratic Party, at least since FDR and the Great Depression, that has been the party of change in Washington.

Case in point, the recent one-house passage, with no Republican support, of the Biden “Build Back Better” legislation. Though not given a large mandate in the last election and, though in control of Congress by only the “skin of their teeth,” Democrats pushed this through the House of Representatives. It should have been no surprise that a fellow Democrat, Joe Manchin, Senator from a conservative state like West Virginia, would have problems with the bill–but they passed it anyway in the House.

The politics going on here should not surprise anyone. ” Radical ideas” like Social Security and Medicare (financial assistance and health care for the elderly) were Democratic initiatives. There were outcries at the time that such programs would bankrupt the country and drive us into socialism. Though, in those days, there were some Republican votes for these programs–it was the Democratic Party that proposed and largely provided the bulk of “yes” votes to make them law.

Yet, Republicans have correctly assessed the reality that the electorate in our country is generally conservative in its thinking, and when people want change, it takes place incrementally and very slowly. Harry Truman in the 1950’s and Ted Kennedy in the 1980’s couldn’t make headway with healthcare legislation. It wasn’t until 30 years later, under Barack Obama, that the matter really got addressed in any meaningful way. Today, as “Obamacare” has become more accepted in the country, you see (as with Social Security and Medicare) fewer Republicans attacking it.

Another reality is that every time the Democrats push for social change, they usually suffer for it in the next election…and so this doesn’t portend well for them in the 2022 elections. I would expect that the coming year will be a good one for Republicans.

I will say this though for Democrats, when they try to create new programs, they at least are honest enough to include revenue and tax measures to help pay for it, as reflected in this most recent bill where they proposed raising taxes on billionaires and corporations. Republican reaction to all of this has been to again “bang the drum” that Democrats are the “tax and spend” Party. Democrats counter that Republicans have become the “borrow and spend” Party.

Though they still maintain the political “high ground” of being resistant to change, when it comes to spending money–Republicans have shown that they are as good at that as Democrats. And, who was the last President to have a balanced budget? That was Bill Clinton. His political affiliation? Let’s not get into that.

Differing views on politics remain as American as apple pie. To everyone, no matter what your political persuasion–thanks for reading these articles and have a Happy New Year!