Letter to the Editor: Bob Seay

Dear Editor,

This article is about more than sports. I promise.

The Kiowa County Independent ran an article about Eads High School not having enough boys to field a football team. A six-man football team. It’s a small school up there.

The article focuses on one question: “What happens to a community when Friday night lights go dark?”

Before I get accused of trashing sports, I need to say that there are students who sincerely enjoy and benefit from high school sports programs. Sports develop leadership skills, the potential for athletic scholarships, and other benefits. My son was a high school athlete. I loved watching him play baseball.

But from the community perspective—and the perspective of the article in the Kiowa County Independent—high school sports are also about providing entertainment for the community and carrying on a tradition for the sake of the tradition. (You could say the same about music programs. As a band/ choir director, I was very aware of the public relations/entertainment aspect of my position.)

Instead of asking what happens when Friday night lights go out, we should be asking whether students are obligated to continue the traditions of their parents when those students no longer see any benefit in those traditions.

Which brings me to our economy.

Baby Boomers benefited from policies that built the greatest economy on earth. Since the 1980s and the Reagan tax cuts, those benefits have diminished, or–in the case of wages keeping up with inflation—virtually disappeared. Scholarships were replaced with loans. Gen Xers have grown up knowing that they cannot depend on Social Security to retire. Millennials are even less secure. Many are choosing not to have children because they can’t afford it. They can’t afford a home. It’s not because they’re lazy. It’s because they’re trapped in a tradition that no longer works.

Unlike the Eads football players, young adults have no choice about their participation in the economy.

Tradition alone is not enough. If we want young people to keep the lights on, whether on a football field or across the country, we must give them a reason to believe the game is still worth playing.

What we are doing is not working. Republicans and country-club Democrats expect the rest of us to continue traditions in health care, education, retirement, and more that do nothing for most of us.

Is it any wonder that Millennials and younger voters are rejecting both political parties? Why should they perpetuate a system that intentionally works against them?

You can call them socialists or any name you wish, but that does not change the fact that our adult children are paying for benefits they may not receive and are trapped in a system that makes them unable to buy a home, have children, or have any real control over their own lives.

Should Eads force high school boys to play football because of tradition? Should these young men be guilted into an activity for the sake of the community? At what cost?

If not, then why would we do that to our citizens?

Bob Seay
Lamar, CO