It's Called Respect

You don't have to respect the man, but you do have to respect the office.

Earlier today I heard on ESPN Sportscenter that a member of the Boston Bruins chose not to attend the championship recognition at the White House with President Barack Obama because "I guess he is a Republican."

That comment made me sick. It also made me hope the ESPN anchor was just joking. Turns out the anchorman was making an editorial comment, but it was a comment clearly developed from reading the player's comments about why he didn't attend.

Here are the comments as quoted from the ESPN website (I've included a link to the story if you want to read it all:)

Goaltender Tim Thomas, one of only two Americans on the team, decided not to join his teammates.

Thomas posted the following statement on his Facebook page at 6 p.m. ET:

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.

This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT"

While I agree with many of the things Thomas had to say, AND while I agree with his right to choose whether he participated, in my opinion his choice was wrong.

The Bruins won the Stanley Cup as a team. Meeting the President in the White House is a team activity and skipping it is not a slight to the President or the government - it's a slight to his teammates.

I don't like many of the policies or government programs developed and/or supported by President Obama. But give me the opportunity to meet the President in the White House and I would go in a heartbeat. There is no question President Obama is an historic figure in our nation's history and I could never pass up the chance to meet someone who is a part of American history.

From my perspective, this is an act of selfishness on the player's part and disrespect for the President - the office, not the man - and the rest of his teammates. If Thomas wants to protest the growth of government, there are many other opportunities to share that protest. This was not the time or place.

http://espn.go.com/boston/nhl/story/_/id/7493826/barack-obama-honors-stanley-cup-champion-boston-bruins-tim-thomas-no-show

Inspiration Is Everywhere

As a guy who loves public speaking, I am constantly looking for and listening to other speakers for things that will help me improve my speaking style and for quotes or anecdotes I can incorporate into my speeches and presentations.

With today being the national holiday celebrating the life and contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am reminded of the CD set I have titled "A Call to Conscience - the Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

With introductions by Coretta Scott King, Sen. Edward Kennedy, Andrew Young, and many others giving an historical context to his speeches, the audio set includes King's famous "I Have a Dream" and "I've Been to the Mountain Top" speeches, as well as many others. 

The recordings are all very "raw" in their sound. Many are now over 50 years old. They have an historical sound to go along with the historical content of the speeches. 

Each year at this time, I get out my set of CD's and listen to some of these speeches. I listen to the tone and tempo of the delivery. I listen for King's use of the English language. And I listen to learn about the history of our country. For example, did you know King first used the "I Have a Dream" line and cadence in a speech given months before the march on Washington?

Listening to King's "Mountaintop" speech delivered the night before his death, you get a sense that King knew something was likely to happen to him and that he was very much at peace with that knowledge.

As we celebrate Dr. King's birthday, I encourage everyone to find a copy of "A Call to Conscience" and listen and learn from not just a great orator, but a great American. 

Is It Any Wonder

You can't turn on the television these days without seeing bunches of ads from airlines about how their specific airline is better than all the others. I recently had an experience with an airline company that will remain unnamed that just caused me to shake my head in frustration.

I have a trip coming up soon and I'll be getting up very early in the morning (around 4:30 a.m.) to make my flight. It will be about a 3 1/2 hour flight on a smaller airplane so I thought it would be a perfect time to use some of my frequent flyer miles and upgrade to first class. I don't get to do this often and I won't even consider it for flights under 2 hours, but this really fit the bill.

So I called the frequent flyer customer service and asked if it was possible to upgrade using my miles. The lady on the other end of the phone was quite nice and said sure that was possible and there would be a $75 fee for making the upgrade. Now, it was already going to cost me $60 to check my bags and checked bags fly free if you're in first class so this was really only going to be an extra $15 for me to get the big comfy seat for my 3 1/2 hour flight. Sounds like a bargain, doesn't it.

Here's where my frustration set in and I simply couldn't help myself.

I told the woman I was OK with the $75 fee for using miles for the upgrade - I thought it was a little ridiculous to "pay" to use my miles, but since I was already going to pay for baggage, then the upgrade fee was not that big of a deal. The woman then said in addition to the upgrade fee there would also be an expedite fee since I was calling a mere EIGHTEEN DAYS before my flight departed. That's right, they needed at least 21 days advance notice to avoid the expedite fee.

I asked her if she was kidding and she said no.

I asked if she knew what the definition of "expedite" was. I didn't wait for her answer but went on to say that it meant to rush something and I didn't understand what she would be expediting and why there would be a charge. All she was going to do was enter it into her computer and it would change my "electronic" ticket to reflect first class. She wasn't going to mail anything to me. She wasn't even going to e-mail anything to me. What could she possibly be going to do to my ticket 18 days before I traveled that would require "expediting."

Her response was almost priceless. "We've had that expediting fee in place for more than 20 years. It's not something new." Well, no kidding its an old fee. You used to mail everyone their plane tickets. Changes to flight bookings meant new tickets had to be issued and had to mailed to the traveller. If they were still using snail mail to send out tickets, then I might understand an expedite fee. But when was the last time you got printed airline tickets in the mail? I bet I haven't seen a printed ticket since I flew to Australia in 2002.

As my utter disbelief and frustration continued to grow, I just couldn't help myself and the words came out of my mouth before I could stop them. "It's no wonder your airline is bankrupt. You can't even process an electronic ticket in 18 days with charging an outrageous expedite fee."

I sure hope my bags arrive on time.