UNSCRIPTED: Can sports help those affected by the California Fires?
Unscripted By Keith Edmonds
FWIS Contributing Writer
The images that you see here don’t even begin to tell the FULL story of what has been happening in Southern California these past few weeks as wildfires have devasted over 60 miles of land destroying homes, businesses, and yes taken lives! Over 180,00 people have had to deal with this disruption and be forced to literally “begin again” with their cities, towns, and neighborhoods having been destroyed. As a country we view these images from afar and wonder “How could this have happened”?, and hopefully we respond with “What can we do to help”? Natural disasters happen in our country all of the time, and though it may not affect us directly here in Indiana many of us have friends or family members that have had their lives altered by these fires. One thing that we can’t deny is that whether we want to agree, believe, or deny it, climate change is real folks! Yes, there have always been floods, hurricanes, droughts, and even wildfires but to try to sweep this away as just “another something that’s happened” is living in total denial! Climate change exists and it is something that we have to add to our growing list of concerns affecting our lives and we all are affected! Did you know that here in our Fort Wayne area we just experienced an earthquake that registered 2.0 on the scales? (Fact check me if you’d like.)
As we watch the news daily and see how our country is impacted, we also see how schools, children, colleges, and universities, as well as professional sports teams have had to change, adjust, or even cancel their contests in the wake of these events. I’ll ask this question: What can unite us again and bring some sort of sanity or normalcy to our routines? The answer: Sports! “Sports and sports media can be a powerful force for good. It can bring people together, it can provide hope, even in the midst of great destruction. But we have to be careful that we don't use sports to mask real problems. We don't want to move on from tragedies like this when real social problems remain”. (Dr. Ken Zagaci, Professor NC State University) I agree with this quote fully! Remember how the people of New Orleans rallied around hurricane Katrina and all of the devastation that it left? Sports can help reunite communities and give them a common bond helping them to move forward! The professional sports franchises in the Los Angeles area including the Lakers, Dodgers, Angels, and Kings have donated over 8 million dollars in disaster relief to the victims of these fires and there are continuing relief efforts of food, shelter, clothing, and medical supplies being donated to anyone that needs it in the LA area. It’s so easy to say “Well they should be doing more” but how do we know they aren’t? The NFL playoff game featuring the LA Rams and the Minnesota Vikings was moved to the NFL home of the Arizona Cardinals whose owner sent jumbo planes to Los Angeles to support over 600 members of families, pets, and animals associated with the Rams which was huge!
When a natural disaster hits, it often leaves a trail of mental trauma behind it. People lose their homes livelihoods and in many cases loved ones. In this day and age of more mental health awaremess just stop for a moment and think, how YOU would handle coming home from work to see that the home you left earlier that morning has now been burned to the ground? What would your immediate reaction be? We would all be trying to find something that could get us going back in the right direction and going to a sporting event would at least take our minds off what we have to deal with. It serves as a tool for bringing the community back together and gives us some sense of feeling good as we try to cope with life’s harsh realities.
Now I’m not trying to trivialize what the people of southern California are going through; I’m just offering a suggestion to those that may need some guidance towards peace because the reality of things is life is going to be extremely difficult for many moving forward.
Folks, sports are more than just games. They are tools of resilience that promote physical and mental health. I read a quote which sums it all up for me. “In the face of adversity, every goal scored, every touchdown or basket made, is a step towards recovery, and every game played is a move towards a stronger more resilient community and isn’t this something that the people of Southern California need?