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Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

I, like many Americans, have been caught up in the frenzy of college basketball’s March Madness march to the Final Four playoffs. But while watching the North Carolina – Washington game one play caused me to recall Jethro’s counsel to Moses anciently and how that counsel applies to self government, as in “We the people of the United States …”

Jethro’s counsel, found in Exodus 18:20-22, reads: “And thou shall teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work they must do. Moreover thou shall provide out of the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: …”

The incident that caused me to ponder Jethro’s counsel to Moses occurred with less than a second left on the clock – with North Carolina leading by three points. And it wasn’t the game that caused me to ponder Jethro’s counsel, it was the TV commentator that questioned the referee’s call – was it .7 seconds or 1.2 seconds left on the clock? Washington in-bounded the ball, with.7 seconds on the clock, hoping to hit a three pointer. The Washington player took a shot, but even had he made the shot it would have only been two points because he was inside the three point line.

And now for my point: the commentator called the games ‘ruler of thousands’ in Atlanta to see if the referees on the floor (rulers of hundreds) had made the right call – or should they have given Washington the extra half second that perhaps could have changed the outcome of the game. The ‘ruler of thousands’ in Atlanta explained the rules (laws) printed in the rule book (constitution) and indicated that they, the rulers in Atlanta, had seen the play on TV and agreed with the referees on the floor. Case closed!

Not quite! This incident reminds us that, even if we can’t see them, there is always someone looking over the referee’s shoulder. No favoritism was shown, no graft was apparent – a lesson all should learn by, especially ‘those rulers’ leading America at the national level. The basketball rules apply to all players and teams equally, just as all laws of the nation should be simple enough for all citizens to know.

Now what has all this to do with self-government? Everything!

Why? Because collegiate basketball, and every other sport, from the little leagues on up to the professional level, is big business – and to function profitably each sport has established their own rules (laws) published in a rule book (constitution) that every player knows, that every coach (rulers of tens) and referees (rulers of hundreds) and the man in Atlanta (ruler of thousands) know by heart.

Each sport has, with their rules, established order and trust in the game. During my life time I have witnessed all sports evolve from the sand lot level to the professional level, and with the willingness of each sport to self-rule themselves they have become very profitable sports industries.

The sports world, from the driveway hoops game with dad to the professional level, shows us another biblical truth in action – the parable of the talents. Every child born into the world is given ‘talents’ at birth, some five, some two, and some one. Children are also given the ability to dream and many dream of making it to the ‘big leagues’ someday. But only a few make it to the big leagues and they are those who have developed their God given talents through hard work, and it is hard work, learned the rules, and lived within them, and have proved themselves on the battle field of competition. Then, and only then, are these few ready for the big leagues. We all know of individuals who have squandered their talents, like the one who buried his talent and saw their talent taken from him. How sad!

Congress should follow the example of the sports industry by establishing ‘rules’ that are easily understood by all who participate in the game of life and to encourage the individual, or business, to learn the laws as they stretch themselves to compete in the game we call life – on an equal playing field.