It’s Just a Game

I have written about this before but it has happened again, so here I go again.

The Washington Redskins signed a seven year contract with Albert Haynsworth. Mr. Haynsworth makes his living as a Defensive Tackle in professional football. I don’t pretend to understand how these contracts are put together, but the Associated Press reports that Haynsworth will earn $32 million dollars in his first year.

Again, let me try to put this into perspective.

$32 million is slightly less than Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia will receive in combined funds from the Obama Recovery Act to modernize the subway system. The very subway system a lot of fans will take to the game.

$32 million is what USAID is going to spend to build and rehabilitate 400 health clinics in Afghanistan over the next three years.

$32 million just happens to be the shortfall experienced by the World Food Program needed to sustain its logistical operations in Myanmar for victims of Cyclone Nargis. It is also the amount needed in Ethiopia for humanitarian efforts.

Let me put it another way. Compassion International tells us that $32 per month provides assistance for a needy child. That’s $384 a year for each child. We can assume that sponsorship of a child would last 12 years. That is $4,608. So the money spent on one guy in just one year could provide lifesaving care for nearly 7,000 children.

I don’t fault Mr. Haynsworth for this lopsided and ludicrous situation. I do have to question the motives of the Redskins organization and sports in general. At what point do they (the owners and players and fans) say enough. When do they start thinking about the suffering in the world around them and not just their own self-centered pleasure? Is drinking beer, eating pizza, and waving a big spongey finger really more important than saving children from starvation, disease, and abuse?

The Redskins are a big deal in my area and I know that lots of folks are going to try to justify this in some way. You can’t. You will never be able to justify paying someone $100 million to play a game. I repeat..,.PLAY a GAME.

[Saving the lives of children is not a game. Please spend your money where it will make a real impact. Go to http://www.Compassion.com Sponsoring a child will warm your heart, and that’s better than warming a stadium seat any day]

[ To read more about the work of Compassion visit blog.Compassion.com ]

Is There Rich Poverty and Poor Poverty

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on yet another Super Bowl win.

Today I noticed a story out of Tampa where the National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell was characterized as pleading poverty. The story went on to relate how Goodell deems it absolutely necessary to renegotiate player salaries like those of Ben Roethlisberger in order to weather tough economic times. According to USA TODAY Roethlisberger’s salary for the 2008 season was $27.7 million. Meanwhile the player’s unions are claiming that an average team makes $24.7 million per year and the value of a franchise has rocketed to just over $1 billion.

Today I also read a story on how the Kenyan government will adopt new measures to deal with escalating poverty in the wake of the gasoline tanker explosion which claimed 111 lives. Many desperately poor women and children were incinerated as they tried to scoop up the highly flammable liquid that had spilled when the tanker truck overturned.

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga was quoted as saying, “Everywhere people are trying to do delicate arithmetic as they try to survive. They are trying to figure out whether they need to buy flour or a match box or a packet of milk or a half kilo of meat.” Odinga characterized Kenyans as being crushed by the power of poverty, making a daily choice between feeding their families, or buying medicine they need. He urged his fellow Kenyans to not succumb to desperate acts and to guard against hopelessness.

Meanwhile back in Tampa commissioner Goodell was quoted as saying, “We are not immune from what’s going on out in the economy. There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty and uncertainty breeds fear.”

So let me ask you this. Who is more fearful of their future; Multi-million dollar football players (or owners), or a Kenyan mother rushing into the suffocating fumes of a gasoline spill?

If you would like to bring hope to a child in need please visit www.Compassion.com

To check out what is happening in the real world and countries where Compassion International serves, go to http://blog.compassion.com