It's All About the Money

Recently, there has been a lot of speculation on whether or not college athletes should get paid for playing.  While researching about this I came across this article which states that the players do indeed deserve to be paid.  I, for one, extremely disagree with this notion.  I understand that its part of the entertainment business, and therefore colleges make millions of dollars off of these players, but I think paying players would create controversy.  Do all players get paid the same?  Do athletes of every sport get paid?  Obviously, there have been a lot of NCAA violations recently (for example Miami and Ohio State), and paying the players would only add to this unneeded controversy as it is a slippery slope.  What I mean by that is if college athletes start getting paid, they will become greedy and want much more, and obviously, based on recent events in professional sports, that can only lead to bad things such as shutting down the league.

In my opinion, college athletes are rewarded enough with a free college education, which is a traditional American value.  Now, however, the country is becoming more and more about money.  No longer can people be satisfied with anything else.  College football is supposed to be about playing for the love of the game, but now, like everything else, people are trying to make it about money, as if a free ride through college isn't enough to reward these athletes.

We Will Never Forget Your Money

Yesterday marked 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.  Obviously, people all across America were emotionally affected by this tragic event and commemorated it in many ways.  State Farm chose this day to air this commercial on national television:

First off, let me say that this commercial was a great way to honor the firefighters who fought to save others during this tragic event, as it is nearly impossible to not get a little bit emotional while watching it.

However, while I completely support any attempt to show respect, this commercial felt fake to me.  Don’t get me wrong, the 58 seconds of it were touching and brilliant, but in the last second, the words “State Farm” appear.  This gives me the impression that they made this commercial primarily for the purpose of making money and that they don’t really care about commemorating the event as much as they appear to.  If they did really want to honor the event, there were many better ways to spend the enormous amount of money that it cost to air this commercial across the nation on NFL season opening day.

On a moral level, I find it very wrong that State Farm is exploiting people’s emotional attachments to this event by sending the false messages that they only care about honoring 9/11 when they just want to make money.  I’m not saying that State Farm is some cruel, emotionless corporation that has no sympathy for the victims (because they are people too and had to be at least somewhat emotionally affected), but they are taking advantage of a horrible situation for their gain.

Just Showing Up

September 11 of this year will mark the 10th year anniversary of the terrorist attacks that killed 2,752 people at the World Trade Center.  In memory of this tragic event, a ceremony will be held at Ground Zero on the day of the anniversary. Ironically, according to The Daily News, the firefighters who first responded to the scene are not being invited.  A city official told the newspaper that the amount of space available at the main ceremony forced the city to schedule a separate ceremony for these heroes on a later date.

"To have a separate service on another day has no significance, no meaning," David Jacobs, one of the firefighters at the scene, said. "For many of us, we gave a lot at that site."

Along with Jacobs, I believe it is a huge insult to reschedule their ceremony for a later date.  These firefighters, after all, were the true heroes of 9/11.  Thousands of them showed up within minutes and immediately put their own lives at risk to save others, and 343 of these brave men died during their rescue missions in the wake of the attack.

I understand that New York City has an obligation to include in the ceremony the families of all the victims of the attack, but I still see no reason that they should completely leave out all of the firefighters who fought during the attack with one mission, to save as many American lives as possible.  In past ceremonies, first responders have been honored, so it is shocking that they are suddenly no longer invited to this historic anniversary.  Well then again, maybe they can just show up, like they showed up ten years ago when the country needed them the most.