The Right Decision for the World Cup

What could have been a more ethical decision to deal with the ethical dilemma after their best athlete had a red card. It was not what Trump did by calling the head of Fifa. That call forever stains the character of the American Team and the World Cup as well. What would have been the ethical thing for the team to do? We had the opportunity to have our Chariots of Fire Moment. It is a movie that tells the story of two friends running in the 1981 Olympics. Harold Abrahams’, a Jew running to stamp out antisemitism and Eric Liddell, a devout Christian who was raised by devout Christian parents who served in Scottish Missions.

The theme of the movie is a line from a William Blakes poem that contains the line “Bring me my chariots of fire.” The line captures the explosive speed of runners and their divine passion to run.

But Lindell discovers that his signature race will be held on a Sunday which was against his religion. He was under intense pressure to run anyway. His favorite race for these 1924 Paris Olympics in 1924, 100 meters race was where he had great odds to win. But he chose to adhere to his faith and did not run in that race. He ran in the 400 meters race which was not his specialty. He ran his heart out and not only won the race but set a world record with a time of 46.7 seconds.

That race is remembered for all time and was the basis of the Oscar winning movie, Chariots Of Fire. We have all suffered through bad calls by refs at the worse times, sometimes with seconds left on the clock. It is reality. There was another soccer player for another team who had the same thing happen to their top player with a red card but stayed out. We have an Olympic gymnast who suffered a similar fate. It happens.

In my opinion the right thing to do was for the team or player to say there is something more important than winning. It is doing the hard right thing. Trump’s non ethical life just underscored that winning is everything. It is more important than following the rules (laws).

What powerful message that would have been for an American to see that level of ethics. That is what the world would remember decades from now. Listen to the theme song for the movie. It will remind you that the hard right is better than the easy wrong, or that wisdom handed down that has stood the test of time. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

I will now watch the match!

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