If I Fall

I'll admit, I seem to have a Dixie Chicks theme going on this week.  I think I'll see if I can keep it going for a week straight.  Why?  Does "because I can" work as an excuse?

Much has been said and documented lately in regards to Lance Armstrong.  There is no opinion I can have without inciting fervent rebuttals.  What I will say about the case itself is that in a country where we wrote into our founding document that a man was innocent until proven guilty, we seem determined to go with the British approach of guilty until proven innocent.  Does no one else see the irony?  That is all I will say about the doping allegations, the thousand pages of USADA documents, and the response (though currently lack of) by the UCI.  My opinion is my own, and for this once, I will keep my own council.

What bothers me about this story is not everything mentioned above, but that some who were once die hard supporters, now not only abandon the man but the organization he came to stand for.  If Barry Bonds started a children's hospital for leukemia patients, would we all refuse to help?  Has the city of New Orleans banned Deuce McAllister or Will Smith for their suspensions?  No.  Every person is simply human.  Gods do not walk the earth (Various religions are simply waiting for one to come back and do so.).  If we fail and falter, we try to pick ourselves up, but sometimes we need a helping hand.  Why do we throw stones at glasses houses?  (I think that's in a Dixie Chick song too, it's also in the Bible.)  So while we rail on against what might or might not have happened, we forget what still remains, and what needs us the most.

My grandmother died of cancer.  My grandfather beat it.  My family supports LiveStrong and we always will.  I am more disgusted by those fans who have turned away from the organization than I am about what lies at the heart of the documents.  We are fickle creatures, and this simply goes to show that even when there is a fight worth fighting for, we let our tender feelings rise up and strangle the hope of something better.  No matter what you think of the man behind the organization, there was no one else like him, for better or worse.  How many athletes found organizations that reach millions?  Go on, I'll give you a day to get back to me on that one.  The opinions of many are blocking out the actions of a few.  To quote a Disney movie, "It doesn't matter, it's in the past."  Whether you agree with me or not, stop the vitriol to an organization that helps families like mine every day.  It belittles you far more than any amount of doping could belittle an athlete.  We are better than this.

BlytheLea L.E.