Dinner was terrific (as were the leftovers-as-breakfast this morning) and the movie was fun, and exciting and a little romantic and renewed my slight crush on Tobey Maguire. I swear if they ever put him and Joaquin Phoenix in a movie together (and they could - they could be brothers, right?) I'd have a stroke right there in the theatre. Oddly, I honestly think my husband is much better looking than either one of them. But there's something about them that ...mmm...

Anyway....

I've spent all morning (ahem - that would be all morning when I wasn't hard at work) seeking information on a local-ish news story I heard yesterday. (that would be the "seek" portion of my Olympic training)

Can't find anything, so I'll just tell you what I remember, and then force you to sit and read my interpretation of what this means for our society. (oh sure, you could go to another webpage, but that would imply close-minded-ness on your part and you don't want that, now, do you?)

It seems that Gregory Powell was cleared of charges that he struck a police officer in Ocean City MD. Who is Gregory Powell, you ask? Good question. He's now an athlete (football, I believe) at the University of Maryland, and was apparantly participating in some "Senior Week" activities at Ocean City last spring (or whenever this took place).

As is often the case, some drinking was involved, and police came over. There was a question as to whether or not the police had legally entered the building, but in the insuing arguement Gregory Powell allegedly struck one of the officers.

The judge for the case said he believed Powell was "Guilty as sin."

And then he let him go.

Because apparantly now being an athlete is more important than being a cop. It's more important that this person be allowed to play a game, than it is for that cop to believe the system will support him in his attempts to keep us all safe, sometimes at the risk of his own life.

I'm disgusted.

I read somewhere that the reason we value athletes so much is that physical skills lead to survival in prehistoric humans, whereas seldom did one have to solve an algebraic equation while starting a fire in the cave.

But I would hope that our society had progressed beyond such primative, gut reactions. I would hope that we would realize that particularly in this day and age where computers do everything for us - too much for us - that we are not surviving on our physical aptitude, but mental. Hell, take a walk down any street and you'll see the physical is a bit lacking. Unfortunately, because it's so rarely stressed as important, the mental is lacking too. As is respect, as in "DON"T HIT THE COP WHO"S DOING HIS JOB TRYING TO KEEP YOU FROM KILLING YOURSELF"

I just want to scream sometimes.