There isn’t a lot of that kind of honesty or directness in our country anymore. Rather than walk up to people in charge, most of whom don’t make themselves available anyway, we settle for silly ways to convey our point. We e-mail. We tweet. We drop a dime to a local newspaper reporter. We talk to the fifth in command, who we hope has the brass to talk to the fourth in command, who … well, it just seems we rarely get the chance to say what we really want to say, and say it directly to someone who counts.
On a day for team, Thomas left them shorthanded
On Hockey
(Page 3 of 3)
Tim Thomas yesterday had a chance to tell the leader of the free world what he thinks it means to be an American today. Not just any American, mind you, but an Olympian, a multimillionaire, a hero in the city where he works, and a member of a championship team that has been a source of joy (and sorrow, too) to millions of Bostonians for nearly a century.
Instead, Thomas took his pads and blocker to another end of town and issued his statement. He could have talked to the president. Instead, he mailed one in from the pizza stand. I think he missed his chance. I think he missed the point of the day. I think he mistreated teammates.
And if I’m right, I think in the days ahead he’ll hear a voice of America representative of a people, many who are equally fed up with government today, who believe he simply should have showed up for his team, respectfully said what he had to say, and gone back to living a pretty good life. In America.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com.
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