Fortune for the day – Eternity is a dimension of the here and now. – Joseph Campbell

My husband pointed out this artwork to me, recently featured in the Wall Street Journal. Hank Willis Thomas is a Brooklyn based artist, who has a big exhibition of his artworks, going on right now in Portland, Oregon. My husband said to me, “This picture reminds me of how you always say that our American football games and boxing matches, always remind you of the ancient gladiators, with all of the privileged onlookers, safely cheering in the stands. The gladiators get a sense of omnipotent glory, yet their bodies are being beaten to death, all for the entertainment of the fans.”

He is right. This picture depicts what I have been trying to convey. It is true that a picture paints a thousand words. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching a good football game, like many people. My husband played football through college. Two of my sons played Pop Warner football. All of my sons have attended a university with a glorious football tradition. Football is a huge part of the American culture. Yet it is brutal, and for many who play it, it seems to be their only ticket out of lives ridden in crime and in poverty, for themselves and for their families. However, the consequences of playing football, to the bodies of the players, is undeniably real and tragic. In 2017, neurosurgeons studied 111 deceased NFL players’ brains, with 110 of them showed the signs of CTE.

CTE is described this way on Wikipedia:

“Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries. Symptoms may include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. Symptoms typically do not begin until years after the injuries. CTE often gets worse over time and can result in dementia.”

My family is a sporty family. Every one of my four children played(s) at least one sport throughout their childhoods into high school. There are so many positive aspects for a child that comes from playing a sport. My children have learned how to take good care of their bodies with exercise and good nutrition, they have learned how to manage their time by having to balance homework and practices, they have gotten a hands-on perspective of teamwork, and they have experienced the humility of bench time. Still, as the aspects of technology and nutrition and medicine have grown substantially in the fields of health and sports, our bodies are almost taking on the strength of machines – machines that can be lethal to ourselves and to each other. The following is from a blog from a local medical clinic’s website:

“Sports Injuries Are Becoming More Common Among Our Youth

Over 30 million children and teenagers participate in organized sports in the United States. Although a number of precautions are typically taken to keep athletes safe during these activities, a worrying trend is emerging as sports injuries become increasingly common among children and teens. Statistics show that around 3.5 million children below the age of 14 are hurt annually while playing sports. This number accounts for 40% of all sports-related injuries, regardless of age group. Meanwhile, similar studies reveal that over two million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations affect American high school students each year.”

The injuries are not just coming in from the traditionally “rough sports.” This same article also states that since the year 2000, “the number of serious shoulder and elbow injuries among young baseball and softball players has increased fivefold.”

My middle son broke his shin playing competitive soccer in high school. His friend, on the same team, had to have two surgeries to correct a serious dislocation in his arm, that occurred during a game. I could rattle off a list of high school athletes (all contemporaries of my kids) who have had to have surgeries, due to playing a high school sport. I imagine that you could make a similar list, too. Yet, at the same time, I can’t think of one person, who I knew in high school, who had to have a sports-related surgery. My high school was a large, competitive high school in the Pittsburgh area – an area that worships its football culture.

I think that in a lot of ways, the sports industry has become big business, playing off of parents’ egos. I am not going to pretend that I was ever immune from this phenomenon. But here are the facts:

“Overall a little over 7% of high school athletes (about 1 in 14) went on to play a varsity sport in college and less than 2% of high school athletes (1 in 54) went on to play at NCAA Division I schools. The largest percentage of both male and female college athletes competed at NCAA Division III schools.” (NCAA org)

and this:

“Fewer than 2 percent of NCAA student–athletes go on to be professional athletes.”  (NCAA org)

Of course, I am looking at all of this retrospectively, with a little bit of chagrin. My daughter still plays high school tennis and she loves it. My husband and I love to watch her play, but we mostly want the sport to be a stress release for her. We do not want it to become a major cause of pressure and stress for her, either mentally or physically.

I am very curious as to what the history books are going to have to say about our day and age. Will our sports look brutal and barbaric? Will ego-based competition always just be a part of being a human, or will we evolve into something more unified? How will we evolve? Will our evolution be for the better or for the worse, and who can really judge what is better, until retrospection becomes a factor? I find all of this very interesting and mind-boggling, but this is one thing that I do know: I so very much appreciate artists like Hank Willis Thomas, who can put all of this confusing discourse, swirling all around in my brain, into one gorgeous piece of artwork that simply and beautifully, says it all.