Regarding One of My Own

One of my people - coaches, not the Dutch, in this case - has been criticized in the media recently. The issue in this instance was pitch count for a baseball player (to see the actual article in the Des Moines Register, click here). To be fair, this coach is a friend. And I am a coach. I am quite biased. I'm going to go ahead and write what I think anyway. Take it for what it's worth.

What I immediately notice from this article, this issue, and many other articles like it from the last couple of months and years about people I don't know is that the first instinct of most people is to doubt. Our gut reaction is to believe the worst in our coaches, not the best. The immediate assumption in any perceived "gray area" is that a coach made the wrong decision with wrong motives. Or that he/she is incompetent. The Register, who should know better, sought sound byte quotes (via email) from people who were not at the game and who are unfamiliar with this coach and this program. The only possible destination for that approach is an article full of criticism about the coach and his devotion to his players. This destination ended up on the front page of the Sunday Sports section.

When did we start assuming the worst in the people devoting the most time to our young people? For sure, there are some ignorant coaches out there. There are even some coaches who are bad people with bad motives. But a majority? Enough so that when any issue of controversy arises, the immediate verdict in the general public's heart, from a distance, sight unseen, is guilty?

This trend should concern not only coaches, who must mentally prepare for this; but also any parent who is hoping to have quality, caring, sacrificial, motivating coaches for their kids. The battle is wearying. I applaud all coaches willing to be great in the face of constant public doubt. I fear them to be a dying breed.

What I write here, though, is a trend not only in coaching, but in society as well. I recognize in myself the trend to assume the worst in people. It's equally damning when I assume the worst about my neighbor or my co-worker or the person in front of me in line at the store. Or even my enemy, the one who has proven time and time again that they are as bad as I assume them to be.

I'm a full believer in original sin and the total depravity of mankind in absence of a Savior. We are full of sin, all of us. We are capable of great evil, even on our best days. But we are not all bad, all the time. And certainly, if we seek patience from the rest of the world in understanding our own motives and actions, we can deliver the same by never declaring them guilty upon first glance.