Zero Tolerance… One Size Fits All
Re: Duxbury High School Football Coach Dave Maimaron Fired After Players Used Anti-Semitic Play Calls
Why is life so “Zero Tolerance” these days ??? Why is life “One Strike and You’re Out” these days ??? What ever happened to…
- Each case decided on its own individual merits.
- Learn from your mistakes, and move forward a better person.
- Forgiveness and Rehabilitation.
- Probationary oversight, enlightenment and improved behavior.
I certainly don’t agree with what the Coach did, nor do I justify it in any way. What the Coach did was wrong, period. He trivialized the sacred, period. The Coach should have been taking his hat off, and taking a knee at the mere mention of the word “Holocaust,” rather than trivializing those sweet, innocent victims of “man’s inhumanity to man”… by using the term to call football plays.
I am not saying the Coach should not have been fired. I just don’t know enough about the case. The Coach is certainly not a victim, except of his own ignorance… the same ignorance you can find in much of the coaching ranks across America in 2021. They are Football Coaches, involved in the playing of kid games, and, hopefully, in the building of character in their athletes, and taking up where the parents left off (or let down). But, Coaches (for the most part) are just Coaches… not Rhodes Scholars, nor even informed citizens. Many Coaches are just not informed in the ways of the world or politics. As sportscaster, Curt Gowdy, might say about what guides Coaches… “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” As I would say about them… “the thrill of victory and the bliss of ignorance.”
But, I do fear that America (and, perhaps the world) is trading in its intellectual balance and deliberation for a quick, emotional response that short circuits deliberation. I am not as concerned with the Coach as I am concerned with America’s knee jerk, reactionary, “zero tolerance,” “one size fits all” philosophy that says whenever a mistake is made… “You’re fired !!!”
As we Trial Lawyers use to say… “A good Judge is quick to grasp, but slow to decide.” It appears to me that in today’s world, “deliberative wisdom” takes a backseat to knee jerk reactions that bypass “deliberation.” And, in that… we adopt the very ignorance of the Coach we now chastise.
Fred Lauck
TRIAL LAWYER
http://www.fredlauck.com
SuperLawyer
Thursday, March 25, 2021
