What a wonderful time of year for Shibumi to return......and I hope it is not just for a brief moment in time....I too have missed his wisdom....and the brief discussions we had during pre-merger (NECSA & CSC) years.....he will probably remember my somewhat eager desires to see that merger occur....and all the ranting I put forward.....but it did happen and now look where we are today.....? I want to think that we are better off...but reading some of the posts it appears that the ego-driven, 'I-am-better-than-you-are-and-I-want-you-to-know-it' mentality in state soccer has grown to new heights......As I have little knowledge, at this time, as to where this comes from and why it is the way it is..I will refrain from appearing more knowledgeable than I suspect that I wanta be........but after some study and contemplation and after consulting with the Trustees of my Red Neck League...I will come back to the forum hopefully, at least appearing to be more knowledgeable than at the present.....I do want to comment and agree on one pont that Shibumi made -
"Regarding the well-written post from Happy Daddy - I think you hit at the heart of a core issue that I continue to see as a problem not only in terms of youth club soccer, but in terms of many of the ills of the world at large. You make the case that recruiting is good if done by someone with good motivations and bad if done by someone with bad motivations. Difficult to argue. And yet by fundamentally believing that the motivations of "others" are bad and that "our" motivations are good - and thus judging the same behavior differently - we get at the heart of a lot of distrust and even hatred in the world."
It is quite profound this analogy you made of youth soccer ('the beautiful game', the fun, challenging game with its own social environment, the world's game for all peoples, the game that so many love to hate).....that analogy to the ills of the world at large.......and the perceptions of the motivations within each of us when we talk or don't talk to someone, when we relate or don't relate with someone....we create our own distrust and hatred of each other to satisfy our own respective motivations. I thank you for that analogy and again, that wisdom.
In that regard, I will share with you one of my favorite quotations -
'Men build too many walls and not enough bridges.' - Isaac Newton