A recent news article has emerged in the world of sports concerning professional player Adam "Pacman" Jones who assaulted another player from a different team by banging his head against a helmet. Currently, Jones is facing a $35,000 fine. The article comes a few weeks after another of high school players targeting a referee who they felt made a bad call. Each act committed by these players could have repercussions resulting from serious injury to those they assaulted and a choice that could effect the rest of their lives...maybe. Jones and the team will appeal the fine he has received and it is quite possible the young men who targeted the ref will have their actions chalked up to a "dumb teenage decision" with lesser consequences than they should receive. What does this mean for parents, youth ministry, athletics in school, and in the professional (I almost use this word lightly) world?
1. Athletes (People in general) must be held accountable for their actions
Most should gather that a $35,000 fine for Jones' actions is nothing compared to the amount of money he makes. Essentially the consequence does not match the behavior of the man. Even more, he will appeal the consequence given to him by the league instead of owning to the decision he made. I think that our teenagers see this and believe they too can "fight the system" to have lesser consequences. Again, this may happen anyway as the standard we as a culture hold teens is lessened over time. I believe the Jones incident reveals a deeper issue of culture too. People in general do not want to be held accountable for their actions and find ways to shift blame to an outside source. Why? It's a part of our make up. Genesis 3 reveals our desire to not take responsibility as Adam blames his wife, she blames the serpent, and then they indirectly blame God. Scripture calls us to more though. We see that we should recognize our wrongdoing, seek the one offended, and make amends.
As parents, ministers, school employees, etc. we must help teens learn accountability for their actions. We must help them learn that it is harder and much more noble to admit failure or wrongdoing, own it, and reconcile the mistake as best can be done. If we do not, we create privileged youth who feel they are above any standard set for them. Perhaps that is the case, they know of a higher standard and actually desire to be held to it, but adults do not actually provide that for them. In many cases we are not able to hold a standard necessary to teach youth about life because the culture in general does not accept it. We must begin somewhere though. A good place is through athletic programs, our ministries, and in the home.
2. Leadership is strong, but to what end?
Regardless of how professional players feel about being leaders and looked up to by younger athletes, the fact remains they are leaders. Their actions on and off the playing field or court teaches younger people. There is an identity associated with being an athlete and thus, a way to live/act under said identity. So, when NFL players can abuse women/children, possibly cheat, and then act violently toward others; our youth will follow suit in some way. Therefore, we see strong leadership coming from our professional players, however, the kind of leadership we see is not positive. Now, I don't want to generalize all professional athletes as many are doing great things with their notoriety and exemplify positive leadership. But, as a culture we must do something to change the leadership that is negatively effecting our young men and women.
As adults we are leaders to our teenagers in some manner. The question is what kind of leader. When mistakes are made do we allow them to be teachable moments for us and for youth? Are we imparting quality character in addition to skills that correlate with what we lead them in? Our answers should tell us a lot about who we are as adult leaders. Even more, it should help us see who we need to be as leaders for the sake of those we lead. Leadership is more than imparting a skill or wisdom to younger people. It is imparting a way of life.
