As
the entire galaxy knows, I’ve been a Flyer fan for forty-plus years. I watched Kate
Smith sing “God Bless America” live at their home games during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
I thought it was hilarious that this woman, this unblemished model of manners
and conservative ideals, was a good luck charm for the Broad Street Bullies. By
then she was an icon, a legend lauded—even decorated—for her work raising funds
to aid the US war effort during WWII. She was up there on the pedestal with
motherhood and apple pie, representing America in all her fine, upstanding,
life-liberty-and-justice-for-all glory. Up until the last time the team made
the playoffs, she was posthumously present at home games, belting out a duet
with current anthem singer, Lauren Hart, that always brought down the house.
And
now, she’s gone. Her video archived, her reputation besmirched, her statue
removed from outside the arena. All because some unknown someone wormed their
way as far back as 1931 to discredit her. Yup, eighty-nine years ago, Miss Kate
Smith recorded a song that has either offended or might offend someone in 2019.
And now her legacy means nothing. Her good deeds, her sterling reputation, her
place in Flyers history—poof! Null
and void, nixed, erased, eradicated, negated, meaningless.
I’m
not saying it would be okay for the same song to be recorded today. It probably
wouldn’t. (I say ‘probably’ because many of the lyrics recorded these days are
offensive to the point of obscene, and I’m fairly open-minded.)We’re supposedly
more enlightened in 2019 than we were in 1931, though, honestly, I’m not so
sure. If we can’t keep a little perspective when considering our history, then
we haven’t progressed much at all. If the Flyers organization can’t stand by
their icon for the good things she accomplished but will delete her on the mewl
of a mistake that no one at the time
would even have called a mistake, then we’re all screwed. We all deserve—or
will deserve—banishment from the annals of mankind because every one of us at
some time in our lives either did or will do something ignorant as judged by
another’s set of rules.
Can
we please focus on the offences being perpetrated today? Can we please
acknowledge that yes, historic wrongs must be righted, yet all things must also
be put into correct context? Can we please forgive and move on without
destroying a legacy of good works? Can we please respect the families of those
we decry as sinners of the worst sort simply because of something they did in a
time when it was okay to do it? Even if it’s not okay now, forgiveness is the
first step to reconciling the races. You don’t move forward by erasing the
past. You accept it and pledge not to repeat it.
A lot
of other Flyer fans are so outraged they say they’re not fans anymore. They’ll
be cheering for Boston or Washington or Pittsburgh next season. Since these
folks were obviously looking for a reason to switch team allegiance, it seems they
found it.
As
for me ... I shall retire to Bedlam.
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