“Words are like eggs dropped from great heights; you can no more call them back than ignore the mess they leave when they fall.”
Jodi Picoult
There is a certain NFL cornerback that comes to mind when reading this quote. Even if you are not a football fan, chances are you know the rant I am talking about. The Seattle Seahawk’s DB Richard Sherman has single handedly taught this country that thirty seconds of free speech can effectively snuff out any deeds; good, bad, or indifferent that came before them. Now that’s a tough call to live with.
His actions are condemned as an arrogant tirade by many, and celebrated as a refreshing dose of passion by others. As for me, I’m not making commentary for or against Richard Sherman. In fact, in large part, what I have to say has nothing to do with the man. It has everything to do with looking at ourselves and being honest. We have all had our thirty seconds of free speech that ended up being a game changer. Few of us have had that 30 seconds in front of the world. Instead of looking so hard at Richard Sherman, we could all use his moment to help us look closer at ourselves. Truly, this guy from Seattle just gave all of us a gift. A flawless lesson on the fact that words once unleashed into the world, are like grains of salt let go into water. They are gone, baby, gone. Thanks for the reminder Richard.
Speaking of Richard, I went in search of a few of his old interviews – wanting to balance the man I heard on Sunday, with the man he was on Saturday. I have to say, I came away from my search with two thoughts. Either this guy just had the most unfortunate thirty second slip of his career in front of 50 million people – or, he just put his communications degree to work, and flawlessly whipped up a Denver Omelet. I guess we’ll find out on February 2.