Over the years, as I’ve driven my granddaughter to and from practices, I have heard the word “Mandatory” used ad nauseam. I always wondered just how in the heck a school or a coach or a teacher could demand a student show up at something, after regular school hours, and proclaim it to be “mandatory”. Who appointed them as king or queen.
The word and the decree have always bothered me, but I said nothing because I didn’t want to get my charge in trouble from the royalty that was issuing the decree. Instead, we got up at all hours of the night, drove endless miles, showed up at practices during times that should have been spent with family, and on and on and on. Each time, I truly wanted to tell the decree issuer-er what I thought of his/her decree but held back for the reason stated above.
Another group that has been diligent in issuing ‘mandatory’ orders is employers during the recent plan-demic…Yep! Mandatory. Take the jab or lose your job. One of my sons, a registered nurse with a master’s degree, said, “No!” and changed hospitals where the edict was not issued. The other, after 20 years with his company, the last ten or so working from home, was ordered to take it in the event he had to ‘come into the office for something’. He surrendered, saying, “I’m not going to throw away 20 years.” I understood. He was laid off from that company in January, a year after the decree, as an ‘excess employee’…never mind he was well paid after 20 years of being on the job. So much for loyalty. I guess it isn’t mandatory that the company be loyal to him.
Even so, the mandatory edict had been issued and he surrendered to it, following company lines. Because he took the jab, his wife did so as well, saying, “If he has to then, I’m going to do it as well.” It was a show of solidarity on her part. In my heart, I understand she was thinking if something happened to him, she wanted it to happen to her as well. I understand and appreciate that, knowing full well things don’t usually happen that way.
We live in the south. Sometimes we have really hot summers. When we know we are going to have a particularly hot day or week, we try to get all out outdoor work done early so we don’t cause anyone, including ourselves, to have a heat related medical issue. Makes sense, doesn’t it.
Apparently, it doesn’t make sense to football coaches. We have a nice young man—15 years old—that mows our lawn and has done so for a couple of years. He is diligent, polite and consistent…that is until his coach tells him it is mandatory that he show up for a mandatory football practice at such and such a time in the morning. Mandatory – there is that word again.
I can relate to the coach wanting them to get the practice done in the morning, before the heat sets in, but there are things to be considered. It is June/July. It is hot. Football doesn’t even start until the fall so why is it the coach makes a mandatory football practice in June/July? Doesn’t make much sense to me. It seems August would be plenty of time to start practice but apparently the coach didn’t think so.
The mandatory football practice puts the young man in our yard in the heat of the day which we don’t really like. We are concerned for his health and truly do not want him mowing our yard in the heat which could cause him to have a heat induced medical episode. He is diligent though, and tells us he will be fine, he is used to it.
You might say, “Mow your own yard.” That’s true, we could do that. Or we could hire someone else to do it. However, we really like this young man and want to keep him…by the same token we want to keep him healthy. So, what do we do? We surrender to the demands of the football coach and let the young man come mow when he can and we pray he is well hydrated and will tell us if he needs to stop.
I guess that is my gripe for now – sometimes it is mandatory that I vent!
Heartland Heartbeat 