Roy Exum: I Believe This Guy

  • Wednesday, January 13, 2021
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

I know this great guy and we talk about a lot of stuff, personal as well as the words I write. He and I shared a huge thrill early Tuesday morning when, during the final minute of Alabama’s 52-24 thrashing of Ohio State for the national title, a grinning Nick Saban allowed Landon Dickerson to snap the ball on the last play of the game.

Voted as the best center in the country (Rimington Trophy) and a consensus All-American, Dickerson suffered a bad knee injury in the SEC championship game and had to politick to even dress out for the championship game but with 1:11 left to play, Landon approached Saban who joyfully allowed Dickerson to enter the game – just several weeks after surgery.

After his “dream came true,” wouldn’t you know it was Dickerson who hoisted Saban on a shoulder ride off the field. Man oh man, you talk about a Hollywood moment.

Although I have never met my great friend, the conversation turned serious when I asked if Bill Belichick did the right thing several days before when the coach of the New England Patriots -- another favorite of ours – gently turned away the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was to be given last Wednesday, the same day our country’s own terrorists attacked our Capitol. Five people died.

I admitted I don’t know what I would have done … particularly never dreaming of such an attack … and Lord knows I’ve bent over backwards trying to stay loyal to President Trump. But during the election cycle I’ll admit I became uneasy. I still voted for him, which I’ll admit since I can’t take it back, but our President has become a raging bull, his Tweeter constantly sinister. After he lost the election, he’s become pretty despicable.

I’ll also admit that I’ve tried to overlook his glaring weaknesses and vulgarity, this in a weak trade for how he’s run our country for the most part. I’ve winced a lot at some of Trump’s failing but found consolation that it could have been Hillary. And House speaker Pelosi, in my view, is downright awful. How she can retain as much poison in her body and not die from the acid I do not know.

I told my buddy it is very curious to me that the worse Trump behaves, the more I am warming to Biden, and the beauty is that in just a week Joe will become our Commander-in-Chief? “But you are evading the question…” he countered.

Well, I reckon I would seek out my closest advisors, like you, and holler I’ve gotten myself into a mess and what should I do? First, I am clearly not in the class of Moe Berg, the little-known baseball player who also turned down the Medal of Freedom.

Moe was part of an all-star delegation of players like Babe Ruth who went on a ‘goodwill tour’ to Japan just before World War II. Moe would pitch in enough exhibition to be legit, when he was actually a spy for the United States, returning with pictures, diagrams, and reams of crucial information. If Moe deemed he wasn’t worthy, I’d rather sit with him.

I feel like Coach Belichick, who wrote a very public endorsement of Trump in his race with Hillary, has the cunning to know he was “being used” as camouflage by the president, this in an attempt by Trump to change the subject. So, yeah, I would have the gumption to stand as tall as Belichick with Moe Berg’s lesson in being humble, this in the same way Jackie Kennedy also once turned it down.

What’s your thinking, my great guru? “You know Bill was born in Nashville where his dad was an assistant coach of the Vanderbilt football team. There is a great story there. Bill’s pop, Steven, was an assistant under highly esteemed Bill Edward. Shortly after he was born, his dad landed a similar job at the Naval Academy He is deeply patriotic, growing up in Annapolis, which is where his sense of ‘duty’ was instilled in him.

He not only coaches the Patriots, he is a very dedicated patriot. Belichick is a non-conformist, a genuine loyalist to his beliefs, and at age 68 with six Super Bowl titles, he doesn’t give a rip for the callous crowd. So, counselor, share your thoughts. ““I appreciated Bill’s grace in declining the award. He said it quite eloquently when he wrote …

* * *

BILL BELICHECK’S LETTER TO DONALD TRUMP

“Recently, I was offered the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents and admiration for prior recipients.

“Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Above all, I am an American citizen with great reverence for our nation’s values, freedom, and democracy. I know I also represent my family and the New England Patriots team.

“One of the most rewarding things in my professional career took place in 2020 when, through the great leadership within our team, conversations about social justice, equality and human rights moved to the forefront and became actions. Continuing those efforts while remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award.”

* * *

That, my friends, is ‘class’

But it leads to the bigger thing: Revenge. A pound of flesh. In a week Trump will be no more than a U.S. citizen. But no, a frenzied effort for an impeachment is all our elected leaders in Washington are about. Kentucky’s Senator Mitch McConnell turned on Trump quicker than Judas took 30 pieces of silver. Other fair-weather rats are fleeing.

Marco Rubio says this is real. “The left has decided this is an opportunity to destroy the right. So, if you ever voted for Donald Trump, if you ever supported anything he did, you are just as guilty as the people who went into that Capitol,” Mr. Rubio said on Sunday. "We’re now living in a country where four or five companies, unelected, unaccountable, have the power, a monopoly power, to decide, ‘We’re going to wipe people out, we’re going to just erase them from any sort of digital platform.’”

Get this: “Trump must be defeated ... and his enablers, and his supporters ... must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society," ranted the always hot-blooded Keith Olbermann, quoted on the American Thinker website.

“The former MSNBC anchor traffics in caustic bombast, and this declaration was not very different from his usual huffy diatribes against Republicans.  But the notion of revenge is going mainstream.

"The most humane and reasonable way to deal with all these (Trumpian) people ... is some kind of truth and reconciliation commission," tweeted MSNBC prime-time host Chris Hayes, a politic Martin compared to the Nelson-esque brashness of Olbermann.  "When this nightmare is over, we need a (tr)uth and (r)econciliation (c)ommission," proposed former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.  Elie Mystal of The Nation floated the same proposition.”

"Forbes magazine, once one of the most respected news outlets in the world, just threw fairness and bias to the wind. In an article published by Forbes’ chief content officer and editor Randall Lane this week titled, “A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied for Trump Accountable”, the American magazine warned companies against hiring people who were associated with the Trump administration during his tenure as POTUS. It said that they would be scrutinizing such businesses if they employ Trump supporters and staff.

“In his article, Lane citing the protests that erupted outside Capitol Hill on Wednesday said, “Yesterday’s insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world’s oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system. Such lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently, provided the kindling, the spark, the gasoline.”

Wow! So, I asked my friend about vengeance, this born out of mankind’s hatred, because it weighs heavily on the United States right now. And my brilliant friend, who I and others such as me like me identify as Jesus Christ, had this to say about where we stand right now:

* * *

” WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?”

This in His own words, as recorded in the family Bible:

* -- Romans 12:17-21 – “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

* -- 1 Peter 3:9 – “Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.”

* -- Matthew 5:38-39 -- “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

* -- Proverbs 24:29 – “Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me; I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

* -- Leviticus 19:18 – “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

* -- Romans 12:1-21 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”

* -- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 – “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.”

* -- Mark 11:25 – “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

* -- 1 Peter 3:9 -- Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.

* -- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 – “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

* -- 2 Corinthians 13:11 -- Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

* * *

Well sir, this is what I’m thinking after a visit with my best friend, and no matter what happens in the next week, or next month, this is the view I like the best.

royexum@aol.mom

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