Overcoming and Bridging Divide's

Image Credit: Handshake via Flickr cc

     So last Thursday, I had a rough time of it at work. A customer came in with a laptop that had been purchased two years ago and didn’t seem to know how to operate it – pretty much asking us for a free tutorial on the spot. An external mouse that was purchased back then was unopened, and when we opened it to use with the device, we discovered that the batteries were leaking; the person further wanted a printer and expressed shock and horror at the idea that it – and all other printers – had to be installed with software from a CD or from the manufacturer’s website. Then there was the issue of the price and why it was more expensive relative to another store. This went on and on for like 2-3 hours, but I managed to go on my lunch break as a manager continued dealing with the customer.

     At lunch, I couldn’t get that rough experience out of my head – doing all I could to maintain my patience with a person who on one level was not technically savvy, but on another level seemed unable or unwilling to grasp what we were saying.

     So it was a ray of sunshine to spend some of my break time reading a fascinating and heart-warming story concerning a young man named Ronan Foley from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, who has faced adversity in the form of autism and learning disabilities, but was noticed for having stellar swimming abilities by a PE coach. Since that time, he became a member of the Clyde Valley Beavers Swimming Club, which provides an outlet for kids with disabilities like Ronan to engage in social activities and gain confidence in and amongst themselves while overcoming obstacles and enjoying the swimming that they love.

     After going through several processes, Ronan was selected to represent Scotland West at the Special Olympics National Summer Games in August 2017. This was good news indeed, but it costs £500 to send participants to the event, and Ronan – like so many others – needed to raise that money in order to make his Special Olympics dreams come true.

     In stepped members of the County Flute Band, who within 24 hours of Ronan and his mother Katie receiving notice of Ronan’s selection, turned up at their house to offer to sponsor Ronan and raise money on his behalf for the Games. This was good enough in and of itself, but even more so because the Flute Band is associated with the Protestant Orange Order and practices at the Orange Halls in the town, while Ronan is Catholic and a supporter of Celtic FC – whose archrivals are the (mainly) Protestant-backed Rangers.

     For this reason, Ronan’s mother Katie said that they were “absolutely delighted and overwhelmed” with the sponsorship offer from the Flute Band – noting that £500 is a substantial amount of money – and added that Ronan’s religion and choice of football (soccer) team did not matter to the members of the band, who presented her with £100 after their usual band practice.

     A dinner dance with entertainment will be held by the band in order to raise the bulk of the money, and for their part, they said doing this was a “no-brainer” because they all know Ronan as a fellow neighbor in the council estate – a “good laddie [who] gets on with everyone.” Band spokesman Jim Scott further noted that at the end of the day, it was about helping a local boy in the community, and in this spirit, the band wished to have Ronan at the Orange Halls for the presentation of more money while he wore his Celtic shirt and they wore their uniforms in support of a good cause in the hope he “comes back from the Games with medals” and they can say had a helpful role in it.

     For her part, Katie has said that she will write a letter to the leaders of the Orange Order to thank them – saying that it is “only right and proper that the Orange Order know what their members here have done” to help her son.

     Indeed, reading this story just took away the nasty thoughts I was having regarding that customer at the store, and made me feel positive about humanity and humanity’s ability to overcome certain hurdles. For Ronan, it was about the obstacle of overcoming his disabilities to find himself in a position to participate in a high level of athletic competition, thanks to his hard work and perseverance combined with the support he has had from his family, friends, teachers, coaches, and the wider community.

     This leads to the greater significance of the story: that an band associated with the Orange Order would sponsor a Catholic and Celtic supporter in his journey to the Special Olympics and provide much-need financial assistance – including for athletic supplies, gear and apparel, travel costs, hotel fees, and a host of other expenditures that will be required for him all the way.

     It shows how far people have come on both sides of the divide as sectarianism has lessened and barriers between communities have been broken down. The picture of Ronan together with the Flute Band members sends a powerful message that regardless of your religion or where you come from, at the end of the day, we are all human beings and therefore worthy of support from fellow humans. Above all, the bad baggage and legacies of the past need not get in the way of being a good neighbor.

     We need more positive and uplifting stories such as this to hold up as a model for communities with diverse populations to work together for good causes that can provide the path to greater understanding and cohesion over the long-term. This is true throughout the United Kingdom, but especially in parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland, where religious, ethnic, and cultural divisions are deeply-rooted and need to be overcome in order for everyone to move forward together in peace (with good-natured banter) and prosperity.

     Indeed, if the United Kingdom is to survive, such old divides must be bridged so that the Union may have more allies on its side, and so that the UK - already a great country - can be greater still by living up to its ideals of being a multicultural and inclusive society.

     For now, I tip my cap to Ronan Foley by wishing him all the best success at the Special Olympics and his future endeavors, as well as to the County Flute Band for stepping up to the plate. Here’s to Ronan making his community – all of his community – proud and happy.

Happy Georgia Day!

State Flag of Georgia. Image Credit: Xrmap (Public Domain)

     On this day in 1733, the U.S. State of Georgia was established as a British colony under a royal charter issued by King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, in whose honor the colony and state are named.

     Georgia was founded by General James Edward Oglethorpe, who had arrived with a group of British settlers on the same day. They made peaceful contact with the Yamacraw Indian tribe under its chief, Tomochichi, with whom Oglethorpe worked to secure land for the establishment of Georgia and its first city and capital, Savannah.

Georgia State Capitol Building which houses the Georgia General Assemby in Atlantia. Image Credit: Ken Lund via Wikimedia Commons cc

      It was established under the royal charter for two reasons: to provide an alternative route for Britons who had landed in debtors prison - which was the brain child of Oglethorpe as a Member of Parliament and philanthropist- as well as to create a "buffer" colony to protect the other southern provinces, such as South Carolina from the Spanish in Florida. The philanthropic aims of Oglethorpe and his associates were expressed in the Georgia's original motto: non sibi sed aliis, a Latin phrase which means, "Not for themselves, but for others."

The Avenue of Oaks on St. Simon's Island. Image Credit: Bubba73 (Jud McCranie) via Wikimedia Commons cc

     Originally governed by a board of trustees, Georgia outlawed slavery in part because Oglethorpe was against the practice and wanted the colony to prosper from the efforts of free men, and for this reason, Georgia stood apart from the other colonies in North America. However, with the booming slave-based agricultural trade in South Carolina, the anti-slave laws were repealed, and Georgia took on the character and economy of its neighbors. It became a Royal colony under the direct authority of the Crown in 1752.

     Georgia was the last of the thirteen British North American colonies that had been established along the Eastern Seaboard. Along with the other colonies, it declared independence in 1776, and became the fourth state to ratify the U.S. Constitution. It seceded from the Union in 1861 to become part of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and was the last state to be re-admitted nearly ten years later.

View of Downtown Atlanta. Image Credit: Arashboz via Wikimedia Commons cc (Public Domain)

     Today, Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, and its current motto is Wisdom, Justice, Moderation. It is the 24th largest state in the Union by area (the largest east of the Mississippi River), as well as the eighth most populated, and its capital and largest city is Atlanta. It is also geographically diverse - from containing the Blue Ridge Mountains in the northern part of the state (which is part of the vast Appalachian Mountain chain), to the Piedmont plateau in the central area, and finally the flat coastal plains along the Atlantic Ocean.

     Notable Georgians include Martin Luther King, Jr. (civil rights leader), Jimmy Carter (39th President of the United States), Jackie Robinson (baseball player), Samantha Power (UN Ambassador), Ted Turner (media magnate), Clarence Thomas (Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court), Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the Girl Scouts), writers Alice Walker and Flannery O'Connor, and musicians such as Johnny Mercer, Ray Charles, and Jason Aldeen.

River Street in Savannah - Georgia's first city. Image Credit: Aude via Wikimedia Commons cc

     Georgia is also home to several leading institutions of higher learning in the States - including the University of Georgia (UGA), the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Emory University. It counts tourism, media, agriculture, logistics, and manufacturing among its industries, and is also home to the headquarters of fifteen Fortune 500 companies, including Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola, and Home Depot.

     Georgia also plays host to the global headquarters of the Cable News Network (CNN) and the world's busiest airport - Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. In addition, the former state capital city (and my hometown) of Savannah is the fourth-busiest and fastest-growing cargo container port in the United States, behind Long Beach and Los Angeles in California and New York/New Jersey.

A large container ship entering the Port of Savannah. Image Credit: US Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District via Flickr cc

      In 2015, it ranked tenth in the nation among state economies with a gross state product (GSP) of $493.4 billion and if it were a stand-alone country, Georgia would be the 28th largest economy in the world.

     With regard to its relation to the United Kingdom, there's a British consulate located in Atlanta which serves Georgia and the neighboring states of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and North and South Carolina. Furthermore, two Georgia cities are officially "twinned" with two UK cities as part of Sister Cities International Alliances: Atlanta with Newcastle-upon-Tyne and LaGrange with Craigavon, County Armagh.

     And that is but a brief overview of my home state of Georgia on it's 283rd birthday!

BBC Super Bowl and a British NFL Team (?)

NFL signs gracing Regent Street in London in 2013. Image Credit: Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons cc

     When one thinks of something that is uniquely American, there a few others that spring to mind aside from the sport of, well…American football. Of course, our football was developed from rugby and football (a.k.a., soccer) as it is known throughout most of the world, but it is nonetheless something which we have made and perfected as our own.

     Perhaps even more so, we have developed and perfected the spectacle that is the very pinnacle of that game: the Super Bowl. It has now become an annual American institution that is firmly ingrained into our society and culture – so much so, that one may be mistaken to believe that the Supreme Court would rule it to be unconstitutional if the game was not played. When it is, well over 110 million of us are tuned in to our television sets – and perhaps many more on radio and the Internet – to listen to home-based broadcasters and commentators giving calling the plays and giving their take on the game in action.

     This year for Super Bowl 50, as the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos took to the field of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, I decided to do things a little differently and listened to the coverage delivered by the BBC while watching the television broadcast on CBS.

     As a person who takes a keen interest in the United Kingdom and all things British, I was somewhat anticipating to see what a British broadcast of such a thoroughly American sports event wound sound like. In fact, the three-man team for Beeb featured only one Brit – Darren Flecther, who was the main play-by-play commentator. For color commentary, he was joined by Canadian sports radio host Greg Brady and former NFL linebacker Rocky Boiman, who played for the Indianapolis Colts when they won Super Bowl XLI in 2007.

     So with a Brit, Canadian, and American fronting the coverage for BBC 5 Live, I turned my television volume down and the radio team took over from the on-screen all-American commentators. The experience of listening to the broadcast was quite engaging as the three men did a very good job of keeping me and the rest of the audience informed of what was going on.

     Darren Fletcher certainly seemed to be well-informed about the game, the rules, the teams, the players, and generally just about everything you would expect any American football broadcaster to know for purposes of covering the Super Bowl. It was a bit interesting to see this knowledge on display from a person hailing from a country which revels in the other sort of football, though to be fair, Fletcher did mention that he had covered previous Super Bowls, and so in that sense, it is not surprising that he is well-versed in our football – more so than I can admit of myself! For my part, it was fascinating to listen to a person with a British accent calling the game as it was played, and doing so in that was very British in an American setting. One thing I found particularly interesting was how he enunciated a hard “t” in the name of Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton in a way that could be described as right and proper, as opposed to many of us in the States who would pronounce Newton with a light or nonexistent “t”.

     He was very much into the game, as were his colleagues, Greg Brady and Rocky Boiman, who helped to provide statistics, expert analysis, and light humor and anecdotes. It was during this broadcast that I could discern a difference between the more sophisticated Canadian accent of Brady contrasted to the grittier American accent of Boiman. At times, it was like a game to figure out which man was speaking, but it became clearer – I believe – towards the end.

     During the broadcast, there was surprise voice which belonged to Martin O’Neill MBE, the manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team. O’Neill, who recently led the ROI to Euro 2016, had brought his whole squad to the big game as treat, and was invited to the broadcast booth to give his commentary on the proceedings in his very distinct Irish accent. He was not as knowledgeable as everyone else around him, but was otherwise engaging during his brief spell in the studio. O’Neill compared Cam Newton to his assistant manager Roy Keane and commented on how American football featured changes in momentum for one team or the other that is not seen in other sports.

San Francisco 49ers vs. the Denver Broncos in London, 2010. Image Credit: Thomas via Flickr cc

     Indeed, the discussions that took place sometimes focused on the differences between football here and football everywhere else, and how perhaps lessons shared between both. For example, they discussed how American football uses the draft process which allows poorly performing teams to select the best players coming out of American colleges and universities, so as to balance out the playing field and give those lower performing squads a fair chance to improve themselves, and how this is in contrast to the European system of promotion and relegation, which promotes better performing teams to higher divisions within a league and relegates the poorer performing ones to lower divisions.

     There were also discussions about why superior offenses tend to win games for teams in the regular season, but defenses win during the play-offs and the Super Bowl in general. Indeed, for this game, the discussion was particularly apt because neither team well particularly well offensively. Cam Newton of the Panthers – in his fifth season in the NFL – found himself effectively neutralized by the fast defense of the Denver Broncos, while 39 year old Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning battled age and injuries to do just enough to get his team over the finish line, especially in the fourth quarter when they put the game away in the final minutes to make the score 24-10.

     Perhaps because of the defensive struggle between the two teams, it was a very dramatic game with – as Martin O’Neill observed – multiple momentum shifts where one team would find itself on a roll, only to be stymied by its own poor offensive play and/or solid defense from the other team.

     At any rate, it was an exciting game to watch and I felt that the BBC gave proper justice in its coverage of this event, which at least partly gave a British take on this great event and sport. As the great British poet Robert Burns said: “O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!”

     One thing that was unusual was the lack of commercials during time-outs, and if the Super Bowl is known or anything aside from football, it is the commercials – with some people saying they only watch the game for the advertisements. However, according to Sarah Swanson, the NFL's head of marketing in UK, “advertising has never been part of the Super Bowl experience in the rest of the world”, and the BBC, which has exclusive rights to air the big game in the UK, decided to fill the advertising time by having the commentators and experts explain to the home audience what they are watching on TV or listening to on radio.

     For me, this was a bit refreshing because I do like the commentary, and some ads are cringeworthy and overhyped. For the audiences in Britain however, the actual goal as reported by the Huffington Post was to convert “casual (if somewhat confused) U.K. spectators into loyal NFL fans.”

     On this point, it must be said that the NFL already has a large British fan base, and in recent years, more NFL games have been played in London as the league expands its International Series and demand for more games grows. In the upcoming 2016 season, three games will be played in London – two at Wembley and one at Twickenham – and at least one of those them is already sold out. With this in mind and the home-grown increase in NFL popularity, the inevitable question for the last couple of years has been whether the league will establish a permanent team in the UK’s capital city.

London NFL game featuring the Miami Dolphins vs. the Oakland Raiders. Image Credit: Daniel via Flickr cc

     This is something on which I have mixed feelings. It is one of those which would be intriguing to see happen, because the UK is like the US in many ways and having a football team would strengthen the already strong cultural relationship between us. Make no mistake, a British NFL team is something in which I would take a huge personal interest to see how it works out and I would probably be among its biggest fans because it would be such a unique enterprise in my favorite country in the world outside of my own.

     However, I do feel that it would be quite unusual for something so American to be permanently established in the UK. Yes, the football developed in Britain is in the United States, but it is a global sport in a way our football is not. Britain already has a firmly-rooted culture in what we call soccer, and it is difficult to see the NFL coming in to coexist with that. The potential fan base for a British NFL team in London would have to display a certain sort or amount of demand and enthusiasm in order to make such an investment worthwhile. Furthermore, there are the logistical issues of transporting the London-based team and the other teams across the Atlantic on a regular basis for home and away games, which will place much stress and strain on the teams and individual players.

     Nonetheless, Chancellor George Osborne is keen on bringing the NFL to Britain on a permanent basis, in part because of the foreign investment that it would bring, and has said that he will assist in whatever way to make it happen.

     For now though, it is probably best to keep the current system the way it is with the occasional games, and I would argue that the league should try out holding games in other big cities of the UK, such as Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester. The NFL is obviously popular in Britain and there is a base of fans who wish to see more, but the league needs to think long and hard before making such a grand leap across the Pond.