To those born without spines, keep your mouths shut

Benjamin Wilks, Sports Editor

Listen up, YikYak users on Lakeland’s campus.

Nothing about your hurtful revelations about another person’s business screams “leader.” You are a coward. Remaining anonymous while speaking down on someone is a cowardly thing to do. You would rather punch a keyboard than throw blows and shake hands after. Instead of being an “out in the open” racist, you would rather throw racial slurs at the football team and African-Americans in general on our diverse campus. I cannot respect that. In fact, I was raised not to.

The spines of Dr. King, Malcolm X, Ali, Rosa Parks, Bill Russell and Tupac (yes, Tupac) amongst others seem to not be genetic. These leaders fought for what they believed in, and they always put a face to their criticism when criticizing what they felt was wrong. They did not fear conflict, because to change anything, you have to go through a little bit of strife.

This does not apply to just the well-known leaders of the past. Our grandparents had these spines, and from their morals, beliefs and belts they instilled leadership within our parents’ generation. Whenever they had a problem, they went up to the problem, be it a person or the government, and faced it head on. They were not afraid to take a punch to the face. They were not afraid to be put down for what they believed in or what they dreamed about. They did not let political correctness hinder their right to freedom of speech. We all hate to lose, but they were not afraid of it.

Their spines could support the heaviest of egos, and because of this, they became the greatest generation America has produced. But in all of their greatness, they have failed. They have failed to pass on these traits to a majority of my generation, and we have failed to look to our history and take notes on the greatness and leadership that is just a Google search away.

You could argue with me and say that I’m only focusing on the negative, but let me ask you this: why would a leader hold a convention about becoming a leader with other leaders?

In other words, I’m not speaking to the few leaders my generation has to offer. I’m speaking to the fearful, the ones who voice opinions anonymously and are afraid of repercussion. I learned from the likes of King, Ali, X and Shakur. We all know how controversial Malcolm and Tupac were, and these men were public figures. Whenever they said something, the media would be there recording. Knowing this, they still spoke from their hearts about their beliefs, and whether or not you agreed, you could respect them because you knew who to disagree with. To those out there who find a need to voice an opinion from the back of the crowd, please take note: my opinion gets published, my picture is above it, and I am in no way, shape or form afraid of anyone disagreeing with me.