What's the Diehl?

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Sunshine on My Shoulders - John Denver

Regular “What’s the Diehl?” readers know that I’m a sucker for this kind of stuff.

Today I’m talking about a high school basketball game that took place back in February in El Paso, Texas. A young man named Mitchell Marcus, a senior at Coronado High who had been team manager for the Coronado Thunderbirds for the past three years and has a developmental disability, was allowed to suit up for the last game of the season. Even better, Coach Peter Morales put him in the game with 90 seconds left. His teammates gave him a few chances to score – the crowd chanting, “Mitchell! Mitchell!” – but he wasn’t able to make the shot.

And then it gets good.

A kid named Jonathon Montanez, a senior at Franklin High School and a member of the opposing team who had possession, called Marcus’ name and tossed him the ball. Mitchell turned around, made his basket and the crowd went wild.

I don’t know why Jonathon did this. Even though nothing was on the line – the Thunderbirds were up by 10 points – you don’t aid the enemy. That’s being a traitor, right?

No, it’s not right. Regardless of the color of our jerseys or the name of our school, what side of town we come from, whether we’re home or away, we’re all people. Brothers and sisters. Jonathon did it, apparently, just because he’s a kind, sensitive, good human being.

I like being reminded that people are like this.

The video clip of this happy moment went viral (see below); the boys were subsequently treated to an NBA game as guests of Los Angeles Clippers star Chris Paul and appeared on Ellen DeGeneres' national talk show – during which Mitchell became emotional and Jonathan comforted him by patting his back – the following month. They were also honored by the Texas State Senate.

This may be cheesy and sentimental but that’s okay. I like cheesy and I’m not afraid to admit it. I don’t ever want to become so cynical that this kind of sportsmanship, this sweet gesture doesn’t bring a tear to my eye and a smile to my face.

"I was so happy then," Mitchell told local reporters about his shot. "It made my night."

Thank you, Jonathon and Mitchell, for making mine.

Sources: Huffington Post, the Chive.com, CBS News.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Those Eyes

Photo by António Fernandes

I Love You Mary Jane - Cypress Hill

Why You Should Love Mary Jane and Be Outraged About Alexandria

I probably shouldn’t share this again at “What’s the Diehl?” – prospective clients and employers might stumble upon this blog – but I can’t help it. I support the legalization of marijuana and think you should too.

Why am I disclosing this again now? (I’ve written about the ganja before; see “Just Say No to Listening to the People,” October 12, 2011; “Let’s Par-tay!,” January 9, 2012; or “What I’ve Learned in 50 Years,” March 15, 2012.) It seems like dope is in the news a lot lately.

First, a group known as the Coalition for a Safer Lansing just submitted more than 6,400 signatures in support of a proposal to legalize the possession, sale and use of up to an ounce of marijuana. If 4,200 of these are certified by the city clerk, it’ll appear on the ballot this November. Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, about whom I’ve never been crazy but with whom I agree on this issue, has already announced his support of the initiative.

I lived in Lansing from 1983 until 2009, when I officially gave up my downtown apartment and moved in with Anita and the kids in a southern suburb. You couldn’t have collected your signatures a little sooner, Coalition for a Safer Lansing?

Alexandria Hill

Second, two-year-old Alexandria Hill was removed from her home in Round Rock, Texas, 15 miles north of Austin, last November because her parents had a habit of smoking dope after putting her to bed. She was placed in not one but two abusive foster homes by a private agency contracted by Children’s Protective Services – her dad, Joshua, would notice bruises on her during visitation – and was rushed to a hospital last week with severe head injuries. After 48 hours in a coma, she was taken off of life support and died. (Her foster mother was arrested and charged with murder.)

Let that sink in for a second. Alexandria was stolen from her parents because they would fire up a joint after she was asleep – not because they abused, neglected or molested her or she was sickly or malnourished but because they smoked grass after she was tucked safely in her crib. And now this beautiful child is a statistic, a manila file, a memory, a photo in a frame on her grieving parents’ mantel.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta

If this doesn’t disturb you, you’re an idiot.

Third, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the eminent neurosurgeon and Emmy award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN, is hosting “Weed,” a one-hour documentary that premieres this Sunday, August 11, at 8:00 p.m. ET. According to TheWeedBlog.com, Dr. Gupta spent nearly a year traveling around the world to shed light on the marijuana debate. Should be interesting.

All this news about reefer spurred me to pull together some interesting facts that support legalization:

Pot has been used by nearly 100 million Americans. According to government surveys, some 25 million of us have smoked marijuana in the past year, and more than 14 million do so regularly despite harsh laws against its use.

Contrary to popular opinion, young people don't smoke any more pot in states where medical marijuana is legal than in ones where it's not. Legalization advocates argue that the best way to reduce pot use by minors is to legalize and regulate it.

About 750,000 people are arrested every year for marijuana offenses in the U.S.

Although pot smoke, like tobacco smoke, contains carcinogens, a 2006 UCLA study concluded that even heavy marijuana use does not lead to lung cancer.

Pot, unlike alcohol, doesn't generally unleash aggression, so it's much harder to link it to violent crime.

According to National Institutes of Health research, just nine percent of marijuana users became clinically dependent at some point.

An Institute of Medicine report found "no conclusive evidence that the drug effects of marijuana are causally linked to the subsequent abuse of other illicit drugs."

Study after study has found that pot is less harmful than alcohol and tobacco.

Enforcing marijuana prohibition costs taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually and results in the arrest of more than 750,000 individuals per year – far more than the total number of arrestees for all violent crimes combined, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Modern research suggests that cannabis is a valuable aid in the treatment of a wide range of clinical applications. These include pain relief, nausea, spasticity, glaucoma and movement disorders. Marijuana is also a powerful appetite stimulant and emerging research suggests that its medicinal properties may protect the body against some types of malignant tumors.

The myth that marijuana users are slacker couch potatoes who’ll never amount to anything is just that: a myth. There’s of course no guarantee that you too will become one of the richest men in the world like Sir Richard Branson or Ted Turner, win Olympic gold medals like Michael Phelps, sell millions of books like Stephen King or become a leading politician like Mike Bloomberg or Barack Obama...but anything’s possible, dude.

If weed’s not your thing, that’s cool. I know not everyone’s comfortable altering their state in order to escape, relax or cure what ails ‘em. And pot can be abused just like any drug if one isn’t careful and responsible. The purpose of this post is just to provide readers with food for thought on an unnecessarily contentious issue. To me, it’s a no-brainer: legalize, regulate, tax and raise much-needed revenue while saving the trainloads of money we currently waste on prosecution and punishment.

Let’s do it in memory of Alexandria.

Click here to read, Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2012).