I took my grandkids, Heidi and Jake, to see “The Lorax” yesterday, a movie that the Republican Party will surely denounce if it ever gets wind of the message it conveys, which is Corporate Greed Will Wreck the World. It says this in a really cute way, with lollipop trees, cuddly brown bears, singing fish, and the Lorax himself, the fuzzy orange savior. Still. Part of the pleasure in watching the movie was imagining investment bankers watching it with their kids and experiencing anxiety, then panic, lest the message get to them.Though maybe investment bankers don't watch movies with their kids. They’re real busy.
So, okay: the nanny takes them to the movie and the message that Corporate Greed Will Wreck the World gets to them without their greedy parents knowing. Better yet!
I guess this was on my mind this morning when I opened the newspaper to find a gargantuan picture of Peyton Manning, with the headline, “A Classy Farewell,” the quote, “I truly have enjoyed being your quarterback,” and Bob Kravitz’s column, which began…“Jim Irsay looked crestfallen, like a man who’d just lost his best friend. And, in a way, he had. Peyton Manning, who was the 22-year old quarterback when Irsay was a fledgling 37-year old owner will always be a Colt, and yet he will play for the Indianapolis Colts no longer.
“The tears came quickly, as you knew they would.
And Manning? He wore a paste-on smile, tried to maintain a stiff upper lip, but the more he talked about relationships with people inside the building and with the city of Indianapolis, the more emotional he became.
“And the tears came quickly, as you knew they would.
“Something tells me, all around Indianapolis and Central Indian, there were tears.
“Shared pain,” Irsay called it.
“Shared, yes, by all of us, even for the paid cynics who are supposed to remain coldly objective about such things.
This was a sad day, unspeakably sad, and yet, both men understood how painfully necessary it was.”
But was it necessary?
There was a third solution to the Peyton Manning dilemma, one I think the Lorax would have loved: Peyton, already richer than God, takes a drastic pay cut to release funds to be used in rebuilding the Colts; plays a few seasons, if his health allows, while mentoring the new QB to take over when he's ready to retire.
Speaking of legacies—wouldn't that have been amazing?
3 comments:
I hadn't realized Peyton now has more money than God, even though he's young. I guess for the world of some sports he's already 'old'...what is he like 25 now, or is he actually like 29?!
Anyways, I found this entertaining. What's odd is that I love it when long term investments pay off to but don't like that corporate greed or warfare or long distance exploitation are often the source of the new found wealth.
He's about 35,I think.
Yep, you nailed the dilemma right on the head. Hard to separate the satisfaction of having investments pay off with what having them pay off might actually mean in terms of the effects on real people and the world, in general.
I agree Barb on both of your blogs. I saw Lorax also and I'm sure there will be some Republican backlash....no doubt blaming Obama.
Yes, if Payton had just agreed to a lesser amount, he could have retired here and we would have had a win/win situation...but that's too simple I guess...hmm.
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