Dearest Gehrig and Eliana,
Hello, sweethearts! It has been way too long since Granny and I
have seen you, but from your photos it looks like you are still growing up so
fast. Christmas is almost upon us and
even though we will not get to spend the holidays with you, please know we
share the love of the season with you in our hearts.
I am sure you have visited
with Santa (or will soon) and will be filling out your Christmas lists. We hope you get everything you ask for, but,
of course, if you did you would be all out of wishes and hopes. Who can live like that?
Granny and I spent
Thanksgiving down in Austin University
of Texas Longhorns
It was bitter cold that night
and with the strong gusts coming out of the north, the wind chill was 28
degrees at game time. Most people were
bundled up in their heaviest winter coats and ski caps with earmuffs. They huddled against each other in their
seats just trying to keep warm. All
except for this one young fellow a dozen seats to my left on Row 4 of the upper
deck. This maroon-clad Texas A&M fan,
from the opening kickoff, stood through the entire game. He and his friend, who was not standing, were
the only Aggies in a sea
of Longhorn
At first the spectators
behind him politely asked him to sit down.
Then, they got more vocal as the Aggie ignored their requests. You could hear the shouts ring out every
minute or so, “Hey, sit down”, or “Down in front!” The Aggie continued to stand. After about 10 minutes into the game an Event
Staff person in a yellow vest came down and asked the Aggie to sit down as
several fans had gone up and complained.
He refused to comply. The ES
person signaled for his supervisor and he came down, excused himself as he
edged past a half dozen fans and spoke to the Aggie. After a minute or two of discussion, the
supervisor came back to the aisle and climbed up the stairs. Five minutes later a uniformed police officer
returned with the supervisor and he told the Aggie he would need to take a seat
to avoid a potential unruly situation with other fans. Again, he refused. I found myself more than a little annoyed by
this man’s total disregard for the other spectators around him and he wasn’t
even blocking my view.
At this point the officer
radioed for back up and two other officers came down and they physically
removed the Aggie from his seat and escorted him away. The Aggie did not resist but as he and his
friend ascended the stairs, the crowd clapped and cheered the police
action. I briefly pondered the legality
of the police action but I understood their desire to maintain the peace and prevent
any possible altercations.
Unbelievably, after about
five minutes, the Aggie and his friend came back to their seats, unattended by
police but accompanied by the Event Staff supervisor. He released the men to their seats and the
friend sat down but the Aggie continued to defiantly stand, which kind of
brings me to my next pearl:
Thirty-Second Pearl
The crowd around and behind
the Aggie was furious. They could not
understand how these two had not been thrown out of the stadium. They did not say anything to the Aggie that I
could hear but the buzz around the two was audible to our entire section and
beyond. The Event Staffer, as he walked
back up the stairs, was telling people the Aggie had argued that he had a right
as a ticket holder to stand or sit as he saw fit and had pleaded his case
effectively. The police finally agreed
he was committing no crime and allowed them to return.
Just before halftime I just
could resist no longer so I made my way over to where the Aggie and his friend were
and stood in front of them on the row below which was vacant. I said, “Excuse
me, but do you know where you are?” The
young man looked down at me and said, “Yeah, I’m in Austin
At this point, the fans
around and behind the Aggie began to clap and cheer. I was not aware my words were being heard by
that many people but as I looked around I saw several fans, male and female,
urging me on. “I have a right to stand
if I want to and I am just supporting my team”, the Aggie declared quietly but
defiantly. “I agree you have the right
to stand and the right to support your team”, I retorted, “but if in doing so
you inconvenience all of these people around you perhaps you might consider
sitting until there is a reason for you to stand”.
Suddenly, the friend who had
been silent up until then said, “Hey, he is just supporting his team, why don’t
you leave him alone. We are trying to
watch the A&M band and you are in the way”.
I wanted to shout, “Bingo, pinhead!” but instead I replied calmly “My point exactly”. “By standing here in front of you I am
blocking the view of something you want to see and that is exactly how all
these folks around you feel”. The Aggie
just stared at me blankly.
“By standing the entire game
you are being rude and inconsiderate and even though Texas A&M teaches
honor and to uphold tradition, there is no honor, no badge of courage for what
you are doing here today”, I continued, “If you missed that lesson in school at
least didn’t your daddy teach you better than that?” “My father has nothing to do with this”, the
Aggie blurted out. “I was pretty sure he
hadn’t”, I responded in disgust, “Because if he had, he would have had you out
behind the woodshed teaching you some manners”.
The Aggie just sneered so I
turned and walked back to me seat but even the people clapping me on the back
as I went didn’t still the anxiety I had in my heart over the confrontation and
the entire situation. It was like I was talking to a tree stump. The Aggie
stood the entire second half, people started to calm down or just moved out
from behind him as the Longhorns stumbled to their fifth home loss in a row and
the partisan crowd thinned, giving in to the frigid wind and increasingly sound
defeat.
The Aggie was still standing
as the game ended and we made our way up the stadium steps, but I couldn’t help
but wonder what was going through his mind.
Did he think that in addition to his team’s victory, he had won a
victory that cold and windy night? Did
he think he had accomplished some brave deed, that some moral imperative had been
valiantly defended? Did he miss that his behavior was considered totally
inappropriate for his surroundings and that the image of all Aggies, in the
minds of dozens, if not hundreds, of people was tarnished by his rudeness and
lack of manners. It is my hope, dear
ones, that if you ever find yourself in a situation where you have the right to
do a thing that you think about the Aggie and exercise prudent judgment in
exercising that right.
I love you, bunches and
bunches,
Grandpa Jud
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