Loving vs Greeding

It seems most people are lacking that desire

Folks these days just don't do nothing.

Simply for the love of it

Don Henley - A Month of Sundays

I sit back and think about this song lyric. Does anyone do this anymore, do something simply for the love it ? Sports. Pros, college, amateur/Olympic. Nope it’s all for the almighty buck. Millions, billions probably soon to be trillions. TV contracts, NIL payments, greedy owners, greedy players, corrupt boosters. Corporations looking to make a buck off of people through endorsement deals. I’ve repeatedly expressed how I’ve just turned off sports, pretty much entirely. Used to go to 20 ball games a summer. Used to visit ballparks in different cities. Would occasionally get to a football, basketball or hockey game. No more.

Hollywood, unfortunately, falls under the same greedy banner. I have no desire to see any kind of a movie. I used to go once a week. I, in no way, want to support the spoiled brats in Hollywood. Keep your politics and opinions to yourself. I have no need for it. You don’t need my money any way.

My fellow subscriber, Deborah T. Hewitt, wrote a wonderful story about a show/concert she attended. My thought on it was basically, “wow, someone doing something primarily for the love of it !” I though of the Henley line when I was done.

It took me back to a time while growing up when that is so much what people did. Pro athletes needed real jobs to survive. I’ll always remember Ron Santo and Ernie Banks of the Cubs and their off season activities. Santo was an exec for Torco Oil, and Banks was on The Chicago Transit Authority Board (not that I think he knew too much about getting buses and trains across town). The game was just that, a game. Sure there was some fame involved, but playing was more for the love of it.

College athletes went to school for an education, not a paycheck. The education was their reward. But it was more the love of their game that drove them. Some did have their dreams of the next level. Some made it, most didn’t.

It took me back to my Little League days. Couldn’t wait for Tuesday and Friday nights. Those were the days we played. I drooled when I thought of baseball then. It killed me when I didn’t make the High School team. But I made up for it when I coached those Little Leaguers. As with most all of the coaches then, it was voluntary, but most did it for the love of it, and some guided their own kids in the process.

My dad 😇 used to BBQ whenever he could. It wasn’t about survival. He loved to BBQ. He once had a turkey on the grill at Thanksgiving. We’d go to family events in the summer and he’d get recruited to cook. He never turned down the opportunity to grill some chicken and burgers.

So much of my transportation involvement and time spent wasn’t about the money. It was my love of being around it. The money, although good, was never my driving force. I often worked minimum paying jobs. I didn’t care, I just liked doing it…for a long time. If there weren’t so many goofballs out there with their own agendas, I might still be doing it. I’m not missing it now, primarily because I was already missing what it was when I was still doing it. There were plenty of railroaders who worked into their 70s. It was who they were and they loved every minute of it. I don’t think you’ll see to much of that moving forward.

There are those on this site who write just for the love of it. Some do try to make a buck on it. Deservedly so. But most do it because they love doing it. How many have I heard say that ! If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be here.

But, honestly, look around. It appears the love of something is more secondary. It seems as though it’s more about obligation. And it shows in the quality (or lack) of many things in society today.

Do people do things out of necessity or desire ? I wonder.