Offense or Defense?

There are so many great analogies in sport that mirror situations in life. This is not one of them.

My boy got an ear infection that progressed over the weekend to the point where he needed to see a doctor. Our doctor was was away for the day, so that left the local walk-in clinic. Most every town and suburb has one or more of these facilities to handle situations like mine and to take the overflow from the emergency department at the hospital.

The wait was about an hour and a half and I had a good opportunity to watch many people seeking out medical services. Many I saw were quite overweight. Others stood just outside the door smoking a cigarette while waiting their turn. A mother three chairs down doled out an entire bag of candy to her two boys who were hacking and coughing while waiting their turn.

The topic of dozens of radio shows I had hosted over the years came to the fore sitting there: "Why is it that we spend so much money treating illness and do so little to prevent it?"

I thought how sad it was that there were facilities all over my city to treat illness when it arrived—but none that I knew of to prevent it. Certainly none that would be covered by basic health insurance.

Think of how much money we could save as a country if nutritional counseling, physical training, disease prevention, and smoking cessation programs were as available as a scalpel to cut out the tumor or the prescription to mask the symptoms of an ailment.

I thought a lot about this and realized we carry this philosophy with us throughout many other areas of life.

• We work to overcome debt problems rather than focusing on financial stability.
• We try and save a marriage rather than work to keep it flourishing.
• We pool our resources to fight the speeding ticket rather than simply obeying the limit.

I believe there is a great lesson in this. It's the lesson that no doubt has been told thousands of times before in sport. Stay on offense. Defense has never ever moved the ball forward.

Have an excellent day.