According to Sports Illustrated, from Jan. 1, 2012, to Sept. 11, 2014, 31 NFL players were arrested on charges involving domestic violence, battery, assault and murder. In the last two calendar years, at least 14 of those players were arrested for violence against women. Minus Baltimore’s Rice, the following arrests occurred in 2014.
1. Philadelphia Eagles safety Keelan Johnson was arrested for assaulting a police officer.
2. San Francisco 49ers defensive end Ray McDonald was arrested on domestic violence.
3. Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy was arrested for threats and assaulting his former girlfriend. While convicted, Hardy was placed on probation.
4. Chicago Bears wide receiver Josh Morgan was arrested on simple assault.
5. Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Jah Reid was arrested on misdemeanor battery outside a strip club.
All of the players listed remain unpunished by the National Football League.
Late today, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson was indicted in Houston, Texas. News outlets reported Peterson was indicted in Montgomery County for reckless or negligent injury to a child. The incident in question reportedly stems from “disciplining of a son with a switch.” Accordingly, the Montgomery County, Texas, grand jury issued a warrant for Peterson’s arrest. The team deactivated him for Sunday’s home game against the Patriots.
As a result of the above, one blogger wrote, “I have to change the name of my fantasy team to ‘Convicts.’“
Seriously, there are two types of suffering: suffering of the physical body, and suffering of the mind. Physical suffering may include a lack of basic necessities, or natural disasters, or injury to the body from weapons, diseases, burns, abuse, or poisons. We all experience this bodily pain no matter what our status is in life.
However, all of us must be very aware of tension and stress, for they create significant problems in many marriages. If a proper analysis is made into the root causes of such social problems as pre-marital sex, teenage pregnancies, unhappy marriages and divorces, child-abuse and wife-battering, we inevitably discover that it is due mainly to selfishness and lack of patience, tolerance and mutual understanding.
If we can share the pain and pleasure of our day-to-day life, we can console each other and minimize grievances. Doing so reduces our burdens and misunderstandings. Discussing mutual problems will give us confidence to live together with better understanding. That’s a truer love of life and God.