From the desk of Wally Dawkins, Athletic Director:

The recent events in Paris, France are disturbing.

Innocent people killed and for what reason?

Oh I remember, they expressed freedom of speech…and three of them just happened to be policemen.  Oh I remember now!  It was because four of them were Jewish and in a market… and because one went for an afternoon jog?

Now that I come to think of it, it was basically because they crossed paths with Radical Islamic Extremists.

It didn’t really matter who they were…or what they said…or what they believed.

At the end of 2014, the world’s Muslim population was projected to reach 2.8 billion.

The overwhelming majority of Muslims are a peaceful people.  Statistics recently released however, indicated that nearly 3.6 million Muslims support the Radical Islamic Extremist “hijacked” version of the Muslim religion.

That is 3.6 million people, scattered worldwide, who want to kill people because they do express freedom of speech, or are policemen, or because they are Jewish, or since they are jogging in the park.

You’re probably asking “what does this have to do with athletics”?

Good question.

Have you ever heard of The Taliban?  You know the violent group of Radical Muslim Extremists who turned the athletic fields outside of Kabul into the place of public executions when The Taliban was in control of Afghanistan.

The fields where kids played stickball were being used as the venue to stone women who allegedly committed adultery.

The fields that were once used for soccer games were being used for public hangings for those who did not believe in Mohammed.  Those same fields where school children would go for a play day were being used to cut off the heads of women who were caught reading or wearing eye glasses.

Those athletic fields were not only used for death and torture, but the message was being sent that Radical Muslim Extremists had no use for people who valued athletics, or competition, or fun.

Do you remember the name Uday Hussein?  Son of Saddam Hussein?

Uday would have members of the Iraq Soccer team tortured and killed if their performance wasn’t up to his expectations to the point where the Iraq Soccer Teams ceased to exist.  All in the name of Radical Islam.

We are in the midst of troubling times.  I am quite frankly, concerned for the future of my children, and grandchildren (hopefully grandchildren!)  I want the future generations of Americans and for all peoples to be able to practice freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to choose their profession…and the freedom to jog in the park…unafraid!  I want the parks and athletic fields to be for athletics, and competition, and fun.

Not to be a place to spread fear and death in the name of a psychopathic ideology.

Fortunately, I believe in and serve a God that is in control of all things.

Not only is my God in control, Hebrews 13:5 & 6 tells me that my God will never leave me and will never forsake me.  My God has always been in control…He always will be in control…and I have to not only remember that but profess that to others.

At Brook Hill, our role as teacher/coach/mentor is to make sure our students understand that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God of our ancestors (Acts 3:13), is the same God that we worship and serve today, and to instill in our students that God will always look out for us…and never leave or forsake us.  At Brook Hill, we want our students to have confidence in their future.  The future they have here on earth…and for eternity.

When I really think about it, the world has always been in the middle of trouble times.

I remember in the 60’s, when I was a very young child, the youth minister at church preached a sermon one Sunday evening entitled “If We Don’t Stop The Beatles and This Rock and Roll Music, It Will Be The Death Of Us All”.

His argument was very believable and quite convincing.

But look around…or listen around!  Rock and Roll music is obviously here to stay.  And we are fine.

Although the times are troubling, I have my Faith and I am UNAFRAID!

Je suis Charlie!

Just another reason to be “ALL ORANGE…All The Time”