Just nine minutes into the first quarter of the much-hyped Monday Night Football matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills, the Bills’ safety Damar Hamlin collapsed onto the turf of Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati.
After executing a seemingly rudimentary tackle, Hamlin stood up, took a few steps back, and then fell to the ground. Medical staff was seen administering CPR before an ambulance drove onto the field. Hamlin was loaded inside and rushed to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was reported to be in critical condition. The game was suspended.
Players, TV viewers, in-person attendees, sports announcers, and news anchors alike were all unanimously shocked, saddened, and instinctively turned to prayer—for Damar Hamlin, for his doctors, for his teammates, and for his family. The response to the shocking and nationally televised tragedy was national unity; a once common but increasingly rare display in the United States of America today.
A 24-year-old American’s life was in danger, and that was all that mattered. It was a reminder that America and Americans are good and decent—so long as politicians and pundits don’t interfere, meddling with reality, politicizing events, and telling us how we should respond.
Anchors and analysts were very cautious in the moments and hours after the frightening scene occurred on the football field; careful not to jump to conclusions, careful not to present their speculation as fact, and insistent that they weren’t “experts” as it related to medicine, or healthcare, or even football. For once, honesty and accuracy were important.
The tragedy revealed the best of America—concerned, loving, and respectful Americans who put the needs of Damar Hamlin, his family, and his affected teammates ahead of the game and the NFL. Americans stopped what they were doing. Regularly scheduled news programming was even interrupted to devote precious airtime to cover the tragedy. Americans did what was right. And Americans prayed.
While we continue to pray for Hamlin’s full recovery, we should also recognize how we collectively felt and feel at this time—united. Bengals and Buffalo fans alike are cheering for Hamlin. When it comes to the health of this young man, our political differences or team loyalties are rendered irrelevant. But this is also how we should move forward and observe politics and happenings in America.
Why, when it comes to the health, safety, and security of our nation and our countrymen, can we not similarly unite? Our economy is a disaster, our border is wide open, and our children are dying from fentanyl overdoses.
Inflation is the worst it’s been in 40 years—reaching 7 percent and 7.1 percent in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
The CDC announced shortly before the start of the new year that life expectancy in the United States has dropped to its lowest point in two decades. Synthetic fentanyl is largely responsible—many of those dying are under the age of 40. Fentanyl was associated with 77 percent of adolescent overdose deaths in 2021.
The crisis coincides with the unprecedented number of illegals invading the country. The Drug Enforcement Administration announced in December the seizure of over 379 million deadly doses of Fentanyl in 2022—enough to kill every American. Most of the mass-produced fentanyl is being trafficked by Mexican cartels across the open border, with chemicals sourced mainly from China.
While the Biden Administration and its Pravda-style media ignore, dismiss, and even deny the inflation and border crisis in America, they sensationalize whatever it is that is happening in Ukraine and eagerly send tens of billions of American taxpayer dollars to a country not named America with the stated moral imperative to secure Ukraine’s borders and fend off their Russian invaders.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated that up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of Russia’s invasion nearly a year ago. More than 100,000 have died in the United States in a 12-month period from fentanyl overdoses—nearly 10 times the number killed in the war in Ukraine.
But unlike the shocking collapse of Bill’s Safety Damar Hamlin on Monday night, which occurred on national television, those who have died from fentanyl overdoses are mere statistics—nameless, faceless, and ignored.
The Pravda media rushed to politicize the mass shooting of a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado in November—falsely and irresponsibly blaming the tragedy on Republicans.
The same Pravda media ignored the murder of Cayler Ellingson, an 18-year-old man in Carrington, North Dakota. Ellingson was run over by an SUV driven by a man who falsely told a 911 operator that Ellingson was part of a “Republican extremist group.”
What happened to Damar Hamlin on the football field was an accident. But we’re all rooting for him and shaken by what we witnessed because he’s one of us—an American. It’s also the right thing to do.
When it comes to Hamlin’s safety and well-being, the game is suddenly not important. But politics is a game too. And when it comes to the safety and well-being of our country, the games of politicians should be unimportant, too.
If Americans would take a moment to look at what’s happening in and to America with the same objective compassion and camaraderie that they have shown Hamlin, just imagine what America could become.
Americans should view politics more like a football game. We could unite, pray, and do what is right for America. When politicians and the media don’t interfere, that’s exactly what we do. Americans are still good and decent.
And never forget: when Damar Hamlin fell, Americans prayed. We should pray together more and politicize less.