Essential Services

During these challenging times surrounding the dangers and effects of the Covid-19 virus, many have commented that it may now be possible to exist in the world without some of the pleasures we once knew to be positive enhancements to living. Some have said that the world has survived without baseball and hockey and basketball for all these months and they know now that they were not essential. Others explain that this period of time without movies, music concerts and other forms of art and entertainment has shown the world that we don’t really need those “extras” in order to survive. Operative words in these arguments seem to be ‘existence’ and ‘survival’. Without sports, music, movies and entertainment arts generally, we are only a step above the primitive ancestors from whom we evolved. Those that make this argument are somewhat oblivious to the fact that these are the very features of living, not mere existence or survival, that make us truly human. These could be the same people that would also support the elimination of sports and arts programs from schools and universities during tough economic times. As a former teacher of Physical Education, Music, Art, as well as the Sciences, Maths, History, Languages and the Practical Arts, I know and have lived with the firm realization that in order to educate the entire human being and in order to nourish and enrich the souls within all of us, it takes contact with all disciplines. In order to be a true citizen of the planet we need to have taken part in as many possible challenges and learning styles as we can. In order to understand each other and to positively develop the human condition and make the planet livable and safe for everyone we cannot let any already-conceived program slip through our grasp. Every one of us has a responsibility to bring as much to the table as we possibly can in order to make the world a better place to be. Contrary to what some may think, Covid-19 has not shown us that sports, music, movies and the entertainment arts are non-essential, but rather the opposite. Check out the world right now, it is in dire need of those very aspects of life. I believe we need them more than ever. Covid-19 has shown me that we cannot “LIVE” without them. I would suggest that those individuals who claim that they do not need sports at all levels, music and concerts, entertainment and the arts, should first give up their televisions, computers, cars, boats and motor homes for they also must be considered as frivolous and non-essential. Some of us may not think we need these supposedly non-essential programs, but if nothing else, there are world-wide, millions and millions of support staff workers (not just players and performers) who directly and absolutely DO need these aspects of life. They have gone without work for the last 15 months and now they deserve the same back-to-work opportunities as the rest of us. (For further information on the benefits and positive economic impacts of a professional sports team on a community please refer to What Are the Benefits of Hosting a Major League Sports Franchise? By Jordan Rappaport and Chad Wilkerson.) These authors refer to the fact that each professional sports team around the world creates anywhere from 5000 to 10000 full time jobs depending on the sport, the location and the size of the stadium. Even some minor league and university sports teams create nearly as many jobs. Even the building of a sports stadium or arena creates thousands of jobs for several years. Professional sports teams and University sports teams, other major sporting events, music concerts and arts entertainment spectacles can boost local economies by as much as $10 million dollars per single game or event through not only spectatorship, but secondary and tertiary services like restaurants, vendors and hotels as well. The New York Marathon, for example pumps over $350 million dollars into the New York economy every year.

In short, human beings have evolved and worked hard for thousands and thousands of years through the birth, growth and development of arts, entertainment, Movies and Theatre events, sporting events like soccer, the Olympic Games and both Professional, Amateur, minor and recreational sports to get us to where we are intellectually and spiritually at present. These aspects of life make us more human when catastrophes like Covid-19 attempt to make us less so. It is all of our responsibilities to ensure that this work has not been in vain by continuing to fight the good fight to keep all of these things in place and by constantly allowing them to grow in support of a positive human condition.