BALLPLAYER GREEN RIGHT ABOUT TWO THINGS: HIS DECISION, AND THAT IT'S HIS - AND ONLY HIS - TO MAKE
By CHARLES JAY, Personal Choice Party Presidential Candidate


Shawn Green made his decision. On Yom Kippur, the holiest of all Jewish holidays, the Los Angeles Dodger outfielder seemingly had the choice between sitting out games on Friday and Saturday to honor his faith, or play in both contests for his team, which was hanging on to first place in the National League's Western Division.

As it turns out, he split things right down the middle.

Even though Green does not regularly or actively practice his religion, he is Jewish nonetheless, and understands that Yom Kippur carries with it a measure of importance and depth of obligation that does find itself nullified just because you're in the middle of a pennant race. At the same time he also understands that there is a certain allegiance to the Dodger organization and his teammates, and that perhaps competing may also be a way to properly honor God and what He gave you. 

So he played Friday night's game and sat out Saturday.

That wasn't "the next best thing" to anything. 

It's probably the best choice he could have made.

Want to know why?

Because it was his PERSONAL choice. And no one or no thing should encroach upon that. Sure it's a compromise. But it's far from a copout. Many religious leaders expressed that Green should have sat out both days. Rabbi Merle Singer, based in Florida, opined, "People will respect him more if he stands up to his ideas and principles."

But you see, this is where so many people miss the point. Shawn Green IS standing up for his principles. That principle is that it is no one's choice but Shawn Green's, and as long as that's the case he's going to do whatever he can to bring some satisfaction to both "constituencies" (the Dodgers and those of the Jewish faith), based on the proposition that half a loaf is better than none at all. Why couldn't both sides feel placated to some degree?

The problem - and this wouldn't be uncommon in religious circles - is that Rabbi Singer doesn't want Shawn Green to stand up for Shawn Green's ideas and principles; he wants Shawn Green to stand up for RABBI SINGER'S ideas and principles. 

By definition, in a "Personal Choice" society, that won't do.

Not that this issue has reached massive proportions, but it is interesting that Green, who admittedly is just a casual follower of the faith, would become a Jewish symbol, and for some reason, I guess, it reminds me of how O.J. Simpson, never an advocate of African-American causes, would, on a larger scale, become a symbol to the black community. 

Neither guy asked for it. The difference, of course, is that Green was exercising his decision-making rights as a free individual in the United States of America, while Simpson found himself "positioned" as a by-product of the legal strategy of his "Dream Team" coupled with existing racial tension in Los Angeles. 

What both had in common, however, is that they unwittingly became victims of the way a judgmental public chose to perceive them. And that choice, on the part of the beholder, pretty much trumps the desire on the part of the subject to reject that perception. 

Former NBA star Charles Barkley has been known to say, "I'm not a role model." Unfortunately, that decision is not his to make. If the public visualizes you as a role model, you're a role model, whether you go along with it or not. If you're perceived as a "symbol", that's what you're going to be, even if you don't necessarily fit the bill. 

I can tell you this - Green may have found himself uncomfortable with being a Jewish symbol. But this past week he demonstrated that he is a perfect exemplar of the personal choice philosophy. And he can be damn proud of that.