We are a bunch of “Smeagol’s” searching for the “Ring“.

 

I remember a time when going to a sports game was a family affair.

The wife and I often took our oldest son to a Blue Jays game and by doing so built a stronger family bond.

It was a little “pricey“, but worth me having to work a couple of hours overtime every now and then.

With my second boy we could not afford to go as often, but did go occasionally.

There was a nine year gap in their ages and during that gap ticket prices began to slowly creep up.

To the extent that I would have to work a day or two overtime to afford the family excursion.

By the time son number three came into our perfectly dysfunctional family, going to a sports or concert venue was not even a consideration.

Between son one and three there was a twenty year gap. Between sons two and three there was a thirteen year difference.

By the time Number Three Son came along the players or performers were getting paid extremely high wages.

Attending a game or show was beyond my wallets ability.

Fast forward another twenty-three years to present day.

Take for example the recent Taylor Swift concert or the FIFA world cup.

I saw on today’s news the price of attending the FIFA games which start tonight and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!

Tickets that are left are going in the four thousand dollar range!

But, wait, it gets better!

Tickets range in price up into the six digit range – you read that correctly “six digits”.

Last night I saw on the news that a NFL player just signed a contract worth almost a half billion dollars – (that’s billion with a “B”)

Seriously Campers, do you believe that any athlete or performer is worth earning ten maybe twenty times more than a pediatric surgeon or doctor, or a policeman or a fireman?

If you look at the audience at these events you may see a handful of family attendees.

However, you will see many extremely rich celebrities in the crowd.

Those everyday people who are attending will tell you how they scrimped and saved, some even taken large loans, to show their child a memorable family experience.

Sports is no longer a “sport“.

Nor a concert a time to dance and sing.

What really eats at my anus is how people simply accept these ridiculous prices!

The same people who have no problem paying the cost are the same people who will march in the street to protest raising the wages of our first responders.

It is obvious that we now live in the greediest time in our history.

Being almost 69 years old I remember seeing Jimi Hendrix and other legendary performers for $3.50.

Mind you, minimum wage was a mere $1.50, a pack of smokes out of the restaurant’s vending machine was .50¢. You could buy five pounds of ground chuck for $3 at the local butcher.

Being a coffee addict, trust me when I say that I really miss the days when a cup of coffee was a dime. Lol

Even in my day it was still pricey to be able to attend an event, but not to the extent that I would have no choice but to take out a loan or sell my sister.

This leaves me to wonder how the average person does not realize that the higher the wage the higher the cost of living.

What cost a dime in my youth now costs five dollars by today’s standards.

There is no solution to the greed of man.

I guess the point I am making is we are rewarding the wrong sector of people with these ridiculous prices.

I stand firm in my belief that doctors, nurses, PSWs and every soul who works in our hospitals deserves to be earning more than a soccer player or a performer.

I believe that our fire fighters, paramedics and police officers deserve to be paid far more than what we pay them now.

So, I guess what my saying is we are a very greedy society. We are a bunch of “Smeagol’s” searching for the “Ring“.

It’s the way we are and always will be.

Odd though that we are the only animals in our world that have greed.

You don’t see squirrels bartering with rats over the price of their nuts.

Which leads me to wonder,

“Are we really the supreme beings on Earth?”

“Or do we merely believe we are?”

Trust that animals know what we really are.

(They are laughing at us as they watch us struggling to find our “ring”.)