Ray Rice new face of domestic abuse...well he shouldn't be.

As promised I am going to address the Ray rice issue. Please be mindful these are my thoughts. If you don't like them I am open to dialogue so here it goes. This is an excerpt from a paper I wrote for class. In case you didn't know I'm about a semester and a half from my Masters...thank you God. 

Here ya go:

I  have a few issues with this case but my biggest qualm is that I don’t feel the punishment warrants the action. In the real world I wouldn’t lose my job for beating up my spouse. Do I think it is unfortunate that this happened?  Absolutely! But I do not feel that he should have lost his income because of it, no. When I was employed with Marriott there was a benefit that allowed anyone with a substance abuse problem or mental issues to get help and still have their job if they had to go away to rehab. Firing him is not going to address the reason behind why he felt that was the best course of action in that situation. I was always taught that men shouldn’t hit woman and that takes me to my next issue.

Although I was taught that men shouldn’t hit woman, women shouldn’t hit men either. I feel that as adults you should be able to verbally communicate your differences, talk through the issue and respect each other enough to agree to disagree if you can’t reach common ground. I watched this tape before I decided to write this article and to me it looked as though she was just as aggressive in this situation. No, he shouldn’t have hit her but she lunged at him as if to hit him although I sure he could take the hit. Again I’m not trying to justify what happened but at what point should a person sit and be disrespected or provoked. Just because I don’t touch you don’t mean I’m not in your personal space.

Lastly I feel that Roger Goodell is LYING, yes with a capital L-Y-I-N-G. I don’t believe that Ray Rice lied to him. I believe the NFL had the tape and knew exactly what happened and that they were okay as long as they thought that tape wouldn’t be released. Goodell is saving face.  Goodell said he gave the punishment that he did because Rice and his then fiancée came to him and discussed what happened (Van Natta Jr., 2014). Why would he lie to Goodell and tell the truth to his team Manager and Coach. The damage was already done. Goodell should have stood by the original punishment and left well enough alone. If Rice told the truth, served his “time” or paid penance why go back and put a nail in the coffin. If my children eat a cookie after I said not to and I put them in time out I can’t go back and issue a week long punishment. I could but what am I teaching them; that you can’t apologize for you actions and be forgiven? Its all wrong to me.  We encourage the NFL to hit hard and be merciless then we are in shock when they act that way at home. Chew on that for a minute. 

Until Next Time

Shann