Grappling with the Gray #36: A time to mourn?

Grappling with the Gray

If there's a time for every season, how do we determine which season we're currently in?
Join this week's panelists on LinkedIn Live as they grapple with this ethical challenge:
The entire country has followed the story of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, his dramatic collapse during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, his suspension between life and death, and his remarkable path toward recovery. Our collective obsession with these events raises a number of points for reflection.
As Mr. Hamlin was being resuscitated on the field, FOX Sports pundit Skip Bayless tweeted:
“No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game - but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome... which suddenly seems so irrelevant.”
Mr. Bayless was attacked from all sides for his “inhumanity,” but his observation opens the door for further discussion. Rockies pitcher Juan Nicasio was carried off the field after being hit in the head by a line drive in 2011. The Rockies went on to lose to the Washington Nationals. In 2008, St. Louis Cardinal Juan Encarnacion was hit by a foul ball that ended his career and may have cost him his vision. But the game went on.
How do we decide when life goes on and when respect requires us to suspend normal activity? Furthermore, why did this incident capture national attention, overshadowing objectively more profound tragedies that fill the headlines? Should we be reexamining our priorities, or is there something exceptional about this story?
Finally, a WSJ editorial contrasted past incidents of coaches fired for leading team prayers with the midfield prayers offered up for Damar Hamlin’s recovery. If public prayer is wrong sometimes, shouldn’t it be wrong all the time? What are we to make of these apparent inconsistencies, and what should our approach be to individual tragedy that mars public events?
Meet this week’s panelists:
Mark Brown, CSP Brown is a world champion speaker, an executive coach, and an artificial intelligence software advisor.
Lieutenant Colonel JC Glick is a retired Army Ranger. He is a leadership, strategy, and culture advisor, as well as an author and TEDx speaker.
Nick Sternberg is Interim CEO of Hope and Change. He is a writer, creativity consultant, and LinkedIn provocateur.