Remember the Monarch!

Remember the Monarch!

Mar. 1, 2001

STRAIGHT TALK
By Muriel Sluyter

Greetings, Gentle Reader,

Remember the Monarch? Shouldn’t that be the Maine or perhaps the Alamo? No, I mean the Monarch. But, it’s a mountain pass in Colorado, rather than a ship or a fort. That’s the pass on which a busload of athletes should have died, but didn’t. What happened? Well, it was this way.

Their bus was of the two-axle type. With those buses, as the driver changes from one axle to the other, there is a space of time in which the bus is in neutral. It doesn’t take long, but drivers try to change axles on a flat spot. When this driver tried to shift to low axle, to go down the pass, the transmission stayed in neutral, unfortunately, the bus was already on the downslope.

The brakes failed and the bus became a guided missile of sorts, picking up speed by the second. The driver’s sole method of control was the steering wheel. Knowing that was not enough on a steep, winding mountain pass, he had every reason to think he, the coach, and an entire busload of young men would die a gruesome death in a matter of minutes. It was a matter of when, rather than if, the centrifugal force created in negotiating a sharp curve would throw them off the roadway and down the mountainside.

In that instant, the driver and coach became an unbeatable team. As they approached each curve, at just the critical moment, the driver shouted and, instantly, the coach had the team members throw themselves to the side of the bus on the side of the curve, effectively counterbalancing the extreme pressures of centrifugal force.

These men, still young enough to be primarily concerned with playing games, knew that the mountain would give them no quarter. They would either win this game, or they would pay for their loss with their lives.

It would have seemed they were too young to stare into the very eyes of death with such courage, but because of their willingness to follow a strong, courageous leader, they did so, and in so doing, saved both their lives and his.

They won, but only because they worked together. There was no jealousy, there were no power plays, no grandstanding Had any one of the three units of that team refused to work together, all would have perished.

So, how do we as a nation measure up to the standard of teamwork these young men and their coach and driver erected? Not very well. We permit self-serving demagogues to divide us into contending groups for their own purposes, rather than choosing honorable, trustworthy leaders who love freedom, who love our constitution, who truly and deeply love America.

Our past president’s supporters have turned on him, reviling him for his dishonesty, but he was always dishonest. He was never a strong, powerful defender of anything, most especially this country and the freedom for which it stands.

It makes no sense to choose a leader who is so unprincipled that he is solely concerned with his physical, political or monetary wants, rather than leading with honor and integrity, and then attack him because he behaves as one would who lacks both honor and integrity.

The powerful, courageous leader who led his young men into battle on Monarch Pass did not become powerful and courageous at the top of that pass. He had always been that kind of man. That is the key to selecting a leader.

If we want strong, principled men for leaders, we must vote to put strong, principled men in office. This can only be called "Good Sense, 101."