Enliven Daily

“A Native American grandfather talking to his young grandson tells the boy he has two wolves inside of him struggling with each other. The first is the wolf of peace, love and kindness. The other wolf is fear, greed and hatred. "Which wolf will win, grandfather?" asks the young boy. "Whichever one I feed," is the reply.”

What did Mayor Tom Menino and the Red Sox think was going to happen when they decided on their public skating promotion at Fenway Park?  For those who may not be from around Boston, this year, the National Hockey League (NHL) is having their annual “Winter Classic” at Fenway Park between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.  The Red Sox ownership, never missing an opportunity for revenue is offering the outdoor rink up to others at roughly $10,000 an hour and has had many takers.  They have also organized a free skate for city residents as a way for the Mayor to give back.  (Click Here) to see the story of a good idea turning bad.

The Red Sox, the city of Boston and the Mayor’s office dropped the ball (or puck) on this as they should have had a better system in place.  The Red Sox know everything is open game for scalpers as on game day when they have tickets available, they make people get them at the window and walk right into the park without a chance to make a profit on them.  As you read the article, my gut tells me that some tickets were given out to friends of the Mayor or Red Sox and not to people who waited in lines.  Note the anonymous person who talks about his 12 tickets and VIP access.

I am wondering why the Mayor’s office does not use all its resources and just sting these people trying to scalp like so many college and professional sports teams do?  Have people respond to the ad and agree to get the tickets and find out who the people are or if they have some sort of list, make every person go through a body cavity like checkpoint like an airport to prove the tickets were obtained  the right way.

Like so many things in life, a good thing gets tainted by greed.   And as our opening Native American proverb reminds us, greed, like just about everything else in our life, is still a Choice.