2022
August
18
Thursday

Monitor Daily Podcast

August 18, 2022
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Society often looks to professional athletes as role models. When they stumble in their personal lives or in their on-field behavior, they’re rightly criticized as setting a bad example. 

But perhaps we’re looking for our role models in the wrong places. 

Last week, an errant pitch hit Tulsa, Oklahoma, little leaguer Isaiah Jarvis in the head. For several minutes, he lay on the ground attended by adults. In the pros, such a pitch might have prompted a dugout-clearing brawl, or some form of revenge from the opposing team later in the game.

Instead of retribution, the batter delivered a hug. 

Twelve-year-old Isaiah trotted to first base, well enough to keep playing. Then, he noticed the pitcher was still visibly upset. Isaiah called time out, walked over to the mound, and wrapped his arms around his distraught competitor, Kaiden Shelton. And he gave Kaiden a quiet pep talk. “If I was in that position and just hit a kid in the head and almost gave him a concussion, I would be (crying), too. So I was just going over to make sure that he knows I’m OK and he doesn’t need to be crying because I’m just fine,” Isaiah told the Tulsa World Journal

More tears flowed in the ballpark as parents and coaches were touched by this display of compassion and sportsmanship. Video of the moment went viral

The Tulsa Nationals lost that playoff game. Their competitors, from Pearland, Texas, are now representing the U.S. Southwest at the Little League World Series that began Wednesday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Still, the Tulsa team won in the game of life. 

“You think about our world and how divisive things tend to become. Here are teams that they all desperately want to go to Williamsport,” Tulsa coach Sean Kouplen said. “But they put their friendship and caring for each other above that every time. It is just so refreshing and so inspiring.”


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Today's stories

And why we wrote them

Patterns

Tracing global connections

The assault on writer Salman Rushdie reminds us that the freedom of expression, as our London columnist writes, isn’t just about free speech. It includes having the humility and integrity to listen to ideas you might not share.

The Explainer

Civil disobedience is sometimes employed by the political left and right when they disagree with state or federal laws on guns, marijuana, and immigration. It speaks to a moral stand that in a democracy, local government should serve the community – not “big government.” Our reporter looks at the rise of “sanctuary cities” for abortion.

Qadri Inzamam
Kashmir Walla staffer Aleena Mir is pictured recording a bulletin at their office in Srinagar, India, on Aug. 17, 2022. This year, the Walla’s office has been raided and its staff questioned and booked in criminal cases that have drained resources and demanded unprecedented resolve from its leaders.

Perseverance in the face of state persecution, our reporter finds, is becoming a hallmark of journalists in Kashmir, as they are illegally banned from traveling abroad.

Q&A

When it comes to addressing climate change, two values are often at odds: Freedom from government control and safety (protecting people and the planet). Our reporter talks to a U.S. scholar about the cultural shift underway on this issue.

Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR
Cass McCombs debuts his 10th album, “Heartmind,” on Aug. 19. When he’s writing songs, he says he tries not to edit too much, capturing the way one’s thoughts can be profound one minute, contradictory the next.

Originality and creativity are esteemed by many songwriters. But for Cass McCombs, our reviewer writes, these qualities are imperatives. A look at how a new album manifests progress.


The Monitor's View

Tourists visiting the Greek island of Santorini these days may ask why drones are flying overhead. The short answer: The government is trying to instill an ethos of integrity among Greeks. The drones check if tour boat operators provide receipts to visitors, a clever way of changing a deep-rooted culture of tax evasion.

Last week, the European Commission announced that it will end its special surveillance of Greece on Aug. 20 because the country has implemented so many reforms – like the tax-enforcing drones – over the past dozen years. In 2009, the government in Athens admitted it had lied about the size of its debt, setting off a financial crisis in the European Union and almost ending the bloc’s experiment with a single currency. After receiving very large bailouts – more than $300 billion in total – Greece has now “delivered on the bulk of the policy commitments,” stated the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm.

It has also paid off its debt to the International Monetary Fund – two years early. In 2019, Greece created its first anti-corruption body, known as the Transparency Authority.

“Today’s Greece is a different Greece,” declared its prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in July. “It is one of the countries with the most dynamic growth and the highest reduction of unemployment in Europe.”

One key to the reforms, besides fiscal austerity, were tactics to boost tax collection. A Greek habit of evading taxes was one reason the government long lied about the size of its deficit spending. In an unusual attempt to depoliticize taxes, a new collection agency was set up to run independently of the Finance Ministry. The government also provides incentives for people to move away from cash transactions toward the use of credit cards and online transactions.

A lowering of tax rates has encouraged compliance. And a public relations campaign called “Apodizi, please” recommends that tourists ask for receipts.

“As a result of Greece’s efforts,” the European Commission noted, “the resilience of the Greek economy has substantially improved and the risks of spillover effects on the euro area economy have diminished significantly.”

Greece still ranks high among EU nations in tax avoidance – better than Romania but not as good as Italy. Yet tax revenues are rising, and as Greece’s chief tax collector, George Pitsilis told the International Monetary Fund, it’s time for Greeks to develop a sense of personal responsibility. Greece’s European partners have now endorsed the country’s progress so far – by ending their watchdog role over Greek reforms.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

We can all play a role in helping young people awaken to – and live more fully – their loving, pure, and good nature as God’s children.


A message of love

Thomas Peter/Reuters
A woman in a wedding dress walks on the dried-up riverbed of the Jialing River, a tributary of the Yangtze, which is approaching record-low water levels in Chongqing, China, Aug. 18, 2022.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte and Karen Norris. )

A look ahead

Thanks for joining us. Come back tomorrow: We’ve got a look at what the latest sci-fi and fantasy shows can teach us about paths out of today’s tribalism.

More issues

2022
August
18
Thursday

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