Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We watched Gandhi last night.  We certainly weren't about to see the Super Bowl.  I wouldn't allow my kids to play football, but the longer I live, the more I realize my brother may have been permanently impacted by his high school football career.  My mother was against his playing but my father prevailed.  Of course, in those days the public did not understand the damage and violence of the sport and the effect on the brain.  But my brother had scars and a bad knee the rest of his life.  He was heavily recruited for college football:  more than twenty full scholarships.  But he was turned off by the offers of apartments, cars, women and cash.  It disgusted him.  He turned them all down.  Now I see a connection between football and his attempt to kill himself at sixteen.  Had he already experienced brain damage?  No one even thought of it.  He killed himself several years ago and we'll never know if his was alcohol fueled, depression driven or there was an added dimension from all the brutal hits and concussions.  His high school coach went on to coach the Vikings.  The coach pushed these kids, with brains that wouldn't be fully developed for another ten or twelve years to "be a man" and "buck up".  You got up off the field bleeding and went right back in the game.  Is my brother one of those innocent victims of a brutal culture?  I feel he is.  Football should be banned.