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He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8
Reflect
Life hadn’t been easy for Jim. He grew up poor and wasn’t very good in school. His brother was his biggest help, but died when Jim was only nine. His mother died several years later while giving birth. And his father was wounded in a hunting accident and died of gangrene when Jim was just 17 years old. Orphaned, Jim dropped out of school to work on a farm.
A few years later he returned to school, and a coach noticed his athletic talent. Jim started competing in a variety of sports, from baseball to lacrosse to ballroom dancing. (He even became a college ballroom dancing champion!) He excelled at everything. He was a perennial college All-American, and though he didn’t regularly compete in track and field events, he was selected to compete in the Olympics.
By now you might have guessed that Jim is Jim Thorpe. And all of these things really did happen to him. But some of his greatest feats were yet to come – and some of his greatest disappointments. In the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Jim was the star attraction. He won four of the five events in the Pentathlon and finished in the top four of every event in the Decathlon and won four of them. He was awarded the gold medal in both events and was heralded in a ticker-tape parade in New York City upon his return home. Jim was a hero – for the moment.
Unfortunately, Jim had been unaware of rules that prohibited amateur athletes from accepting pay-for-play. Jim had spent a couple of summers playing “professional” baseball. It wasn’t amateur, he made a few bucks, so it was professional, but far from the major leagues. (And, unlike players who understood the situation, he had used his real name.) And it had nothing to do with his track and field exploits. But he was still guilty of breaking the super-strict rules governing amateurism. (Never mind that the governing body broke its own rules by not acting within 30 days of the event.) Jim was stripped of his medals.
Over the years there were many attempts by Thorpe and others to point out the injustice carried out by the Amateur Athletic Union and the International Olympic Committee, but to no avail. Jim’s medals weren’t re-awarded until 1983, about 30 years after he had died. And the official record books still list him as a co-gold medalist despite the way he dominated both competitions.
Life isn’t always fair. People sometimes do the right things for the wrong reasons, and even do the wrong things for the wrong reasons. We can’t always expect justice in this life. Ultimately, God will set things right – and I know that’s not always comforting to hear. In Jim’s case, it was clear that he hadn’t knowingly tried to skirt the rules. But the officials governing his case cared only for the letter of the law and not the spirit of it. And they broke their own rules in order to punish Jim. That was neither just nor kind.
So while justice may be elusive at times, we can make certain that we’re always on the side of justice ourselves. When we have the chance to advocate for someone who is accused of wrongdoing, we can ensure that we hear the whole case and that everyone involved receives just and fair treatment. God loves justice, and Jesus cared greatly for the less fortunate. If we are to shine their light in a darkened world, we will need to be consistently loving, just and kind.
Reflection copyright © 2025 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
