My wife Jodi and I were late to watch the hit Apple TV+ show titled Ted Lasso. We just never got around to it until recently and have each night enjoyed watching a couple of episodes of the show. We are well into season 3 now and are already sad that the series will end at the end of this season. But as the director Declan Lowney offered, “That was the deal, and what lead actor Jason Sudeikis, who plays the main character Ted Lasso wanted.
Each episode offers at least one great life lesson and although the show is comedic, it is also very emotional as viewers find themselves connected with various characters in the show as you watch the wholesome and likable characters get hurt while going through challenging times. You can’t help but feel for them. My compliments to the writers and to the actors who deliver the great storyline.
One of my favorite scenes in the show came in season one, episode 8, titled The Diamond Dogs. {Spoiler alert, if you have not seen this episode you may want to just close this post and come back after you can watch it} In this scene, Rebecca’s ex-husband Rupert disrespects her in front of Ted, the coach intervenes and calmly challenges him to a game of darts. If Rupert wins, he pics the starting lineup for the last two games of the season. If Ted wins, Rupert must stay away from the owner’s box while Rebecca is in it. The lesson was that Rupert, who pulled out his own custom-made set of darts from his jacket, judged Ted Lasso thinking that he could not play the game and would be an easy victory.
Watch the scene below…
I know you must be wondering, what does this have to do with the Town of Merrillville? Well, that scene really hit me, and I realized that the words ‘Be Curious, Not Judgmental’ could really change many attitudes in town if we all were just more curious before making quick judgments about things that affect us in life.
We deal with many issues each day in town. From residents not taking care of their properties, residents questioning the Council’s decisions on offering Tax Abatement to what seems to be rich companies coming to town, to our police force responding to a variety of calls received every day. We should not be judgmental. We should be curious, seeking answers to questions to give us a better understanding of the situation.
Why is the neighbor’s grass so tall? There could be many reasons why… perhaps the mower is not working, perhaps they are injured and cannot cut the lawn, perhaps they are traveling, and the person hired to cut the grass didn’t show up. There could be many reasons why the grass is tall. And our code enforcement officers knock on doors to ask those questions. We just don’t show up with the ticket book and leave a ticket on the door. We try to fix the issue if possible.
-Rick Bella, Town Council President, Ward 5 Representative