Tim Thomas Declines Invitation to the White House

Mark Twain once said: "To refuse awards is another way of accepting them with more noise than is normal." Indeed, it appears that the news that Tim Thomas declined an invitation to the White House is overshodowing the news that the rest of the team did attend.

When Bruins president Cam Neely was asked about the situation he stated that Thomas made a personal decision not to attend based on his "own opinions and political beliefs." Thomas's official Facebook page had the following statement:

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.
"This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.
"Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.
"This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT"

"It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare," is another truism from Mark Twain. It's good to hear that there are still some who will say what they believe in our current environment in which everyone might be offended by everything. Case in point, Kelly Clarkson was villainized for her choice in politicians. No dissent is allowed. You're either with us or against us. So what do you do if like Tim Thomas you don't agree with either side?