I have been thinking lately of something that we have almost lost and are in danger of losing forever. Like Tinker Bell it will survive only if we revive our belief in the value of the concept. The glory of being an amateur is beginning to be lost in our modern, materialistic society. We are so busy saving time that we have no time to endeavor in a simple act of doing something for the love of doing it instead of the monetary rewards that may result.

The very term “amateur” has become an indictment indicating incompetence instead of indicating the dedication to accomplish something simply for the love of the challenge. If you were to compile a list of the greatest legends of sport's history, how many of those names would have been amateurs? I know that I'm older, but my list contains names like: Jim Thorpe, Jesse Owens, Bobby Jones, Babe Zaharias, Bob Mathias, Wilma Rudolph, Ralph Boston, Steve Prefontaine, and on and on. How many of you can remember the name of the current number-one athlete competing in this year's Olympic decathlon? Better than that, try to remember the name of any gold medal winner from the last Olympics that was not being compensated monetarily. Buzz! Time’s up! How many of our recent Olympic athletes have been discovered taking performance enhancing drugs? Do they do this for the “Glory of Sport” or for the money?

And here on hubpages, think of the number of questions relating to receiving money compare to the questions regarding how to write better. Instead we get sucked in to the game of increasing our hub score instead of increasing our writing skills and enjoyment. All this effort to improve on a score that no one seems to be able to explain.

The Olympics used to be an activity strictly of and for amateurs. Now it is almost the exclusive realm of professional athletes. Now, the games are not competed for the love of sport, but for the love of glory and the money that it will bring in commercial endorsements. Can you remember the time our all-amateur hockey team, that no one thought could win, beat the pants off of the Russian professionals? The entire country stood a little taller the next day. Then, a few years ago when their feat was made into a movie, the entire audience stood for an ovation when they won the gold medal. At least that was the response in the theater that I attended. Have you ever been told about the Berlin Olympics when Jesse Owens humbled the Nazi super race in front of a brooding Adolph Hitler? Then, when he returned home, he earned a living racing horses as a novelty.

Give me the dedicated amateur, who achieves out of love for the activity, over the jaded professional who will hold out on his commitment because his exorbitant salary is not as high as another professionals’ exorbitant salary.

And what is worse, the disease continues to creep into other realms of amateurism. Every year we hear of college athletes falling prey to the lure of the “all-mighty dollar” either by accepting illegal gratuities or leaving their education early for the professional drafts. We have high school programs sponsored and exploited by major corporations, like Nike. And for those of you who don't understand the degrading danger here, I can only feel sorry for you.

Appreciate your dedicated amateurs, whether they compete in sports, participate in your local community theater, provide music, are visual artist or any other endeavor engaged in by non-professionals for love; these members of your community are the best of the best. They speak for the American Dream!