Paul Bereswill/Getty Images

Tim Thomas decided to enforce his personal rights to not attend his team’s visit Monday to meet Barack Obama at the White House.

Oddly enough, what most people seem to have overlooked, Tim Thomas was never invited in the first place.

Yup, you heard me. Tim Thomas was never invited. Not only was he not invited this time, I kind of doubt he will ever be invited.

To clarify, the goaltender for the Boston Bruins Stanley Cup-winning team of 2011 was invited. Now, that individual also happens to be Tim Thomas, but that is not who the invitation was for. This was an invitation to the Boston Bruins, and it was their invitation to accept or decline.

Now, Thomas had a nice little planned out quotation to release:

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.

There are a lot of people who believe that if there was a Republican in the White House, perhaps Tim Thomas would not have felt so inclined to make such a strong statement. But, that is irrelevant really. Because, to reiterate, Tim Thomas, the INDIVIDUAL, was never invited. Tim Thomas, the Boston Bruins goalie, was.

Video Play Button Videos you might like

Now, if Thomas was a real man, he would have gone to the Boston Bruins management and ownership, returned the money from his contract and quit the balance of it by retiring–so he could exercise his rights as a free citizen.

You see, I am all for exercising your rights. I am all against abusing them. And Tim Thomas abused those rights.

There are soldiers who fought and died so that Thomas would have the right, as a free citizen, to freely choose to sign a contract worth millions and millions of dollars with the Boston Bruins. Included in that contract would be his obligations to represent the Boston Bruins in public. Unless I am sadly mistaken, there was no clause in there which stated that Thomas would not have to represent the Boston Bruins if it involved a trip to the White House.

You see, Tim Thomas wanted to make millions of dollars in salary and in sponsorship. But, he did not like having to live up to one of the demands that was included into that agreement. You see, those founding fathers that Thomas refers to wanted him to have the chance to make millions of dollars for who he is and for what he does. Not because of his parents, family, race, gender, age, sexual orientation or any other demographic he could be divided into. Now, what Thomas did, was he decided to become an employee and representative of a team (the Boston Bruins). He was not coerced or forced into doing this; he did so of his own free will. Just like his Founding Fathers would have wanted.

Then, he decided that because it was inconvenient for him, he abused his contract. Just like some British nobleman who decided that it would be inconvenient if the laws of the land had to apply to them and just what those Founding Fathers were trying to eliminate when they laid down the constitution of the United States of America.

You see, to be a free citizen means that not only does Tim Thomas have the right to make millions of dollars per year. It means he has the right to refuse millions of dollars a year. If being a representative of a company named the Boston Bruins and getting paid millions of dollars to represent that company’s beliefs is acceptable. Then you visit the White House and smile in public. If it is more important to assert your INDIVIDUAL rights, well then, exercise your rights to refuse that money and become an individual.

Because, until Tim Thomas gives back that money and retires out of his contract, he is the millionaire Boston Bruins goalie whose responsibility was a public appearance was at the White House and not Tim Thomas, the unpaid rights activist.