Page 11 - Kindness - No Forward

The day of tryouts, I drove by the field, somewhat in envy of those who
would soon be playing for the school. I saw the All-State pitcher from last
year pitching to the new hopefuls.

He was pitching to Tommy.

Tommy was very small for his age and had a birth defect which made
athletic activities hard for him.

He stood in the batting cage and swung mightily, but uselessly, at every
pitch. His batting helmet was too big, his shorts were baggy, his bat was
too big and heavy for him to swing.

He looked, I thought at the time, somewhat foolish.

After a few pitches, the coach yelled, “That’s enough, Kid”.

And Tommy replied, “Come on, Coach. Let me hit just one more.”

Let him HIT just one more? Heck, he hadn’t even come CLOSE to hitting
the ball!

I started to laugh. And then I cried.

Tommy was out there giving the best he had trying to achieve.

I was on the sidelines watching, tying to avoid failing.

All of a sudden, Tommy didn’t seam to appear so foolish.

I’ve never lost the feeling of respect I had that day for Tommy.

Because, you see, Tommy got it right. Tommy knew that the joy comes in
trying to achieve. The challenge of life is to make the attempt.
Accomplishing tasks which we know will master before we begin is not a
challenge.

The challenge comes when we attempt to perform tasks which we are not
sure we will accomplish.

And it is only through trying that we build self-respect…and only when we
have it that we can share it!