The day was August, 3rd, 1972. A Dominican boy by
the name of Paul had just struck out on a miserable day; the mosquitoes were
thicker than a fog, the sun sweltering.
His team had been trounced 17 times in a row, and today, Paul swung out
for the very last time. He decided as he heard the smug almost sarcastic smack
in the catchers glove from a ball that was “just inside” that this would be his
last stand at the plate. He was done. Nothing before this season started, nothing
during and for sure nothing now could be deemed as any good. The summer started out fast and hot, the
constant fights between his parents culminated in a crazy nightmare. The
slamming of two doors; the front one to his home and the one of his mom’s car
as she sped away. She might have thought that she was just speeding away from
her problems but Paul wondered if she considered that she was speeding away
from him, his one and only mamma.
With only his feet to keep him going, Paul trudged to the
nearby block wall, threw his gloves and hat over it, leaned back and closed his
eyes.
“Hey kid.”
Paul quickly opened his eyes, shocked that someone had spied
out his moment he thought of as private.
“Hey kid.
Why you feeling so bummed out, just a strike out. Even the Babe had almost
1,900 strike outs in his career. Funny thing is that no one remembers those
because he kept swinging.”
Keep swinging. Life
is so terrifically hard these days isn’t it? Today, I just want to affirm what
everyone else is thinking. Life is a
challenge. What do we do with that?
In the story above, Paul decides to keep swinging. He ends up becoming a professional baseball
player, and ends up breaking the homerun record of 1999. Paul decided to keep
swinging, did you?
In this world, we can only do one of two things, be a member
of the audience, eating hot dogs, drinking in all the sights and sounds and
watching the action happen before us or we can be a participant; actually suit
up, and say proudly, “I want to be a part of this.”
I have to tell you, that is the most exciting part of the
game. When you decide to actually step up the batters box, and swing!
We will always have moments when we go down, but the
greatest parts of life are when we have realized that we went down swinging,
there is no shame, and we can confidently say we did our best!
This is our one chance to go for it; I am going to tell you
now, don’t waste it. Just think of this,
Would you rather be…
…someone who watches the action from a seat in the stands?
Sure that is safe, but what part do you play in it?
Or do you want to be a part of the action, swing and hit, or
swing and strike out, but for God sakes, swing!
Every time you choose to swing, you will learn something; whether you
strike the ball for a grand slam, or you completely miss it… the fulfillment is
that we swung! Sometimes, we’re just not meant to hit it.
-Lou