And the Crowd Went Wild

I shouldn’t be bringing this up yet, but fall is just around the corner.  We’ve got a lot of nice days coming, don’t worry.  But as school begins and as the leaves start to turn (for some of us) and as the average temperatures start dropping, another thing happens.

Football.

I’m admitting that I’m not someone who spends every Sunday watching, cheering and vicariously living “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” (Jim McKay) but I do on occasion peek at the standings and listen to others discuss these very things.

A few years ago, one of the things on the tongue of every football fan (and perhaps still remains an emotional discourse) was THE day of Blair Walsh.

From Sports Illustrated:

        On Jan. 10, 2016, the Vikings hosted the Seahawks in Minneapolis at TCF Bank Stadium in an NFC wild-card game. Factoring in the wind chill, temperatures plummeted to -25° Fahrenheit, making their playoff affair the third-coldest game in NFL history. It was also the single worst afternoon of Blair Walsh’s life.
      Players huddled around heaters near the benches. Fans scraped ice off luxury box glass as if attending to frozen-over car windshields. But this game wouldn’t be remembered for the cold. It wouldn’t be remembered for the three field goals Walsh made in the first three quarters, the only points scored by either team for most of the game. Nor would it be remembered for the Seahawks’ fourth-quarter touchdown, Adrian Peterson’s fumble that gave Seattle the ball back, or the field goal that put the Hawks ahead, 10–9.
      Instead, that game will always be known as the time one of the NFL’s most reliable kickers, a first-team All-Pro in 2012, shanked a game-winning field-goal attempt with 26 seconds left. Of course it wasn’t that simple. There were circumstances. The cold meant the kickers couldn’t feel their feet; the holder placed the ball the wrong way, with the laces in, a la Ace Ventura: Pet Detective; and the Seahawks had nearly blocked the previous attempt, meaning Walsh’s unit would have to hurry. But nobody remembers any of that. What they recall is that Walsh missed from 27 yards, ending the Vikings’ season by hooking a kick he can still make with his eyes closed. That’s what most recollect, anyway. 

And, from what I hear, a Twitter-storm erupted with all of the judgment and condemnation that you can imagine.   I was going to add a couple here, but in our current social climate, all of you can imagine what these 160 character comments said.

But there was a group of people who had something else to say.  They were not part of the social media collective nor will they ever be.  They look at life in awe and wonder.  They concern themselves with exploration and happiness.  They desire to make elders proud of them.  They want to be involved and they look to please.

And they make all of our lives worth living.

Today, we’re speaking of a group of first graders from Northpoint Elementary School in Minneapolis.  The lesson being taught was ‘empathy'. I wonder if this should be a mandatory class for all adults every few years or so.

Side note: Principal Judi Kahoun outlines her hope for the students under her care:

• Read with deep understanding, write to express themselves, and apply math knowledge and strategies in order to problem solve at the highest levels
• Learn to advocate for themselves in order to express their beliefs and needs, while being able to practice inquiry and allow themselves to learn from others, and be open to different perspectives; and ask good questions and think at the highest of levels
• Grow social skills to demonstrate good manners, show kindness, empathy, and compassion, and to be a good friend to all
• Contribute with pride as a member of a collaborative group, take initiative and see a job through to completion

Well, this is becoming a bit long for a lead-in.  Here’s the point.  These kids wrote letters to Blair Walsh showing empathy and understanding.  There was no judgement.  There was no condemnation.  They spoke as strangers to someone who MUST be hurting.  They spoke as friends to someone they never thought they would meet.  They shared their hearts with others 'as the rain falls and the sun shines'.

And then, Blair showed up - in humble gratitude.

Watch this 2 minute YouTube.

The crowd went wild when Blair missed field goal.


Examine this story from two fronts.
What do our reactions look like when (1) WE miss the mark and (2) when others fail in similar ways.

Can we be like children?

The crowd went wild as Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey. 

But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.
 “Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him.
“Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read,  ‘From the lips of children and infants you, Lord, have called forth your praising ?” Matt 21: 16 

And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3

Experiment:

If you have some personal stories about children living as God intended all of us to live, please share them!  Maybe I can just create a page for these to be posted for all to see.  Names are not required unless you'd like to include them.  mike@responsiblereferrals.com   Thanks!