April 29, 2002
A Brief Encounter Of The Love Kind
Risk is essential. There is not growth of inspiration in
staying within what is safe and comfortable. -- Alex Noble
On Saturday my sixteen-year-old son,
David, had two inline hockey games for his high school.
The first game was hard fought, but ended with a defeat for his team.
An hour later, David’s team played an incredible game and skated to a lopsided
victory.
Near the end of the game, I heard a
commotion behind the stands where I had been watching and cheering with other parents.
A young man who was on the receiving end of punishment during the prior fifty
minutes, threw down his hockey stick in disgust and began to inform his mother that he had
wasted money on this activity, was tired of it, and just wanted to quit.
The crowning blow was a broken hockey stick he had purchased earlier that morning.
I could not help but watch his mother trying to find a way to communicate with him while
dealing with her own emotions.
I was standing close by after the game as
the young man continued to emote about the stick, losing the game, and his general
frustration with the whole affair. He skated
off to talk to his coach with his mother still standing a few feet from me in a daze.
I wanted to reach out to her or him or to both of them, but I had never seen them
before and did not want to interfere. But I
knew deep inside that there was more to the story and she looked embarrassed, lost and
alone. My soul was begging me to do
something… anything.
Assuming the worst that could happen was
to be told to mind my own business, I went up to her, gently touched her arm, and said,
“What a challenging time of life for our kids and also for us parents.”
Her eyes looked into mine and began to tear up.
I continued to ask about his stick and took a look at it.
She proceeded to tell me that he had spent over $300 of his own money to buy the
equipment in order to play on the team. As his father had recently lost his job, she could not find a way to come up with
the extra funds to help underwrite the cost.
I told her that I admired the way she was trying to be firm with
him and yet caring at the same time. Also she
had shown great restraint in not making him even more embarrassed by taking him to task in
front of the crowd that was there. I gave her
a hug, introduced myself, and told her I would say a small prayer for her and her son.
She smiled and thanked me, and then I walked away.
Putting yourself out there is a risky
thing to do. You might be shunned and
embarrassed. If we believe that we are all part of an extended family, then we must make
certain that people in need, even when it is not a matter of life or death, feel our love.
On the way home David asked if I had seen
that kid who was so upset after the game. I told him yes and then told of my brief encounter.
About thirty minutes later after some fast food, he and I drove home in silence.
I looked over at him and told him I was thinking about that young man and his
mother, and David turned and said, “So am I”.
With respect, acceptance, and love,
Richard
© Richard D. Olson and Awaken The Soul, 2002; Edited by Janice
E. Olson