The best of our human emotions

“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise,” Socrates more than 400 B.C

Through the kindness of many coaches and administrators, I have been allowed the privilege of associating with a group of HSCHS athletes who subject themselves to a most vigorous conditioning regimen the likes of which I don’t remember from my own athletic experience at their age. Their practice sessions range from an hour to nearly two hours some days; they start at 4 p.m. MWF and 6 a.m. on TTh. They usually consist of 20-50 minutes of conditioning and drills, and the balance of the time in technique training and live sport activity. Intensity and hard work are expected, and less is not accepted.

All this is not to refute the brilliance of the father of democratic theory quoted above...but the following is.

One of those athletes was stricken with a serious health condition; one that could have been catastrophic. That it ended well was a relief for those who knew the athlete involved, but it also ended the athletic year for the young man.

At 4 p.m. on Monday following his diagnosis, this young man attended practice in support of his teammates. At 6 a.m. on Tuesday, he attended practice in support of his teammates. And, if I am a judge of character, he will continue that support for the balance of the season (his last).

I’m not suggesting that every youth would exhibit such character in the face of such disappointment. I am proclaiming that the spirit this young man shows still exists in the human heart, and occasionally breaks forth as if to lighten the world that at times seems so gloomy and dark.

My week, my life, has been made brighter by this youth through his loyalty to a concept...that a team (a family, a country) is more than a simple association for a limited time. It encompasses the best of our human emotions - love, compassion, faithfulness - and lest we forget, calls us to reaffirm that there are things greater than ourselves to which we owe allegiance.