Wandering Mind...

Random thoughts, experiences, observations, views, desires, ideas, humor, inspirations, emotions, insights...ahhh whatever! With a touch...of the WORD!!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Wisdom from a Fifth Grader Goalie.

Quite a story that has been told and retold until it reached me. An eye opener and a conviction worth sharing and emulating...

One father shared......

I have really enjoyed your devotionals about soccer. I, too, remember when my daughter started in first grade. Usually, she was the goalie. Mostly she was a ballerina. She couldn’t prevent the other team from scoring unless she was in the middle of a very intense dance routine like pirouetting, doing the arabesque or practicing her positions. To all of this, her coach would just laugh. We had that coach for four years and I think patience is probably his best virtue.

This year, our coach was different. He is a former military man. He is fierce, disciplined, unforgiving and unfortunately, extremely sarcastic and belittling. Great for marines, I suppose. Not so great for fifth grade girls. But, we stuck it out, kept our mouths shut, and counted down the weeks until the season was over. After our final game, I stared in amazement as my daughter, who really disliked this man, went to him and thanked him for taking the time to coach her. I couldn't believe it. She had endured his insults, ridicule and snide remarks. I asked her why she had done that, and she said that maybe he was not nice because no one had been nice to him.

From the mouth of a fifth grader comes incredibly simple wisdom. Almost always this is the case. Abusers have been abused. Oppressors have been oppressed. The neglected become neglectful. How else do we know what to do? We have been trained in our vices.

Two lessons here: 1) Realize how important it is to treat people well. 2) Realize that those who err in their own handling of relationships have most likely had poor examples from which to learn. This is not an excuse for bad behavior, but it does help to understand and break the cycle. When possible, it helps to give a different response than what a poor attitude typically engenders.

How about that? Shining light isn't it?
Have a blessed day!

Verse-Meal
Matthew 5: 47
And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? (NIV)

5 Comments:

At 8:17 PM, March 16, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is an exemplification how humility is not a sign of weakness or cowardice, but in fact a showing of strength and courage...

 
At 7:48 AM, March 17, 2006, Blogger Kathy said...

"Humility does not mean you think less of yourself..it means you think of yourself less".
Do you remember FJ when i posted this one on my blog before?

Oh let me hug her..smart girl^_^
Shame,shame on me hehe!...sometimes kids are more matured than us.Phew.. i need a counselling sometimes...
You're a great example for your kids..what do we expect more?If "CHRIST" is in the center of our one's life nothing would be wrong.
Am so blessed today..thanx!

-kathy-

 
At 10:59 AM, March 18, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

flexj, how are you? i am in a new home now.

they say an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. but it doesnt work that way. the more we respond to not so nice people the same way they treat us, the more it aggravates the situation. kill them with kindness, so the saying goes.

 
At 7:05 AM, March 22, 2006, Blogger Ka Uro said...

"break the cycle" - yes i think that is the key. thanks for sharing.

 
At 7:37 PM, March 31, 2006, Blogger Nunzia said...

hey I wanted to let you know that I fixed the link to my page, so now you're on :) Can you also change my link to http:nunzia.blogspot.com ? You have the old dead page on the sidebar. Thanks! God bless!

 

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