" 'Tony, you enjoy playing football, and these other guys enjoy playing football. You should have your senior year to play, and so should they. at the end of the day, what are you really upset about, anyway?' I began to answer, but he continued, talking over me without waiting for a response. I hadn't realized his question was rhetorical. 'Even if the issues are that important, should they spoil the fun that all of you should be having playing football as seniors? Thirty years from now, you don't want to look back and say that you missed out on something you really loved doing.' Then he asked the question he really wanted me to answer. 'Why would you let anything stop you from doing what you have the ability to do?' "
--from Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy, Chapter 3 pg. 24
In the book Quiet Strength, by Tony Dungy, Dungy talks about his high school football career and how his senior year of football was almost ruined due to a racial bias in the team captain choices. He knew that he and his friend, Bobby Burton (both of which were black), were definitely the ones to get the captain spots. However, only Dungy got a captain spot because the school didn't want two black captains. This infuriated Dungy to the point that he and many other colleagues quit the team. I believe that Dungy was making a mistake and didn't need something like this to ruin his entire senior year of football. Apparently, so did he. After consulting with his friend and mentor Mr.Rocquemore, he and many others decided to join the team once again. All in all, the moral of the story is don't let your pride get in your way so much that you have to ruin the fun in life. It doesn't hurt to be humble sometimes. Life will often throw a curve ball that you're not ready for, and in most cases, taking a stand is a bad idea. Sometimes you've just got to roll with the punches and move on because in the end, you'll only be doing more bad than good.
No comments:
Post a Comment