How many gears are left? When do we switch gears? For Kobe Bryant it was around game # 32. Ironically enough, it is not only my old number, or baby girls current number, it also happens to be Earvin "Magic" Johnson's old number. What's ironic about that? Well the Lakers are a sub .500 team, which for you math buffs and non-sports fans means they have not won as many games as they have lost. They have, however, improved. They are only 3 games below .500 (24-27) now and on a tough East Coast road trip. They've battled injury and managed to get closer to .500 in part, due to Kobe Bryant changing the way he plays. Now the heavy non-sports critic might ask, "Seriously, one guy really made that much of a difference?" The answer is, somewhat, yes he did. It's a collective (team) effort, but it has to start somewhere right? So goes life.
Kobe stepped away from the "me first, me only," scoring mentality and dared to be more like a previous Laker great Magic Johnson, and has began to get his teammates involved. The Lakers are more productive as a team, and gradually getting back to the Laker norm, and winning games. Also bettering their chances at another title. So how many losses does it take to realize it's time to switch gears?
Kobe stepped away from the "me first, me only," scoring mentality and dared to be more like a previous Laker great Magic Johnson, and has began to get his teammates involved. The Lakers are more productive as a team, and gradually getting back to the Laker norm, and winning games. Also bettering their chances at another title. So how many losses does it take to realize it's time to switch gears?
With that said, how many are left? Meaning how many are left that would want to play with a ball hogging, shoot first, washed up scoring champion, that couldn't help "them" win an NBA Championship? Not many. But how many would desire playing with a past NBA Champion, that was also the NBA Scoring Champion, and made them a part of that championship legacy? Most!
What's better, telling your kids or grand kids that you played a solid defensive game, while Kobe did not, but that he scored 45 points that night as you lost by 12, or... telling them that he set you up for 3 wide open 3's that you drained like lay-ups, and he led you with a sweet pass that turned into a dunk? Let's say also, WHILE he scored 4 or 44 (who cares because you won by double digits), and took the NBA crown all in the same breath! Yeah the latter sounds much more appealing right?
So how about friendship? What about family? Do you have a me first and me only mentality? Yes, I'm speaking to self most of all. What are you going to do when there are none left that want to play in YOUR game, or on YOUR team? Will you switch gears keep family together, to keep old friends around, gain new ones along the way, or will you be all about self and retire lonely? YOUR worth, good times, and attractiveness are fading, what do you have left... money? If so I can assure you not near enough to buy love, just enough to fake it and get lost in it. Wait though, you don't need money or anything else, after all they're family and friends, right? They're family and friends, they have to love you, right? Isn't that a given, won't they get over my abusing them? Physical abuse might leave a memorable fleshy scar, but what if the physical or even verbal abuse cuts deeper? You can put a band-aid on a surface wound, or a cast on a broken limb. You can see those things. Smoking around your children and exposing them to second hand smoke or teaching them that smoking is cool and creating an illness like asthma, emphysema, or bronchial diseases you can't see. It's the me first mentality talking.
Yelling at your partner in front of your children, or parents for that matter, you don't physically see the trauma until they express it. Cancer works that way. The way you're acting in a situation like that is the same difference as cancer, you can't see it.
So was your action a scratch, cut, or broken bone or was it a cancer? Choose your words wisely, and your actions even more wisely, and make sure that they are not cancerous. You may kill off the love of those closest to you with no hope of remission. Who knows? Let's hope that's not true, but let's not test it either. You can only ignore the wrong so many times, and only say I'm sorry (if you even really mean it) so many times. So how many are left today? How many will be left, providing you, or they see another tomorrow? Just a little something to think about this week as you leave home, career, and any other activity I may have missed.
Thank you Andrew Gall and class for the Einstein quote:
Insanity is doing the same old, same old and expecting a different out come.
SWITCH GEARS before there are none! Peace...
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