Topics: Despair; Dreams; Hope; Potential; Vision
Reference: Proverbs 13:12
Our Little League coach had a picnic for the team at the beginning of the season. After we ate hot dogs and hamburgers, he gave us a pep talk. “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the major leagues?” he asked.
Almost every hand shot up. Every kid believed he could do it; you could see it in his eyes. “If that is to happen, that dream begins now,” Coach said. We were so inspired that we practiced hard and played hard and went undefeated for the next few years. All-Star teams from other leagues played us and lost.
Years later, when I became a coach, I brought my kids together to give them the same pep talk. But when I asked, “How many of you have a dream to one day play in the major leagues?” not one hand went up. Not one kid believed he could do it. I was speechless.
The rest of my talk was meaningless, so I said, “Really? Nobody? Well, get your gloves and let’s throw.”
I thought about that day for a long time. What had happened in the twenty-five years since I was a kid? What had come into their lives to steal their dreams? What had convinced them they would never be more than what they were?
—Barry Merritt, Toledo, Ohio