Girls get equal timeHave I ever said how grateful I am for Park District programs?
January 2009, and it’s Park District basketball season again. The youngsters show up for weekly practices and eventually weekly games with their pint-size rivals such as the Knicks, Nuggets, and Nets.
It amazes me how much the kids improve from one season to the next. This year they are actually dribbling most of the time (as opposed to running down the court with ball clutched in both hands); they are jumping for and catching rebounds; they are stealing unguarded balls. In short, the games are becoming interesting!
Subtle discrimination surfaces. During warm-ups one of the boys escorts a girl teammate to the back of his line. With a word of admonition, the coach immediately moves the girl to where she had been in the front of the line, and puts the boy back in his spot -- an important lesson for all the kids on that team.
You see good sportsmanship when the ref blows his whistle, and the kids hand him foul balls without a blink or a scowl.
“Each successive stage of experience unfolds new views of divine goodness and love.” Mary Baker Eddy
Seeing the kids’ skills improve from year to year is pure joy.
And so should all our lives improve with added wisdom and experience honing our life skills. Life is action -- at whatever age or stage.
God, eternal Life, does not relegate us to become merely observers of others’ progress. We don’t have to enroll in a Park District program to catch the rebounds of opportunity to be a little kinder, to watch our transactions more alertly, to claim unguarded moments of joy -- day by day.
Grab that ball of life and take it down the court into new territory!
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