Two outstanding teens

Greely High School in Cumberland, Maine, boasts two outstanding basketball players. For eight or nine years Patrick Thibodeau, a Greely senior with Downs Syndrome, has practiced with the basketball team in the summer, and managed the drills during the season. He has kept the water bottles full. Yet he had never played in a game.

Patrick is one hero, and he rose to the occasion magnificently with two three-pointers!

The other outstanding teen in this story was in the starting line-up. Sam Thompson stepped aside to offer Patrick his spot. Interviewed after the game he said simply that Patrick came to every practice, worked hard, and deserved this opportunity.

Would that the media would bring to the world the many other seventeen year-olds who are also caring and generous.

The families in the bleachers also illustrated Greely's team spirit. After Patrick’s first basket, he was back on the bench with his teammates when, in the final moments, the fans – on both sides! – began clapping and calling his name. The coach put him in, and Patrick managed to deliver his second 3-pointer – at the buzzer. The fans were wild with happiness.

It was so much more than winning. That evening people were celebrating courage and unselfish caring. The media picked up on Patrick’s faithful service to the team all those years and also on Sam’s generosity.

Patrick had reached for the stars and touched them; everyone rejoiced with him. Sam Thompson had found something equally precious and a little more private – the gold in his own character.

There is no limit to the good unselfishness can do because it originates in the Mind of the universe, the infinite Love that reveals mankind’s innate goodness.

Here's something to ponder about unselfishness:
“Whatever holds human thought in line with unselfed love, receives directly the divine power.” (Mary Baker Eddy)

If you are really into basketball, a YouTube of Patrick’s highlights follows. Patrick's baskets are at the 1:46 and 3:47 marks. Patrick is Number 3.

Oh no! Not another sports is life essay!

Girls get equal time

Have 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!