A couple of weeks ago, we visited a beautiful town called Staunton. This small town has cobbled streets, a Presidential Library, American Shakespeare Center and a quaint downtown. We happened to be there because of our son's basketball tournament. His team went into the tournament as a top seed and promptly lost the first game they played. The coach had a team meeting right after the game. He didn't yell and he was not angry. He just said three lines.
"You guys know you are better than what you showed in the first game. Look within yourselves and recognize the mistakes you all made in this game. Then find the strength to improve in the next game and play as a team."
After that, we all went to grab a bite. The team was quiet. The expression on the 14-yr old faces was different from whatever I have seen before. I guess I could call it resolute. They all knew that if they lost the next game, the tournament would be over for them. Well, they won the next three games and went on to win the tournament!!
So what happened? The 14-year old boys found the strength within themselves to realize their mistakes. So why is it so tough for grown-ups to admit theirs? Is it ego or is it complicated social situations? Or both? It takes a brave and mature person to admit that he or she made a mistake. We all make mistakes and we all have flaws. Nobody is perfect. (although a lot of us really think we are!) We should accept people as they are and be flexible in our approach to life.
"Blessed are the flexible, for they will never be bent out of shape!" ~ Mark Twain
Anyway, our weekend was a perfect family getaway. In between, we were able to squeeze in a trip to the University of Virginia, to watch our daughter's scintillating dance performance. The four of us were together in a beautiful town, on a picture perfect day and reinforced an important, basic lesson of life ---
"If we make a mistake, we should find the strength within ourselves to admit it, learn from it and never repeat it."
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