While watching my son's first round sectional basketball game at SouthEastern High School last night...suddenly, a buzz of excitement washed through the crowded gymnasium. Curiously, it had nothing to do with the action on the court. No...heads were turning and much pointing and gawking were happening because...DANTE had arrived. That is Dante (pronounced DAN-tay) the senior basketball phenom for the #1 ranked Greenfield McClain Tigers. Dante is the STAR of a very good McClain team that is poised to bring basketball glory via a state championship to the Greenfield faithful. He has already made a verbal commitment to continue his basketball career at Xaiver University next season. Dante appeared to me to be quite gracious as he made his way to where his buddies were seated in the far corner of the gym. Young boys were mesmerized by this sighting of Ohio basketball royalty. Old men got up from their seats, shook his hand, and smiled for the camaras. (Meanwhile, there was a basketball game being played) Oh yeah, my son's team is winning. I was stunned by all the hoopla surrounding Dante's entrance; I still have not seen him do ANYTHING yet with a basketball. All he did last night was walk across the room.
In all fairness, it was a pretty good walk.
But, later, on the way home from the ballgame, I couldn't help thinking:
"For crying out loud...Dante is just a 17 year old KID!"
I can't imagine being 17 and walking into a gym full of people who all know who you are (or think they do)...though they've never actually met you. Pretty heady stuff.
How do you live up to those kind of expectations?
What's it like "under the microscope"?
How can you tell if these new "friends" are genuine or if they have their own agendas?
What if you don't feel like shaking hands and smiling today...does that make you a jerk?
Did I mention that Dante is 17? And that, by all appearances...looks like a pretty typical kid from a small midwestern town; except, apparantly...on the court, he can do MAGIC with the basketball.
So, anyway, in a perhaps strange way...Dante made me think of Jesus. Not quite the 33-34 year old Jesus dying on the Execution Stake or walking out of the Tomb. Not that one, yet. But more like the 30-31 year old Jesus...the one first challenging some fishermen to follow him, then later, casting out some demons and raising a few people from the dead. That's the one. The one in Mark's Gospel traveling from village to village, followed by the ever-growing crowds...with all the diverse expectations and motivations...and agendas.
It just seems like such a precarious place to be; all the 'neediness', the wide-eyed stares, slack jaws, and impatient requests.
It just seems like such a long way to potentially fall.
It must seem like someone---any one of them---is just waiting to nail you.
Meanwhile...Dante just keeps smiling.
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5 comments:
yes...i totally agree...my prayer for Dante is that he retains some sense of humility as he transitions his basketball career from high school to college.
all i could think about when reading this was britney spears.
like maybe sometimes jesus just wanted to shave his head.
maybe jesus, dante, and britney have a lot in common...
;)
Jesus was the MAN, People think Dante is the Man, and Britney...well she is a product of how our society sets young people up to fail, stardom at a young age, no real childhood to learn and grow from and to experience childhood things. Her actions are a cry for help. She has everything and nothing at the sametime. She seems rather hopeless, what if she would have had a chance to go on a Chrysalis Flight or even attend our youth group as a High School age kid... Those are the kids I want to talk to... As for them having something in common, they all had people try to use them and bail when the going gets tough. But the fact remains that Dante and Britney have or will fail many times in their lives because they are human, Jesus died to save Dante and Britney because He knows they can't handle all of this on their own.
In the same gym (which is the Larry Jordan Gymnasium, a santuary for all of those that live in the Southeastern district) a young man played basketball throughout his Junior year and was very succesfull, if not the star of his team. Shortly after the season he was in an accident where he was volunteering on a farm and was attacked by a bull that left him paralyzed from the waste down. He did not return to school until the first day of his senior year. During first day orientation for grades 9-12 he entered the gym in a wheelchair. The student body fell silent and began to applaud and rose to a standing ovation. He is still loved because of who he is and not the skills that he no longer has.
Your life can change in seconds. What you are on a gym floor or a stage can change very quickly. I wish Dante the best. Is his success the issue or the fact that people worship (strong word yet unfortunately true) the problem? Who is at fault, Dante or the people that worship him? If he is still loved after his athletic career is over will be the test. Who is it testing......those that worship..... or him?
Dante is such a genuinely nice person.. much like you Steve.
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