Children Know Best

When Minnesota Vikings kicker Blair Walsh went wide left Sunday there were some really visceral reactions from "Minnesota Nice".  There were a lot of factors that contributed to the Vikings snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, not just Blair Walsh missing a kick.  You could even make the argument that they wouldn't have been in a position to win the game if it weren't for him.

One first grade class in Blaine, MN reached out to Walsh in a touching way, sending him letters of support contain such great phrases as "Keep on trying", "I had a missed basket before" and "Do you have a guinea pig?".  He visited the class the other day and helped teach the kids there the meaning of gratitude and of taking responsibility.  It was a wonderful article to read and it brought me back to the winter of 2003.

On February 1, I was making breakfast for myself and my then 6-year old son, Benjamin, while he watched TV.  He was fascinated with the space shuttle and was watching Columbia return from it's 28th mission live.

"Daddy, I think something is wrong with the shuttle," he said.

I walked over to where he was sitting on the couch and watched with him while the shuttle disintegrated on re-entry, killing all seven astronauts on board.

"What happened to it, daddy?" he asked.

"There was a really bad accident, buddy," I responded to him, trying to be calm but completely horrified, memories of watching the Challenger disaster flooding back into my mind and barely 2-years removed from 9/11.

"Are the astronauts okay?"

"I don't think so."

We talked about it a little bit but Ben can be pretty closed.  He keeps things inside and tends to mull them internally.

About a month later, I saw this on his desk in his room:

I'm not sure what his plan was with it.  We tried to talk to him - praising him for his compassion and willingness to reach out to make hurting people feel better - but to no real avail. I offered to mail it for him but he seemed uncertain.  It was as if just writing the letter let him vent his grief.  However, I made a copy and sent the original to NASA:

 

Unfortunately, as you can tell, I failed to put our return address on the letter so Ben never received a response - not that he ever knew I sent it (though if he reads any of Dad's work these days, he knows now!) - but I felt it was important to follow through and let NASA know that their tragedy was America's tragedy; the tragedy of a 6-year old boy in North Las Vegas.

 

Ben and the first graders in Blaine should remind us that, in the darkest of times, finger pointing and blame should be replaced with understanding.  Mistakes do indeed happen and there are more factors than just one single moment that make up victory or defeat, success or failure. 

 

We aren't born to be internet trolls. Our "original nature", if you will, is nurture and compassionate.  Somewhere along the way we lose sight of that whether it's through parents, coaches, friends or the competitive pressures of life itself.  It's good to be reminded of it every once in a while.