Harold Reese's grandfather pointed to a tree in Brandenburg, Kentucky, telling his son that this was where black people were once lynched. That made an impression on the boy, who then relayed the story later to his children.
One of these children was Harold Reese. It was Reese who, after Jackie Robinson was signed to play for the Dodgers, refused to sign a petition stating the Dodgers would not play ball with a black man. It was Reese who first introduced himself to Robinson on the field, who played cards with Robinson, and Reese who walked over to Robinson in 1947 and put his arm around him while Robinson was being booed from the stands.
Robinson recounted that he had felt a "hopeless, dead feeling" while being ridiculed by his own fans, and that it was Reese who had probably saved his career that day.
Reese himself described the last event as sort of an impulse: "Something in my gut reacted to the moment." He didn't exactly know what it was, but his brother believed it had to do with their father's story about the tree.*
Even if it weren't true, and Reese simply tended naturally to shy away from the racism of many of his peers, events like the one described by his grandfather have an impact on us.
Consider Paul Farmer (I mentioned him yesterday), a man who spent years making sure tuberculosis was-- and stayed-- eradicated in central Haiti. Farmer lived several years of his childhood in a bus and on a cramped boat. Farmer recalled that this upbringing, along with the practice of eating poor food without complaining and studying under distracting conditions, allowed him to live and work from a small, one-bedroom house in Haiti with few amenities.**
Maybe this point goes without saying, that we can be strongly impacted by our experiences. There have definitely been events in many of our lives that stand out as shaping us in one way or another, whether for good or bad; but the one thing I know to be true is that whatever the event, it is our response to it that matters most. Reese could have dismissed the tree memory when it became inconvenient to put his reputation on the line in front of a staring audience, just as Farmer could have felt satisfied to have beaten poverty and lived lucratively as a medical doctor or professor.
Such "high generalities" are easy enough to make, I guess, that it is "our response to a situation that matters most;" but it really is true that when someone criticizes you, and you refuse to respond in kind (whether your response involves a non-defensive acknowledgment of the person, a gentle disagreement, or something else), you send a message that you won't be controlled by anger or other people's opinions of you. Continue to serve in the way you know you were meant to and -- in others' eyes, as well as your own-- your strengths will begin to shine brighter than your flaws.***
*Berkow, Ira. "Standing Beside Jackie Robinson, Reese Helped Change Baseball." Sports of the Times, New York Times. 31 March 1997. Accessed 29 May 2011.
**Kidder, Tracy. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World.New York: Random House, 2003.
***What if you don't know the way you were meant to serve? For me, this was a matter of spending enough time at a task or occupation to find whether you are good enough at it; and when you know you're not very good at something, and knowing you won't get much better, walking away to find something you are better at.
One of these children was Harold Reese. It was Reese who, after Jackie Robinson was signed to play for the Dodgers, refused to sign a petition stating the Dodgers would not play ball with a black man. It was Reese who first introduced himself to Robinson on the field, who played cards with Robinson, and Reese who walked over to Robinson in 1947 and put his arm around him while Robinson was being booed from the stands.
Robinson recounted that he had felt a "hopeless, dead feeling" while being ridiculed by his own fans, and that it was Reese who had probably saved his career that day.
Reese himself described the last event as sort of an impulse: "Something in my gut reacted to the moment." He didn't exactly know what it was, but his brother believed it had to do with their father's story about the tree.*
Even if it weren't true, and Reese simply tended naturally to shy away from the racism of many of his peers, events like the one described by his grandfather have an impact on us.
Consider Paul Farmer (I mentioned him yesterday), a man who spent years making sure tuberculosis was-- and stayed-- eradicated in central Haiti. Farmer lived several years of his childhood in a bus and on a cramped boat. Farmer recalled that this upbringing, along with the practice of eating poor food without complaining and studying under distracting conditions, allowed him to live and work from a small, one-bedroom house in Haiti with few amenities.**
Maybe this point goes without saying, that we can be strongly impacted by our experiences. There have definitely been events in many of our lives that stand out as shaping us in one way or another, whether for good or bad; but the one thing I know to be true is that whatever the event, it is our response to it that matters most. Reese could have dismissed the tree memory when it became inconvenient to put his reputation on the line in front of a staring audience, just as Farmer could have felt satisfied to have beaten poverty and lived lucratively as a medical doctor or professor.
Such "high generalities" are easy enough to make, I guess, that it is "our response to a situation that matters most;" but it really is true that when someone criticizes you, and you refuse to respond in kind (whether your response involves a non-defensive acknowledgment of the person, a gentle disagreement, or something else), you send a message that you won't be controlled by anger or other people's opinions of you. Continue to serve in the way you know you were meant to and -- in others' eyes, as well as your own-- your strengths will begin to shine brighter than your flaws.***
*Berkow, Ira. "Standing Beside Jackie Robinson, Reese Helped Change Baseball." Sports of the Times, New York Times. 31 March 1997. Accessed 29 May 2011.
**Kidder, Tracy. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World.New York: Random House, 2003.
***What if you don't know the way you were meant to serve? For me, this was a matter of spending enough time at a task or occupation to find whether you are good enough at it; and when you know you're not very good at something, and knowing you won't get much better, walking away to find something you are better at.
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