Bread crumbs from God...

Every once in a while I hit a glass ceiling in life, where I can see my own limitations and I feel as if I were literally being encased and contained by my own attitudes, perceptions and behaviors. The glass ceiling allows me to see clearly what my limitations are, but I don't have to power to burst through the glass in order to continue to grow and change. However, it seems just as I am pressed up against the glass, my mind starts to unravel and I get trapped in warring mental extremes. I start to loose my serenity and as I become untethered from truth I start to mentally, physically and emotionally choke until some outside stimulus, or power, or God hammers through the glass and allows me to clearly breathe, think, act and change. New knowledge is gained and I move forward in life, only I am stronger and wiser than before. It is like I am walking on path that I have been on long before and I lost my way coming home. I am reliant on the bread crumbs from God left long ago to remind me the right path to take...

AND ONE!

Every outdoor basketball court has its own culture and ethic. In the summer time park basketball is a an institution. Today I played at Loring Park in Minneapolis. It was my first time there and for a white boy from St. Paul it feels at first like stepping into a strangers living room. In truth I was on someonelse's court and when I got there I felt I needed to act as a guest and observe the culture and mores before I could feel comfortable. Luckily for me I showed up with a veteran, my friend Jonah and while we watched on the sideline waiting to play he explained the rules of the court.

It is a loosely organized game but there is a strong social contract and structure that keeps it together. There were a group of elders with lawn chairs set up on the east sideline of the court and while they were not officiating the game in the same way a referee would they acted as the keepers of the social order and they commanded respect by all the players. Their position seated in the east and facing west suggested wisdom and foresight, like they had seen much of life, much of basketball and that they were there guarding and passing on a sacred tradition. Surrounding the court on all sides were players waiting to get in and make there mark, there were families with blankets, coolers, grills and barbeque's. There were dope fiends smoking weed on the sidelines and yuppies in sandals watching from the shade and trying to catch a tan in the sunshine.

As Jonah and I were waiting for our game controversy arose as to whose the next game really was. One of the older players, a man who did not yet make up one of the observing elders but perhaps soon, told us that the game was not ours and that they had been playing here for 30 years and there was a specific way to do things. He said we could not just come in here and change that. In essence he was trying to intimidate us out of the game. Jonah stood his ground though and after considerable argument a peaceful and amicable solution was found and we got to play in the next game.

While observing the controversy I learned an important lesson about being a man. Don't back down just because someone else talks tough. A man holds his ground respectfully, and never gives into intimidation. Instead he firmly, patiently and respectfully waits for the solution to come and than takes action.

When we took the court I found the game to be exactly the way I like it, tough, physical and fast paced. We won our first game and lost the second and than left. But I went home feeling more at home on that court, having learned some important lessons about life and basketball. As Jonah and I were leaving one of the elders sitting in the sidelines, an older tall black women wearing a green and white black history month t-shirt walked past us and said, "nice run." Hearing that made me leave the game holding my head a little higher with a little more confidence to carry out on to the court of life.

The Red-tailed Hawk

"What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected...
Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. If men spit upon the ground, they spit upon themselves. This we know, the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.“ ~Chief Seattle~

This quote is one of my favorites and I have always felt a great kinship with the Red-tailed Hawk....