How Much More Can YOU Take?

As I was watching the NBA Playoffs and now the NBA Finals, “It” dawned on me again!

All during High School and later in college, I remember how many times I’d lose my voice from all the cheering and screaming “calls for action” when a Ref decided to make a call we “Professional Game Watchers” found disagreeable. I remember various schools and all the hoopla that preceded each game and the joint disappointment of both sides at times. Yet, there we all were, looking, enjoying, slapping “High Fives” and hugging each other. It didn’t matter whether you were seated with friends and in the rows behind you and ahead of you were strangers, we were all united.

Unlike my husband and sons, who watched the games from the perspective of fervently rooting for their favorite teams and discussing why Stephen Curry didn’t take that shot and why Green being absent would affect the outcome; as though they were within the Locker Room walls of both Warriors and Cavaliers, helping to formulate key strategies, I was lost in the audience.

To hear them talk, you would have to think they must have been privy to or maybe they have a private hook-up of some sort to Tyronn Lue and/or Steve Kerr that I am just not aware of.

Seriously though, I watched with great intent as the cameras would pan the audience full of people all enthused about a sport, a team, a player, a coach and yes, even a Ref and suddenly I began to cry; really deeply and hard. The children thought something had happened that they didn’t see (Oh the shame of that!), while my husband jumped up to see if I was upset that my team was losing for the moment! It never dawned on any of those big, strong men that their beloved Wife/Mother should be crying for anything while watching a game.

Yet there I was, an uncontrollable heap of so many emotions! For in the audience I saw blond haired women sitting next to Blue and Gold people and chocolate skinned women and Asian and Red haired older men with younger replicas of themselves, all cheering for their teams. Some were painted Blue and Gold while some others were wearing other items of support for their Teams. Some had tattoos, some had earrings in ears and nose, while others were wearing braids of various colors and shapes and some had no hair at all!

No matter which team was being supported, here, these folks were all in unison; they all wanted the same thing, for their team to win! So imagine how I felt when “IT” came upon me! No one could tell if the person next to them was anything other than what they appeared to be, a FAN! I doubt if they really cared enough to look other than to step over the person or to apologize if in their enthusiasm, they might have hit someone. And so “IT” took on an even greater meaning for me.

How could we all be enjoying being a part of something like a Basketball game and still harbor evil hateful thoughts about the same person we were cheering with? What difference did their culture, or any other persuasions have to do with just enjoying a game with loved ones, friends and/or strangers?

After the most recent horrific and brutal crime to affect our great country, here we are again, trying to understand what makes the opinions of one person be so overwhelming that they feel they must become the Judge and Jury and Executioner of others who do not agree or look or talk or whatever, like them?

Why is their rage and anger so much more compelling than the feelings of those innocent lives that were taken from us and those of the families, loved ones and friends who now have deep holes that can never be filled or replaced in their hearts and minds? Why must we continue to bury the dead of such heinous actions because one person just couldn’t try to understand and see that there is no perfect person in our existence; that we must all tolerate each other and try to understand the other’s point of view without rudely destroying what they perceive to be inadequate or wrong?

How dare someone be so crass as to take advantage of all the FREEDOMS We have and feel they can make a name for themselves with such evil violent measures? How selfish of them to create despair and unanswered questions for their own circle of family and acquaintances! The horror and devastation they leave for us is painful to say the least. How many more words can we say, how many more regrets can we feel; how many more do we have to bury before we realize that we are not an island unto ourselves?

I am in deep sorrow and not only because I know that this country was founded on so many wonderful principles, traditions and intentions that somehow we seem to have found ways to destroy and/or manipulate our country into a mangled mess; but also because of the Diversity that brought the Unites States into its Greatness! I want to be able to look at my neighbor and not wonder if they are really looking at me as a person they like and care about or just a thing that lives next door to them!

As I believe in God and while you might believe in Allah or Buddha or Jehovah or The Holy Father or The Sun or Nothing, I feel that is your right as a Human Being to make your decisions on how you live and because so many have died for and continue to fight for our right to make those decisions here and abroad, for me it is appalling that the wondrous gift of life can be and is continuously taken by individuals who suffer within themselves and don’t seek or desire or even realize they need help!

Yes, I am angry, but I am also a strong enough woman to believe that we here and in other countries who have suffered loss, will somehow unite and find answers that will make it possible for some amount of humanity to continue to co-exist! WE MUST! For if we don’t, all that Space Exploration that we are doing may surely find that there are others in the Universe and they may want to come and visit and/or stay. If so, we will then be Earthlings having to co-exist with...?

Please honor our Past as Americans and think about the many lives which have been cut down in these mass killings all over our great country. Lives that may have had so much wisdom and knowledge to make a difference, may have been on the brink of discovering cures or ways to increase the economy or new technological discoveries. Lives lost and betrayed in a sense, by people who did not understand the real value of Sportsmanship and that the game can be won, but only in Fairness and with Integrity and Respect for all!

The views and opinions are mine, Dee Wilkins, submitted with the continuous Hope and Prayer that "It" will dawn on others to utilize the greatness of the power within them to make a positive IMMPACT Now just in case tomorrow does come!

Be Blessed and May God Bless You!

Dee Wilkins, Senior Editor                                                                                          IMMPACT Christian Business And Professional Magazine                                           Please Follow Me on Twitter @immpactmag                                                    www.immpactmag.com