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The Right Thing To Do

by Joseph Walker

Darius and Johntel have a lot in common.

They are both talented high school seniors.  They both love
basketball.  They are both captains of their respective high school
basketball teams.

But on one Saturday night in February, they were forever linked
in the minds of all who were present for a mutual act of courage,
sportsmanship and respect.

The remarkable moment came during a game between Darius's small
town Illinois team and Johntel's big city team in Wisconsin -- a game
that almost wasn't played.

Just hours before tip-off Johntel's mother lost her five-year
battle with cervical cancer.

Her death was sudden and devastating to all who knew her, and
Johntel's coach wanted to cancel the game.  But Johntel insisted that
the game should be played, and so with heavy hearts his teammates
prepared to honor their captain's wishes and to play -- and hopefully
win -- without him.

What they weren't prepared for was Johntel's appearance in the
gym mid-way through the first half.

As soon as he saw him, Johntel's coach called a time out, and
players and fans surrounded the grieving young man to offer love and
support.  The coach asked him if he wanted to sit on the bench with
the team.

"No," Johntel said.  "I want to play."

Of course his team was thrilled to have him.

But because Johntel wasn't on the pre-game roster, putting him
in the game at that point would result in a technical foul and two
free throws for the opposing team.

Johntel's coach was OK with that.  He could see that this was
the teenager's way of coping with his loss -- the points didn't
matter.

The opposing team understood the situation and told the referees
to let Johntel play and to forget the technical foul.  The referees
argued that a rule is a rule, and the free throws would have to be
taken before the game could proceed.

For possibly the first time in basketball history, officials had
to force a team to accept and take the technical free throws.

As team captain, Darius volunteered to take the shots.

One would have expected he was looking for an opportunity to
keep his team close in a hard-fought game against a big city school.
Or one could even assume he wanted a chance to add a couple of points
to his personal statistics.

In either case, one would be wrong.

Darius took the ball from the official, looked at the basket and
calmly shot the ball.

Now, basketball purists know that the free throw line is 15 feet
from the basket.  Darius's first shot only traveled about 4 feet.
His second shot only traveled 2.

Immediately Johntel and his teammates understood what Darius was
doing.  They stood and applauded the gesture of sportsmanship as
Darius made his way back to his bench.  So did all of the big city fans.

"I did it for the guy who lost his mom," Darius told the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel after the game.  "It was the right thing
to do."

For those who are concerned about such things, Johntel's team
rode the emotion of the night to a 15-point victory.  But as the two
teams met after the game for pizza and sodas, nobody on either side
was too concerned with wins or losses or personal stats.

"This is something our kids will hold for a lifetime," Darius's
coach said.  "They may not remember our record 20 years from now, but
they'll remember what happened in that gym that night."

Joseph Walker

valuespeak@msn.com
 
Write Joseph and let him know your thoughts on his story!
___________________________
 
Joseph Walker has been writing professionally since
1980, when he left college to join the staff of a daily
metropolitan newspaper. For 10 years -- including
six as the paper's TV columnist and critic -- he was
part of the mainstream media, and was painfully
aware of the overwhelming negativity of contemporary
journalism. Joe says, "Nobody was looking for real
solutions to the problems society was facing; they
were just looking for someone or something to blame
the problems on." So in 1990 Joe began writing
ValueSpeak, a weekly syndicated column that
attempts to look at contemporary issues from the
perspective of traditional values. Joe and his wife,
Anita, are parents of five children, and one grandchild.
 
You'll love his book, "How Can you Mend a Broken Spleen!"
Ordering is simple and fast at the following Amazon address:
 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1573453005/qid=972961681/sr=1-6/straighfromthe0a

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Creation Q & A

Q: What logical answer can Christians give to that difficult question of ?How do we know there's a God?'

A: When one asks that question in the typical church, the usual answer is that we
should just accept by faith that God has always existed. Even though that's true, God's
Word commands us to give reasons for what we believe. Otherwise, non-Christians may
think Christianity is blind faith--but it's not.

When asked this question, you could use examples like the Presidents' sculpted heads on
Mount Rushmore--explain that they didn't get there by millions of years of wind and water
erosion--it's obvious someone using intelligence carved them. Now consider our brain--it's
far more complicated than the most advanced computer. Just as someone designed and
constructed the computer, obviously a greater intelligence designed and constructed our brain.

Actually, no where in the world do we ever see information systems like machines coming
from disorder by chance. It always takes intelligence--which means information. This means
you need to have information to start with?thus the only logical way to think is that you must
start with infinite information--an infinite intelligence! The answer's in Genesis--?In the beginning, God . .'

Source: AnswersInGenesis.org