General CBF

Your character is what you really are

The following post is from Jim Smith, CBF interim coordinator of global missions.

photo courtesy newsnet5.com

photo courtesy newsnet5.com

I watched in horror and disgust as the video of a practice session of the Rutgers University basketball team played on television.  I was eating breakfast prior to heading off to work.  The level of debasement and abuse, both physical and verbal, used by coach Mike Rice with young men of the Rutgers team contrasted greatly with the quotes I had accumulated from another “larger than life” basketball coach, UCLA’s John Wooden. 

Wooden coached for many years and viewed his involvement primarily to be “investing in young lives.” No college coach had more success in winning championships or in attracting players who went on to become star players as professionals. Wooden, despite winning on such a high level and so often, never talked much about “winning,” but he did stress “doing one’s best” a lot. He said, “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

This incident shook me deeply. I grieved for the young men who had been recruited to play and then were held in such a desperate situation. They were granted athletic scholarships, and were performing under great pressure in the ultimate sub-culture within a larger academic sub-culture.  Now light has been abundantly shed on this situation. Many have denounced the outrageous actions.  It will all soon fade into the background as other scandals surface and claim our attention.  As bad as this incident has been, it should not be allowed to dominate our perspective.

photo courtesy catholic.org

photo courtesy catholic.org

The ray of hope I grasp in the larger context is amplified by the surprising actions recently by Pope Francis as he washed the feet of teenage offenders in Rome. The new Pope apparently doesn’t feel that he is above following the example of Jesus. “If I then, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” (John 13:14)

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