Mourning and moving on. High school Basketball

Almost a year ago a terrible thing happened: After a final shot to win a basketball game, a Fennville basketball, player died, right there on the court. It would be next to impossible to describe the feelings of his fellow players and his family at that awful moment. Yet, the team went on to play again. The headlines have continued to this day regarding the teams efforts. The deceased player's name is Wes Leonard. May he rest in peace. Every time Fennville's basketball team is mentioned, the name of Wes Leonard is also included. It must be very difficult for the team to constantly go on in his shadow. He was an incredible person as well as a player from what I read. An excellent example to every one around him. What wonderful memories that must conjure up for his family and those that knew and played basketball with him. Sometimes I wonder how impossible it must seem for anyone to live up to his image both on the court and off. It's almost as if losing would be an insult to his memory or winning is only a result of Wes's influence, not the dedication of those left behind.

I don't pretend to understand fully the horror behind this story. However, when I see those players head onto the court, practically nameless behind the legacy of a fallen player I can't help but imagine the courage they must have to be there. My hat goes off to them and I wish them success and fulfillment as the brave individuals they are. I hope the fans show them the personal support they deserve. I can't think of a greater gift after what they've gone through and tribute to Wes's memory and his family. That's what life is about, life is for the living, we mourn and then move on.

High school classes

Having been far removed from high school for a few years now I'm not quite sure what courses they offer anymore. Math, as I knew it may very well be outdated with the availability of electronic brains everyone carries around lately. I learned plus, minus, times, and division in grade school. Then, in high school it was algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Calculus was hinted at but I never took it up. English, American and world history, literature, health class including proper manners, social studies, government and science pretty much covered the rest of my studies. There is one class I failed to sign up for on time that I believe would have been extremely beneficial throughout my life, Speech class. From what I understand it involved public speaking, speech preparation and getting up in front of the class and putting words together in an understandable fashion without being embarrassed out of your wits. Debate class was part of it I think too.

I have always been intelligent and ready to learn but my problem came in that I all too often refused to learn what I wasn't interested in. Speech class wasn't on my list of priorities at the time. Especially in light of my being shy almost to the point of the ridiculous at the time. In retrospect, speech class was probably the perfect antidote for that problem of mine. I still have an inert fear of public speaking and what many would refer to as "microphone fright." Following the theory that fear itself is our greatest enemy I have faced the situation for better or worse by speaking in public on dozens of occasions. Just in case, I always make sure I have a someone nearby to take over in the event of brain failure. Yes, there have been a few times when my mind simply went blank and they had to maintain the momentum until I returned to the land of reality.

Another gremlin I faced through my lifetime is confrontation. Being a guy I am faced with the legacy of: Fight or flight. I'm not talking about physical violence here but rather the male tendency to bring normal disagreements to a higher decibel discussion to prove a point. I think I'd prefer to have learned debate in a more structured environment in my high school years. It probably would have prevented a lot of hurt feelings and broken relationships.

Times have changed and the education community has experimented with myriads of different theories. Not all of which have been successful, perhaps not even the majority. If I was in high school right now I'm afraid I'd be extremely confused as to what exactly was meant by a proper education. At least back then I knew what I was missing out on. Probably another class of great benefit I skipped because I thought it was for girls would have been typing. I'm typing this posting with two fingers. Not so speedy either. Live and learn I guess..........................Joe

The fountain of youth

I had the excellent privilege of meeting with a large group of past high school classmates yesterday evening. What a delightful experience. A class reunion, in my opinion is the closest we'll ever come to the long sought fountain of youth. When I first walked in my first thought was "What have I gotten myself into?" My memory of names connected to faces is almost non-existent, especially given the changes we all go through as the years pass. However, there was someone that looked across the room and called out, "Joe, I'm glad you could make it!" followed by a rush through the crowd to give me a friendly handshake saying, "I'm '''''', do you remember me?" Yes, I did and suddenly I was in a friendly group of schoolmates once again with a steady stream of acquaintances busily catching up on the happenings in our lives. Within fifteen minutes we were all 18 again.

When we were all in school together it was a slightly different story. I, for my part scurried back and forth from class to class as if I was on a mission. However, being a friendly albeit sort of goofy young guy full of energy, growth spurts and extremely high expectations was finding it difficult to make time work for me very well almost to the point of appearing rude or unfriendly. I was sent to the principal or counselors office over 80 times in high school. Most were for running in the hallways between classes and a couple for being late for a class. Nothing real bad though. I worked before school, after school and on the weekends. After school activities were extremely limited and social activities almost unknown to me. The surprising thing to me is that so many of those kids that I sped so quickly by in the hallways spoke to me of the good times and fond memories they have about me. I left that social event feeling real good about myself. I felt forgiven for being a goofy kid. I brought up a few good stories of my own.

I have learned very much over my lifetime. One of the most important things is that we were all kids once. New to the world and learning the rules as we went along. In our own ways we were all sort of goofy kids. It's a pretty good group of people to belong to and be welcomed by. I couldn't help but say an immature goofy thing or two just to let them know that some things never change. None of us ever lost the love of laughter. We all need that from time to time don't we? It helps us maintain our youth.............Joe