Like many, I watched with interest and enjoyment the viral video put out by McCallie School about five graduating students who answered questions they had asked themselves more than six years ago when they were sixth graders.
The video reminded me a little of the 2014 film, “Boyhood,” which was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award and was uniquely shot over 12 years and featured an aspect of a boy’s life each year from age 6 to 18.
The brief McCallie video was touching and neat, too, and I especially enjoyed senior Will Turrell saying what advice he would give looking back. He said, “Be kind to everyone, every time you can.”
Most would agree that is some great instruction for life, and I have always admired young people who are the top athlete, class valedictorian or class president and are as nice and as compassionate as anyone in the class. I recently interviewed Girls Preparatory School May queen Gwyneth Parks, and her friendly manner made it quickly obvious why the students had selected her for that prestigious honor that represents several positive traits.
We can also all try to figure out if being kind holds a place in American politics right now and wonder who, if anyone, is being kind and who is not. And who is the recipient of kindness and who is not?
While accomplishing goals aligned with a party’s philosophy is no doubt important for an elected official holding true to his or her political principles and belief in bettering government, many might agree that kindness to all is also certainly an American ideal. And many would say it is also obviously a Christian- and multifaith-based one, too.
Speaking of all that, I happened to receive a kind invitation last Tuesday morning to sit at retired Judge Clarence Shattuck’s table at the Chattanooga Area Leadership Prayer Breakfast to hear former pro baseball star Darryl Strawberry speak. Bob Tamasy documented his talk in another Chattanoogan.com story and mentioned that recently stuck-in-space astronaut Butch Wilmore is scheduled to speak next year.
So, I will not rehash Mr. Strawberry’s main points too much. But hundreds gathered at the Chattanooga Convention Center for the program that began at 7 a.m. and offered a buffet breakfast even earlier. For someone who likes to eat breakfast early and oftentimes gets caught in group meeting situations where that is not the case, that was refreshing to me.
So, too, were the words of wisdom from Mr. Strawberry, from discussing his former party lifestyle as a baseball star to his turnaround to becoming a preacher and traveling evangelist free of alcohol and drugs for 20 years.
What I thought was interesting was not just his story, which included mentioning having a heart attack last year, but also his reminder to live out one’s faith in a positive manner at all times. In other words, practice what you preach. He was speaking to Christians, but that also holds true for all major faiths.
He also jokingly pointed out that he knew Chattanooga was Atlanta Braves country, and that his teams – the Mets and Yankees – beat the Braves some when he played. He also said he had heard from Bayside Baptist Church’s minister, the Rev. Jason King, and First Baptist of Cleveland pastor Jordan Easley while he was in town.
He had also spoken at McCallie in recent months, and likely some or all of the video participants heard him.
Although I have tried in recent years to either interview or at least meet a well-known person if I am covering that person’s speech, a long line quickly formed for pictures and greetings after Mr. Strawberry’s speech, so I headed on home. But I was just attending the event as a participant and invited guest.
I also thought of something later we could have prayed for, but maybe in a more light-hearted way. With all the crazy rain and thunderstorms and worse that have caused weathermen to become like reality TV stars talking on air for hours and causing viewers to miss their favorite shows, maybe the prayer breakfast should have also included prayers of intercessions for drier weather.
And speaking of the Braves whom Mr. Strawberry referenced, their AA affiliate now plays at Columbus, Ga., and they are called the Columbus Clingstones, a reference to all the peaches grown nearby. And they will be in town to play the Lookouts at AT&T Field Tuesday through Sunday, so the Chattanooga Braves fans have a chance to see a few of their future players.
I know Chattanooga is focused on the new stadium and its just-announced Erlanger Park name, but I was surprised to learn that Columbus plays its games at Synovus Park. It has apparently had some major upgrades as the team was relocating there from Mississippi, but the stadium actually dates to 1926 and still retains its historic concrete bowl and roofline.
And it is older than, yes, Engel Stadium, which opened in 1930. So, not everyone is building a new stadium from scratch, nor is a stadium like Engel potentially doomed from future use in some way, even if it is not for minor league baseball.
On a related sidenote, for years through 1958, Georgia and Auburn used to play football every year in Columbus in a neutral-stie game at a different-but-also-still-standing stadium.
The same morning that Mr. Strawberry spoke, Precept Ministries co-founder Kay Arthur died at age 91. Her life-application Bible study ministry had spread far and wide, and she was a well-known speaker and author. It had started with a Bibe study she held for teenagers at her and husband Jack’s home at Sims Drive in Red Bank near Lullwater Road about 1970. They soon after purchased some acreage off Noah Reid Road to provide a safe place for teens to gather in a Christian environment.
She was someone I had in the back of my mind to interview in later years but never did.
One person I did interview and who had a pretty good week in recent days was former Baylor School and University of Georgia golfer Harris English, who tied for second last weekend at the prestigious PGA Championship, one of the four major golf tournaments.
I recently wrote a travel story about attending the PGA in Charlotte and seeing Mr. English on the course.
I had interviewed him outside the school’s chapel in 2017 when he was inducted into the Baylor Sports Hall of Fame. He was nice and accommodating and took time to talk in between greetings from Baylor classmates in town for a reunion.
Although he was a boarding student from South Georgia, I believe he tied last week for the best finish ever by a Chattanooga-related golfer in a major tournament. I know Gibby Gilbert finished in second in the 1980 Masters.
Former Baylor tennis player Roscoe Tanner, who later battled various demons related to debt and divorce issues before trying to turn his life around, reached the finals of the 1979 Wimbledon tennis tournament before losing to Bjorn Borg.
While Ms. Arthur’s life of Christian outreach was inspiring, so was the Preakness horse race on May 17 in an athletic and fun way. Journalism – and who in the world of media does not like that name! – had been favored to win the Kentucky Derby but lost on a muddy track in bad weather to Sovereignty.
Unfortunately for sports fans, the horse’s trainer and owners decided not to run Sovereignty in the second leg of the Triple Crown in the Preakness. That meant there would not be a Triple Crown winner this year and made some ask if the three big races should be spaced out more for the health of the horses, not to mention the emotional health of the disappointed sports fans.
But Journalism would run in an effort to redeem himself, or at least his team, and sports fans would be forever grateful. In what was an amazing race storyline, not only was Journalism way back when the horses hit the home stretch, but he could seemingly not get by one or two other horses that appeared to be blocking him.
However, somehow he did. And then somehow he passed Gosger at the very end after a valiant come-from-behind effort to indeed win the Preakness and make up for the disappointing loss in the Kentucky Derby.
I was screaming like crazy during the finish in a way I never have before while watching a horse race that did not involve a possible Triple Crown.
Everyone should check out the NBC video of it on YouTube if you have not.
Like the McCallie video, it has received a lot of views – and praises!
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Jcshearer2@comcast.net.