A Bright Story for your Day

 

Regardless of whether you hate football, the Patriots, or are ambivalent about both, this is a heartwarming story. Black athletes are often the heroes for Black children, and sadly many of the best athletes are not great role models. Here is the story of a young man who took stock of himself and after some success he has done his best to give back to children in the best way he can. He lives by example in many ways.

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  1. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    We need more like him!

    • #1
  2. goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    I love this guy. What an inspiration to all kids and adults too!

    • #2
  3. RightAngles Member
    RightAngles
    @RightAngles

    goldwaterwoman (View Comment):
    I love this guy. What an inspiration to all kids and adults too!

    A refreshing change from shooting your pregnant girlfriend, getting arrested for cocaine, and DUIs etc!

    • #3
  4. Blondie Thatcher
    Blondie
    @Blondie

    Good story, Doc. What a great role model. I hope Deshaun Watson continues on his current path. He would fit into this great role model category, too.

    • #4
  5. WI Con Member
    WI Con
    @WICon

    My wife and I saw this story on Sunday Morning I believe, just a great story. Had us laughing as he sat in that book club with a bunch of older white ladies. Good on both him for improving himself & the ladies for inviting him!

    Best personal NFL story I think I’ve seen this year

    • #5
  6. Nanda Panjandrum Member
    Nanda Panjandrum
    @

    Fabulous!  Thanks, Doc…

    • #6
  7. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    What a super nice guy. Thank you so much.

    • #7
  8. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    What an inspiration! So impressive! I’ll bet he had great parents, too. Thanks, Doc.

    • #8
  9. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    The most important thing we can all do to help kids learn to read is listen to them read out loud to us.

    I once started a community project where we asked volunteers to come in to our elementary schools to help kids learn to read who were struggling with it. A child who is not reading at grade level at the end of first grade seldom catches up–I would say it is the self-confidence that is lost more than anything. Halfway through first grade, children should be reading everything in sight. That happens in healthy families where parents and kids are trekking around town and the kids are reading the street signs and cereal boxes in the grocery stores. But for disadvantaged kids, there’s no one to hear them, to laugh and clap at their successes.

    So if you are ever looking for something to do, listen to some little kid read out loud to you.

    • #9
  10. goldwaterwoman Thatcher
    goldwaterwoman
    @goldwaterwoman

    WI Con (View Comment):
    Good on both him for improving himself & the ladies for inviting him!

    I’ve never belonged to a book club with men in it, mainly because they were held during the day and populated by “ladies who lunch.” That said, most serious readers I know love talking books with anyone who loves books.

    • #10
  11. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    What a wonderful story!

    Yet . . . it’s also kind of sad, in a way.  Are athletes, rap artists, and civil rights preachers (think Jackson and Sharpton) the only kinds of people young blacks look up to?

    Mychal Massie is a black minister who writes blistering columns about the plight of blacks in this country, and he lays almost all of the blame on the Left and Liberalism.

    Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell, and Walter Williams should be looked up to by blacks also.  The same goes for Condoleezza Rice, Mia Love, or Star Parker.

    By the way, people of any color should look up to these folks for guidance and inspiration (which have no racial bounds).

    • #11
  12. GirlFriday Inactive
    GirlFriday
    @GirlFriday

    Love this! Thanks for sharing, DocJay!

    • #12
  13. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    Nice.

    • #13
  14. Kay of MT Inactive
    Kay of MT
    @KayofMT

    Just forwarded this to my granddaughter in CA.

    • #14
  15. Nanda Panjandrum Member
    Nanda Panjandrum
    @

    MarciN (View Comment):
    healthy families

    …Blessed ones…(This seems a bit too pat, slightly condescending.)…Maybe the foundation this young man has started will turn the tide, one by one?

    • #15
  16. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    Thanks for making me cry, Doc.  Don’t think I won’t get even.

    • #16
  17. Melissa Praemonitus Member
    Melissa Praemonitus
    @6foot2inhighheels

    Love this story, Jay!  I can’t help but envision Malcolm going on to an even greater future; inspiring a generation of kids to reject the soul-charring habits of “passive learning”.

    • #17
  18. MarciN Member
    MarciN
    @MarciN

    Nanda Panjandrum (View Comment):

    MarciN (View Comment):
    healthy families

    …Blessed ones…(This seems a bit too pat, slightly condescending.)…Maybe the foundation this young man has started will turn the tide, one by one?

    I meant not dysfunctional. Families collapse and find it hard to support their members. There can be a million reasons, but generally it’s parents working too many jobs or living under great stress because of sick family members, divorce, whatever.

    • #18
  19. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    America is still pretty great!

    • #19
  20. Nanda Panjandrum Member
    Nanda Panjandrum
    @

    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    America is still pretty great!

    Look Out! The sky’s gonna fall… :-D

     

    • #20
  21. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    So I was talking to an American friend the other day about former MMA fighter, former Ranger, all-around tough Texas hombre Tim Kennedy. Some reprehensible writer in the full ugly mediocrity of public writing was trying to humiliate people on Twitter; Mr. Kennedy somehow noticed & told the guy, if you’re issuing challenges, I’ll take it. The guy promptly disappeared, of course.

    But then it turns out, people kept talking about the challenge & the possible fight & start betting charity money on it. It turns out, you can’t tell a guy you’ll kick his ass in America without trying to get some redemption, too. Part of the national character…

    • #21
  22. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    So I was talking to an American friend the other day about former MMA fighter, former Ranger, all-around tough Texas hombre Tim Kennedy. Some reprehensible writer in the full ugly mediocrity of public writing was trying to humiliate people on Twitter; Mr. Kennedy somehow noticed & told the guy, if you’re issuing challenges, I’ll take it. The guy promptly disappeared, of course.

    But then it turns out, people kept talking about the challenge & the possible fight & start betting charity money on it. It turns out, you can’t tell a guy you’ll kick his ass in America without trying to get some redemption, too. Part of the national character…

    John Wayne would have just kicked his ass.

    • #22
  23. Dave Sussman Member
    Dave Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    True role model. Thanks for sharing.

    • #23
  24. kelsurprise Member
    kelsurprise
    @kelsurprise

    I remember trying in vain one night to explain to an avowed socialist classmate in my acting school why I believed that just handing people things was a sure road to ruin for the human spirit, that it was in all of us to more deeply value those things for which we had personally worked and sacrificed.  She just didn’t seem to get it.

    [Football] came natural.  That was a gift.  I had to work to read.

    This guy gets it.

    Great story, Doc.  Thanks for sharing.

     

     

    • #24
  25. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    Judge Mental (View Comment):

    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    So I was talking to an American friend the other day about former MMA fighter, former Ranger, all-around tough Texas hombre Tim Kennedy. Some reprehensible writer in the full ugly mediocrity of public writing was trying to humiliate people on Twitter; Mr. Kennedy somehow noticed & told the guy, if you’re issuing challenges, I’ll take it. The guy promptly disappeared, of course.

    But then it turns out, people kept talking about the challenge & the possible fight & start betting charity money on it. It turns out, you can’t tell a guy you’ll kick his ass in America without trying to get some redemption, too. Part of the national character…

    John Wayne would have just kicked his ass.

    You should watch The man who shot Liberty Valance. Hard as it is to bear, redemption is what moves the nation, what soothes the nation…

    • #25
  26. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    Titus Techera (View Comment):

    Judge Mental (View Comment):

    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    So I was talking to an American friend the other day about former MMA fighter, former Ranger, all-around tough Texas hombre Tim Kennedy. Some reprehensible writer in the full ugly mediocrity of public writing was trying to humiliate people on Twitter; Mr. Kennedy somehow noticed & told the guy, if you’re issuing challenges, I’ll take it. The guy promptly disappeared, of course.

    But then it turns out, people kept talking about the challenge & the possible fight & start betting charity money on it. It turns out, you can’t tell a guy you’ll kick his ass in America without trying to get some redemption, too. Part of the national character…

    John Wayne would have just kicked his ass.

    You should watch The man who shot Liberty Valance. Hard as it is to bear, redemption is what moves the nation, what soothes the nation…

    You think that I, the president of the Andy Devine fan club, have not seen that movie?

    • #26
  27. GingerB Member
    GingerB
    @GingerB

    As a UGA Dawg fan, I’ve known about this for several years but this update warms my heart. One thing I admire the most is the fact that he crossed all the (imaginary) boundaries to join the ladies’ book club- Race, sex and age. The world needs more people like him!

    • #27
  28. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    Judge Mental (View Comment):

    Titus Techera (View Comment):

    Judge Mental (View Comment):

    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    So I was talking to an American friend the other day about former MMA fighter, former Ranger, all-around tough Texas hombre Tim Kennedy. Some reprehensible writer in the full ugly mediocrity of public writing was trying to humiliate people on Twitter; Mr. Kennedy somehow noticed & told the guy, if you’re issuing challenges, I’ll take it. The guy promptly disappeared, of course.

    But then it turns out, people kept talking about the challenge & the possible fight & start betting charity money on it. It turns out, you can’t tell a guy you’ll kick his ass in America without trying to get some redemption, too. Part of the national character…

    John Wayne would have just kicked his ass.

    You should watch The man who shot Liberty Valance. Hard as it is to bear, redemption is what moves the nation, what soothes the nation…

    You think that I, the president of the Andy Devine fan club, have not seen that movie?

    I dunno. I marvel at the things people haven’t seen-

    • #28
  29. jmelvin Member
    jmelvin
    @jmelvin

    Spectacular and heart warming!  Thanks DocJay!

    • #29
  30. Hartmann von Aue Member
    Hartmann von Aue
    @HartmannvonAue

    Titus Techera (View Comment):
    So I was talking to an American friend the other day about former MMA fighter, former Ranger, all-around tough Texas hombre Tim Kennedy. Some reprehensible writer in the full ugly mediocrity of public writing was trying to humiliate people on Twitter; Mr. Kennedy somehow noticed & told the guy, if you’re issuing challenges, I’ll take it. The guy promptly disappeared, of course.

    But then it turns out, people kept talking about the challenge & the possible fight & start betting charity money on it. It turns out, you can’t tell a guy you’ll kick his ass in America without trying to get some redemption, too. Part of the national character…

    Titus, many, many thanks for the honor you pay our country.

     

    And thanks very much for the post, Jay.

    • #30
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