Fresh Air
Probably the single most famous speech given in the history of game players was given by a generally silent Yankee first baseman named Lou Gehrig. He stood at a microphone on a day honoring him after a fabulous career, suffering from a horrible disease that would take his life in a matter of months. He took the time to thank the vendors and ticket takers and workers who never got applause but made his job possible.
And he said the words that echo still: “Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
I suppose part of the reason the words move us is because they speak of gratitude in the heart of one we think would have every reason to be bitter…I can hardly imagine the character required to experience that much gratitude in that moment.
But I know that the lucky ones, the happy ones, are the ones who play the game with gratitude.
–from John Ortberg, When the Game is Over, It All Goes Back in the Box
Worth Repeating
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
-William Arthur Ward
