When I was in high school I had the misfortune of breaking both elbows at the same time three different times. Life was difficult with casts from the shoulder to the wrist and around my thumb. I was at that age when I wanted no help from my family to do anything. Though I couldn’t reach my mouth with arms stretched out beyond my shoulders I would not allow anyone to feed me. I had my plate put on a stack of books and after family members left the room I ate by putting my arms up and my face into the place. It made for a terrible mess but I was stubborn. I played football in high school but finally I broke my left elbow for the fourth time and had surgery to correct the break. The doctor told me that if I played football any longer I would very likely break the arm again and would struggle with no use of my arm. So my football career ended and left me feeling society had been robbed of a great middle lineman.
When I went to college I discovered RUGBY. I was immediately fascinated and when I heard it described as “A Ruffian’s game played by Gentlemen,” I knew I had a new home. I learned that the ordinary athlete could play this sport successfully and safely if he understood it. So I began reading about the sport and watched films of good play and good players. I learned that the most consistently injured players were ex-American football players who had been taught to put their heads down and charge while in Rugby one does not put one’s head down in most situations. I loved Rugby and loved the play and the games and traditions that came with it. I am not sure if any other group of people outside Rugby can learn to drink beer while standing on their heads. But we did it and it was nothing short of spectacular.
Years later, when I was not physically ready for the banging that comes with playing a real sport, I ended up being the moderator of a university rugby program that has always done well. This year they were ranked 2nd in the nation – losing only to CAL, the perennial national champ. In addition to fielding three sides, the team raised money and made a two-week trip each year during spring break and a second week where the allowed “cuts” were saved up and used to allow for the second week away from the school. We traveled to Ireland, England, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands and more. In each place we met the people, played good and not so good Rugby and met and celebrated with the families of the players. It was great to meet these folks and to share their cultural traditions. The roughness of the match was replaced with the joy and plain fun of the post-match gathering.
There were wonderful experiences we had in this grand sport. One of the most memorable was being received by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster in England. I had discovered that Cardinal Hume, Benedictine, both played Rugby and was Headmaster of an exclusive secondary school with a long and glorious Rugby tradition. We were ushered into his “throne room” in his residence, met him personally, shared tea and biscuits and then were invited to celebrate the Sunday Mass with him in the cathedral. I was invited to concelebrate and the team and supporters were seated in the front row of the Cathedral for the liturgy. A great collegiate experience.
I write about this because I want to encourage people here at Stanford, especially the undergrads, to look for ways to grow within the collegiate experience. We have wonderful travel and overseas programs, hundreds of ways to assist people who are not quite so blessed as many of us, we can learn about world cultures without even leaving the campus. All of these go into making the collegiate experience available and educational. More importantly, they free us from our boxes of isolation and push us into a world that is diverse and ready to share their experiences with us. I have often heard people at Stanford utter the saying: Enter to learn, leave to serve. That is a great way to look at college but we need to embrace the experience and to grow with it to maturity and generosity. We also learn enough about others to give us the information we need to take hold of the leadership for which we are being prepared and to use it in a way that will allow us to compete where appropriate and share cultures and life when the competition is over. I have not seen any one thing that is more suited to help us live our passions than to think about this image. Finding our gifts, using them to change the world and then breaking bread with the people around us –and with a sense of community doing something that will “fix” at least something in our society.
Obviously, not everyone is going to play a sport, even a great sport, but everyone is able to find someone or something that is in need of attention. Just finding out about such people or places, etc. is not enough. We must remember that Jesus took a few rag-tag folks and helped them find themselves and their passion through the power of the Spirit and they made a difference. It is our turn now to make such a difference. For those of you who will complete one or even a few stages of your educational journey, I wish you well. I want you to be happy but I also want you to help others find happiness. For those who are still working toward some academic goal, go for it and let it have your full attention so that you can really be prepared to make a difference. For the many who support what happens here, I pray for God’s blessings. We could do nothing in our ministry without your help. God will take us beyond where we think we have found our limits. We will come to know that there is nothing we cannot do if we allow Jesus to be our partner and to journey with us. We will be the educated and transformed beneficiaries of the dream of Jane and Leland Stanford who simply wanted to “...do something for children of other people.” We are those children and we need to remember that all of what we have here is the product of generosity, trust, competition and community. How fortunate is this community!
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