POINTS MADE
… and for some, point taken
Sunday June 22, 2014
Golf tournament, charity, 144 golfers, best-ball, hot afternoon, drinking – ingredients in a recipe that brings together a modicum of skill, big hearts, hearty laughs – for a good cause.
Jim, Tammy, Kevin and Mark.
With plumbers and pipefitters, and recovering addicts.
Nothing in common.
Everything in common.
Foursome acquainted – five hours we swung hard, worked as a team, superficial chit-chat, bits and pieces revealed.
Big room, big meal, big speech.
Endless drone of prize give-aways – we were 5-under but sadly nowhere near prize-table eligible. Women’s longest drive earned by Tammy.
Moving speech.
Man telling story, addictions – drugs and alcohol, his tragic spiral, climbing bck from horrors. Many could not hear, back there, where drunken hecklers were making their own statements. Others, rude and noisy, not caring, engrossed in their own distractions.
Classic contradiction of views we see, in so many corners of community, where people say nice things, support causes, yet so blatantly their actions confuse …
I’m sure the fellow speaking from his heart, his message came from down near his socks – because he too was once in league with those drunken hecklers whose rude behaviour interrupted everyone’s enjoyment. Maybe THAT was the message, for them. If one person gets the point, if one person gets the message, then one person might make this world a better place in some small way. One less person spiraling means one less person recovering. Maybe that’s the better message, when we take time to notice.
Yesterday, summer arrived.
Parts got sunburned, some parts ache …
Mark Kolke
197,000
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: 10C/51F, clear, no breeze – quiet/calm, just the dew on my dog, a sidewalk and me, no reason for anything to disturb birds chirping and this day’s beginning (except my back is sore from swinging hard on the golf course yesterday - thanks KK for inviting me!)
