Setbacks

This morning, I again saw the clip of Jason McElwain (J-Mac to his friends) the 18 year old who scored twenty-one points in the last few minutes of a basketball game last year. Until that moment, J-Mac had been the team manager. Now he’s a hero and he’s won the hearts of many all over the country.

I’ve read about him in Guidepost magazine; I have seen him on ESPN; he was in a story in Reader’s Digest. He’s met President Bush, been on Oprah, and Magic Johnson wants to make an inspirational movie about him (J-Mac would like Mathew McConaughey to play him in the movie).

He’s the unlikely hero – a 5′6″ kid with autism who showed the world that a disability is not a deterrent. While this story touched me the first time I saw, I was even more moved this morning when I saw a young couple interviewed who had a three year old autistic child. They see hope in their boys future that he can do things that “normal” kids do. The parents have shown that video to the little boy as inspiration. He’s already got “game” and seemingly inherited skills from both parents who were players. Think about how differently that boy’s future can be because someone else has paved the way and demonstrated that autism need not limit him from achieving. Think about how different J-Mac’s life could have been had his parents not encouraged him to stretch his limits. Think about the difference you or I can make in the lives of someone else simply by repeating and demonstrating that barriers are only temporary delays as we travel down the road of life.

My friend Willie Jolley (www.williejolley.com), an inspirational and motivational speaker from Washington, DC says, “A setback is only a setup for a come back”. What’s the greatest setback you have ever heard about or overcome yourself? What lessons did you draw from it?

While many of the posting here are about people making the lives of others more rich because of the work they do, never discount the difference “play” can make. Whatever you do, others are watching (particularly our little people). They are watching and learning how we deal with setbacks and how we stretch ourselves in the moments of challenge.

Hoops anyone?

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Watch J-Mac’s story on www.utube.com or by going to:
www.sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2352763
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11526448/

HELP! Some of this material from this blog MAY appear in a book I am writing. While a grammar or spelling error MIGHT pass here, it certainly won’t in the book. PLEASE email me and let me know what you think of these post and offer a correction if needed. Please contact me at www.TimRichardson.com