This past weekend I attended a football game at my hometown high school. This week specifically was a really big game, one we’ve been anticipating all year. The stage was set for two of Suffolk County’s best football teams to call the coin toss and then get straight to business. Nerves, emotions, and some rivalry tensions were definitely running high.
As I found my usual spot in the stands and glanced out onto the field, I saw something different to the prior weeks. There was some familiar faces from years past, out on the sidelines standing next to our current players. There was a nostalgic variety of varsity jackets being proudly sported of championship teams of years past. Some were green jackets with white lettering. Others were a more faded, older green with yellow lettering. But there was a common denominator and uniformity in all of them. They were there to cheer, coach, encourage and help push our young boys in one of the biggest games of the season. They were standing on someone else’s sidelines as a source of support.
You and I are pretty much conditioned to try to nestle next to the powerful people. We so easily set out to fully support celebrities, strangers, and people that we really don’t know and vice versa. We post them, share them and gladly rally around them and their cause. Meanwhile, they don’t even know our name and probably never will. Nevertheless, we find ourselves going all out for their projects, their ideals and their pursuit of power. We cheer them on and help to fluff up their already full pockets.
We are so much less likely to support the “little people.” Our all too familiar childhood friends who are starting their little business, pursuing their lifelong dreams and passions. We have neighbors selling homemade hand soaps, cutting the ribbon at their first storefront or struggling to get a new idea off of the ground. These little people are hoping that someone will come alongside them, stand behind them to cheer or help them to stay afloat. Yet we’re often busy cheering for the big people who are adding brick to brick with all the support in the world.
Many of the young men that were on the field supporting the current players are currently away at college. Some of them are playing college football and are themselves mid season. Other’s were older men with families, children who play sports, packed parental schedules and a tremendous amount of responsibility. Yet they took three hours out of their weekend, some drove down from SUNY Brockport and Cortland to come stand on the sidelines of the younger players. Just to offer their presence, words of encouragement and more football insight.
We ended up winning the game and I’m completely convinced that these guys standing on someone else’s sidelines play a substantial role in the victory. The current players needed every ounce of support for this one.
Get out there and clap for a friend.
