“pass the peace”
Greetings and salutations from the sand, sun and surf of Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and the once again cool, cloudy and partly misty island of Nantucket! Great to be with you on this gray Saturday afternoon, the fourth day of October, 2014, and I thought with all the bad news out there, and the lack of coverage for ‘it’ on Saturdays, perhaps this story might cheer you up a bit…
Russell Wilson, star quarterback of the NFL pro football team the Seattle Seahawks, has chosen to ‘take the road less traveled’ and “pass the peace” this season (not just with laser precision spirals), with a new foundation set up to help disadvantaged mostly African-American youth in the Seattle region, while also addressing this issue of domestic abuse head on. All by stepping it up with the new initiative of addressing that growing issue of domestic violence in this country, offering up the iconic PEACE sign (made world famous by the late, great Beatle and humanitarian, John Lennon) instead of a fist~ Perhaps finally getting some people open enough to break through that barrier. An invisible wall that seems real enough. A man made construction that keeps us from one another, locking people in an isolation tank of sorts, never knowing it IS an illusion. For there really is no separation at all, hence the mirage. ‘Cause at the “end of the day”, there is only LOVE and fear. Fear being the illusion.
LOVE is the only thing that is real.
Wilson wrote an article in former New York Yankee shortstop’s (good luck Derek!) magazine “The Players Tribune”. I caught a glimpse of the content on “All in”, with Chris Hayes (airing weeknights on MSNBC, 8 p.m. eastern), who was interviewing Wilson, with statements reading in part, “…many of you readers probably think I have been a Goody two-shoes my whole life. But honestly, I was a bully growing up. In elementary and middle school, I threw kids against the wall. I rubbed their heads in dirt at recess. I bit them. I even knocked teeth out.” Wilson goes on to write how he saw the error in his ways and came out the other side a better man for it. Pushing the concept to NFL colleagues– “leave the aggression on the field.”
He began the “Why not you?” foundation from a sentiment his Dad told him long ago when he was just a boy. He would say to Russell, “…why not you be a Superbowl winning quarterback?, Why not you get your education and a college degree in three years?” Russell also spoke to what he was thinking about when Mr. Jeter approached him to write a piece for his magazine. “…I thought about peace, Love and respect“, by getting kids to focus on them, on the ‘YOU’, and thus, “…one person at a time, we could change the world”.
I don’t know about you, but I think I might take in a Seattle Seahawks football game this week end. Keep passing the PEACE all October (#wnypassthepeace) and thank you Russell Wilson, for that breath of fresh air! Have a great rest of the week end everybody, SEA you next week, same bat time, same bat station… PRESERVE THE WILDERNESS! Peace~M
