At one point during a game, the coach said to one of his youngplayers, "Do you understand what cooperation is? What a team is?" Thelittle boy nodded yes.
"Do you understand that what matters is whether we win together as ateam?" The little boy nodded yes.
"So," the coach continued, "when a strike is called, or you are out atfirst, you don't argue or curse or attack the umpire. Do youunderstand all that?" Again, the boy nodded yes.
"Good," said the coach. "Now go over there and explain it to yourmother."
What the coach wanted the boy's mother to understand is thatencouragement is vital to success. Encouragement builds teams and alsobuilds esteem. Encouragement works. In fact, the right kind ofencouragement, at the right time, can change a life.
Author Ron Dunn tells the story of two altar boys. One was born in1892 in Eastern Europe. The other was born just three years later in asmall town in Illinois (USA). Though their lives were quite different,these two boys shared a similar experience.
Each altar boy assisted his parish priest in the celebration of Mass.While handling the chalice during Holy Eucharist, they bothaccidentally spilled some of the wine on the carpet.
But this is where their stories diverge. The priest in the EasternEuropean church, seeing the purple stain, slapped the altar boy acrossthe face and shouted, "Clumsy oaf! Leave the altar." He did. Thelittle boy grew up tobecome the atheist and communist dictator ofYugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito.
The priest in the church in Illinois, upon seeing the wine stain,knelt down beside the boy and looked him tenderly in the eyes andsaid, "It's all right, son. You'll do better next time. You'll be afine priest for God someday." That little boy grew up to become themuch loved BishopFulton J. Sheen.
We will never know how much a kind and encouraging word from thepriest, or the lack of one, influenced these boys' lives. But kindnessand instruction are always far more valuable than anger and criticism.
