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| |  | Michael Fox CPCC,
founder of m·agine!,
is a professional
coach and trainer,
author and creative artist, whose work has been featured throughout
the world.
Michael is a
Certified Practitioner
of the
Myers-Briggs
Type Indicator.®
Do you know someone
who might benefit
from our weekly email?
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Lovingkindness and a gentle grip...
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The old photo is heartbreaking.
It's February 23rd, 1960. Some two hundred Dodgers fans are scattered among the thousands of empty seats in Brooklyn's Ebbets Field. They're joined by a group of former players including Otto Miller, catcher in the inaugural game played at Ebbets in 1913, and Roy Campanella, catcher in the final game played at Ebbets in 1957. A crane has encroached upon the sanctity of the field; the crane's at work, where men once played. A wrecking ball, sardonically painted as a baseball, has plummeted from the crane's tower and has crushed the visitors' dugout.
Low and inside. Strike.
Although I grew up in the shadow of Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, I have a deep and abiding affinity for the Brooklyn Dodgers, the team affectionately known, locally, as "Dem Bums" and later, universally in their final decade, as "The Boys of Summer." It was an era when the Dodgers starting second baseman might have been your next door neighbor, and likely would have "walked to work" every afternoon--just another "Trolley Dodger," as pedestrians were known a century ago in Brooklyn--alongside fans attending the game at Ebbets Field.
I've only been to Brooklyn once and then only briefly, to change trains at an eerie subterranean station. I was born two years after Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley moved the Dodgers West in '57, born the very year the Los Angeles iteration of the team won its first World Series in '59. Our home, however--for deeply held reasons--retains far more artifacts from Brooklyn than from Los Angeles. Scores of baseball cards of the era; signatures from many of the franchise including Snyder, Koufax, Drysdale, Roe, Newcombe, Branca, Alston, Scully, and others; scorecards and yearbooks; postcards of Ebbets Field, and even a brick rescued from the rubble of its demolition.
It's difficult to imagine the neighborhood's pain--grieving the loss of identity, community, and hope--when for three years the old stadium sat empty, silent, and dark--while the rest of world played baseball.
* * *
The photograph of mourners gathered in the stands of Ebbets Field resonates with me tonight. I'm on my way to California. A week ago, my elderly parents' lives were unhurried and routine. Today, my mother is under the care of hospice. Cancer.
Low and inside. Strike.
Though her body is sick; her spirit prospers. The woman who taught me how to live, will doubtless teach me how to die. It's difficult, however, to imagine the imminent loss of the woman who has defined the calling and the spirit of our family.
It's a reminder--neither good nor bad, just a reminder--that life is best lived with lovingkindness and a gentle grip.
* * *
Time passes. Today the Dodgers have played more games In beautiful Dodgers Stadium, sitting above the fray in Los Angeles, than they played in Ebbets Field. Most of Brooklyn has gotten passed the move; the rest are still alive. Only a handful from the Brooklyn ball club remain in the Dodgers' employ: most notably, Hall of Fame broadcaster and voice of my childhood, Vin Scully.
In 1991, Scully--today, a sixty-odd year veteran of the booth--was calling a game pitting the Dodgers against Chicago's Cubs. During the broadcast, Scully reported on injured superstar Andre Dawson. "Andre Dawson," Scully melodically reported, "has a bruised knee and is listed as day to day."
After a few moments of reflection, Scully rhetorically asked, "Aren't we all?"
Indeed. Live with lovingkindness and a gentle grip.
No questions this week. It's enough to just sit quietly with the learning.
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Michael Fox
m·agine!
530/613.2774
407 Myrtle Drive
Farmerville, LA, USA 71241 |
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In addition to personal and professional coaching,
m·agine! specializes in spiritual transformation coaching,
employing its proprietary models
--Values, Vision, Voice and Heart, Soul, Mind & Strength--
as well as
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® curriculum
published by CPP, the People Development People.
Michael's books include
Complete in Christ,
Complete in Christ Spiritual Transformation Workbook,
and Biblio·files.
Coaching fees are based upon a sliding scale. Contact us for details.
For additional information, visit our website at maginethepossibilities.net.
Limited scholarships are available for spiritual transformation coaching.
On the flip side, if you are able, please inquire about opportunities
to fund scholarships for those who cannot afford coaching fees.
View our archives!
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