Keep Making Those Touchdowns

David Wilder – David Wilder.Org
Hebron
February 5, 2020

As a kid growing up in the United States, I suppose I was no different from most other kids in that I enjoyed sports particularly baseball, football, and basketball. When I came to Israel close to 45 years ago, basically that interest came to an end as the sports here are a little different than they are in the States and back in those days, there was no internet to really follow anything from so far away.

However, these days there is internet and everything happens in real time and it’s sort of fun sometimes just to follow some of the different games. And this year I particularly enjoyed the football games, particularly the Kansas City Chiefs. And  watching Patrick Mahomes was really something else.

A friend of mine and I were discussing this, that I had actually watched a couple of the playoff games. I wasn’t going to watch the Super Bowl because it would have meant staying up here until 1:30 at night and it’s almost as much fun to watch the highlights of the game the next day.  You get to see all the important plays without all the wasted the time in the middle.

This friend asked me why I wanted to watch football games. And I answered because first of all, you see the talent and you know that the talent that these people have wasn’t developed overnight, they’ve had to work very very hard to develop it. But even more than that you see in some of the players, and and this year it was without any doubt, it was so crystal clear with Mahomas, the amazing determination, which was displayed by the fact that that he was able to lead his team, in three playoff games, to come from behind and win.

Simply put, it’s a life lesson of never give up. For sure, it’s a lesson that I think we live here in Hebron certainly and in all of Judea and Samaria and just as much so throughout all of Israel. These days the problem spot is more down south where they’re still dealing with rockets shot from Gaza into Israel.
In the past, it was up north like in Kiryat Shemona who were getting hit with rocket fire and katush missiles from southern Lebanon. And of course, we here in Hebron and throughout Judea and Samaria suffered tremendously during the intifadas, the first and second intifada even more so when they were shooting at us; they shot at for a couple of years before the Israeli government finally decided to put an end to it.

The state of Israel as a whole has had to deal with very difficult security issues in the past, as well as economic problems.Presently the economy is really good but in the past it wasn’t so good and it was very difficult for people to make ends meet. Today it’s still not easy, but it’s a lot better than it was. But primarily we have to deal with security, the kids going into the army and the like. It would be very very easy to just throw up your hands and say I give up.

There are people who reach a point of no return.  There are Israelis today in the United States because they just decided that it would be easier for them to live there.

But most Israelis, those born here as well as the people came to live here from around the world, such as myself, don’t give up.

Like when you’re playing a game, you can find yourself in a hole and just say well, you know, I did my best and there’s nothing else I can do.

But then you see guys out there on the field, who never say never. They can throw interceptions, they can have balls fumbled, they can fall into deep deep holes and they keep playing as if it was the beginning the game.

This football season you watched the Chiefs who just did not give up. They just kept coming back and coming back in the three playoff games. Amazing.

So you’re probably asking, what’s it to me. The answer is that we all need chizuk, that is extra added strength and encouragement occasionally. Being able to live through difficult times doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s easy and, sometimes you look in different directions to find a little extra bit of strength; something that’ll keep you going, something tangible that you can use as an example. Of course, we have faith, lots it.  But there are too other, different kinds of examples. And one of those that you see in sports, the competitiveness and the grit; the resolve not to give up.

I view it as a life lesson. Otherwise, why watch. I mean, what do I get out of out of a big guy throwing around a piece of pigskin?

It must be seen not only is a as a game between two teams, but the willpower that people have and the amount of time that a people are willing to invest in themselves as athletes that can be learned from.

In what way?, It can be a lesson to us as to how much we have to invest in ourselves to be to be good people, to act properly; to work on all of our different emotions and control them and not let them control you.

An athlete who gives up is letting his emotions determine how he’s going to play; However when he determines how he’s going to play and does not let his emotions overrun how he acts, well, that’s what makes a superstar.  And we all have to be superstars, each one of us in our own field, whether it be as an educator, or whether it be in industry, whether it be in economics or in any way field. It is the time and effort we put into our families, never giving up. There are so many people you see, so many young couples giving up so quickly after they get married, thinking that they just can’t make it and would never really be able to make a go out of it.  They never really try.  Where’s that competitiveness, where is that determination. where is the drive?

Just as athletes can overcome situations which sometimes look like it’s all over, it’s out of control there’s nothing that can be done about it, so too can others. There never is situation where things are entirely out of control and there’s nothing you can do about it.  You must keep pushing, keep working, keep running the ball, keep throwing the ball and you know, just keep making those touchdowns.

DavidWilder.Org