Thank you goes out to all who served our country and allow us to remain free and brave...Another bit of emotion goes out to all of those who had passed on before us. For me, that immediately goes right to thoughts of my mother, who passed nearly 5 years ago from a battle with cancer.
For those of you who may not know, I had my own "min-battle" two years ago. I had a melanoma removed from my right calf, and I took 9 months to recover and feel "human again". We are all getting old (yes, you too, you young bucks in your teens and twenties). Get busy living or get busy dying...
Kind of ties into my title, the land of the free and the home of the brave. We obviously are all free to make the choices we want. You are certainly free to pursue the referee career you want. The only limitation is yourself...doesn't have to do with politics (even though you may think so)...doesn't have to do with no spots available in the league/level you want (even though you may think so)...certainly doesn't have to do with your age, skating ability, or skill (even though you may think so -- those are ALL correctable situations!). It all has to do with how you limit yourselves.
I get sick and tired of hockey referees who cry because they don't "get the breaks." I witnessed a referee this past year actually BREAK his arm. He was in the Junior Program, and he refused to get a cast, because he knew it would limit his potential for assignments the rest of the year. Read that again...go ahead...he refused to get a cast on a broken arm because he didn't want it to be a limitation. Home of the brave, indeed (well, at least for some). The guy went on to do playoffs in all the junior leagues that the JODP covers.
On the flip side, I also watched some guys bitch and moan about working Jr. A Tier III games. They thought they were "better than that". Wondered why they weren't getting the nice USHL gigs. NEW FLASH - IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE A COWARD...YOU ARE NOT BRAVE.
How do you instill courage into someone?
- Training - be a part of a group that does it over and over and over again - (that's how the US stormed the beaches at Normandy).
- You get "UNCOMFORTABLE" -- You want to be the one who "conquers a league" -- you're going to have to dig deeper and go beyond your comfort zone.
- You seek out allies to help you in this quest -- Not one elite hockey referee EVER make it on his or her own. They always had someone to guide them, open doors for them, give them feedback, have them kick them in the ass, etc.
Get busy living or get busy dying...
( "Andy crawled to freedom through 500 yards of sh*t-smelling foulness I can't even imagine. Or maybe I just don't want to. 500 yards...that's the length of 5 football fields...just shy of half a mile.")
1 comment:
That is an awesome blog post. I know how you feel on lossing a parent my mom died a year and a week ago and I still to this day find my self feeling like I wish I had more time for her. I would give anything to have her back.
Also, the story about the ref that didn't get a cast speaks to the type of person that he is, sounds like the type of person that grit is made of.
lastly, Being a veteran Memorial days and veterans days are my favorites because we have to remember the people that gave so much for this great nation.
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