Everybody Gets A Curve Ball Once In Awhile, Smile And Swing
Much can be gleaned by spending time with a baseball pitching machine. The best lessons taken from baseball or a softball pitching machine actually have nothing to do with baseball. Poised in front of the plate with balls flying by at 70 miles an hour lends itself to some serious life lessons. Everyday a thousand things fly past every normal Joe and Julia walking the street. Decisions are constantly being made every minute. Should I wait for this car to pass, should I scratch my nose before putting down the donut, should I call Teddy back, take the stairs or elevator, use blue ink or black ink, zip up my fly now or wait until I can duck into a closet, run to catch the cross light or wait? Facing pitches thrown by a machine is a great practice and perfect metaphor for life.
A major league baseball player knows that whenever he goes to the plate, the pitcher is trying to strike him out. That’s the game and the way it is played. The batter doesn’t whine about why the pitcher is throwing so hard, or why he’s making it hard to hit a homerun. The batter isn’t angry because the pitcher is throwing fast balls and change ups to try and fool him. The batter doesn’t think about why the pitcher doesn’t like him. It’s how you play the game, the objectives are clear and the roles are obvious. The batter is out if you miss when swinging at three good pitches. Is he mad at the pitcher? Heck {no|darn no way|. If anything he admires the pitcher for doing his job so well and is mad at himself for not doing better. The man with the bat made his choices, to swing hard, to bunt or to watch the ball go by. If he grounds out or goes down swinging, he goes back to the dugout, disappointed, but knowing he will swing again. He doesn’t blame anyone else or make a bunch of excuses, or feel like the pitcher was being unfair. He swung away and he will live to swing again.
For a lot of folks life is not as black and white or as confrontational as baseball. Life is much more like facing a batting machine. The machine cares about nothing. It doesn’t care if the batter is black, white, purple, tall, short, or shaped like a gourd. The machine just keeps throwing pitches. It doesn’t care if the batter zings it out of the park or swishes forty times.
That is the way life is for a lot of folks. Life comes at them quick as a major league fastball. Is it time to swing, bunt or duck? If they get hit by a pitch do they run out to the mound and pick a fight with the mechanical arm? Nope, they do not. It is not a malicious action. Life is just throwing some bad pitches. They can gripe and complain, argue and weep. It does no good, but they are welcome to act badly if it comforts them. The real energy needs to go into getting back into the box and facing the next ball, watch it come in and decide whether to swing or pass.
Baseball has much to teach us all. Baseballs basic rules can become rules for living. Take a swing or let it go, it’s nothing personal. In the game of life, we’re always in the box and the pitches just keep coming. That is what is so great; you can always take a swing.
