There was no time to prepare.<\/p>\n
How we\u2019d feel… how we\u2019d react… what we would do.<\/p>\n
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Would we respond in unison?\u00a0 Would we be encouraged go our separate ways?\u00a0 … act our separate ways?\u00a0 Would division be encouraged?\u00a0 And when all else crumbled to the ground, who would stand as our support?<\/p>\n
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Would we fight? … would we chastise?\u00a0 … would we judge?<\/p>\n
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Or… would we embrace what is good?\u00a0 … together?\u00a0 Looking not to what divides but instead to what unifies… what brings about the strongest, most lasting sense of unity?\u00a0 … what is real?\u00a0 … and what has actual power?<\/p>\n
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Somedays I am discouraged by how we react as a nation \u2014 and how those within leadership often use and abuse their leadership in how they rhetorically encourage us to react; it\u2019s like we repeatedly miss the big picture because we\u2019re so embroiled in life\u2019s little battles.\u00a0 Hence, we\u2019ve made molehills into mountains and scratches into scars.\u00a0 We so often miss the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
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Except last Sunday night.<\/p>\n
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In Indianapolis \u2014 in what was supposedly just a game \u2014 University of Louisville sophomore basketball player, Kevin Ware, suffered one of the more visibly gruesome injuries in the immediately-gone-viral age.\u00a0 As Ware jumped to defend a 3 point shot, he landed awkwardly \u2014 so awkwardly that his leg buckled in 2 places, seemingly shattering, bending a way that legs don\u2019t bend, breaking the bone in 2 places, with his bare bone sticking 6 inches out of his skin.<\/p>\n
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The injury prompted immediate shock, horror, and grief by those on the court, those in the stands, and those watching on TV.\u00a0 It was spontaneously gut-wrenching.\u00a0 (At the time, allow me to say the Intramuralist was incredibly thankful to be tuning in solely via radio airwaves.)<\/em>\u00a0 Thus, there was no time to prepare for how we\u2019d feel and how we\u2019d react as a body… as a nation… as a society.\u00a0 What did we do?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n All over the nation \u2014 as spurred on from sportscasters whose amplified words suddenly paled in comparison to the reality before them \u2014 we were encouraged to pray.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As grown men cried \u2014 visible arguably most clearly in the eyes of the typically, fashionably, completely composed coach, Rick Pitino \u2014 all over the nation, people prayed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n From Robert Griffin III:\u00a0 \u201cPrayers up for Kevin Ware, his teammates, & family\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n From NBA\u2019er Kevin Love:\u00a0 \u201cI don’t even have words. Only prayers right now.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Fellow professional Stephen Curry:\u00a0 \u201cPray for him!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n From baseball\u2019s Bryce Harper:\u00a0 \u201cWow! Speedy recovery for Kevin Ware hopefully! Scary moment! Prayers and blessings to you bud!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n From football\u2019s Eric Wright:\u00a0 \u201cKevin Ware injury was crazy, gotta send a prayer up for that young man\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n And even from Lil Wayne:\u00a0 “May God be with Kevin Ware and his family. Ya in my prayers bro”<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When life is hard, we humbly fall to our knees and pray, submitting to a power and authority far bigger and better than ourselves.\u00a0 Sometimes in those moments of crisis \u2014 when reality looms larger than rhetoric \u2014 wise men encourage one another to bow down.\u00a0 There is no question then as to what is real and what is not \u2014 what is appropriate and what is not.\u00a0 Sunday we witnessed the reality of the reaction in college basketball.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n God bless you, Kevin Ware. \u00a0Heal fast.\u00a0 Be wise, and cling to the bigger picture.\u00a0 You now have a nation praying for you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Respectfully,<\/p>\n AR<\/p>\n There was no time to prepare. How we\u2019d feel… how we\u2019d react… what we would do. Would we respond in unison?\u00a0 Would we be encouraged go our separate ways?\u00a0 … act our separate ways?\u00a0 Would division be encouraged?\u00a0 And when all else crumbled to the ground, who would stand as our support? Would … <\/p>\n