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KEN GRIFFEY, JR.— MOMENT MAN
I always read interviews of Ken Griffey, Jr. He's a smart guy and has had
to deal with sports writers from his teens. He must get tired of hearing
the same kind of questions over and over.
My reason for reading the interviews is that Griffey is unusually perceptive
and often candid in a special way. For instance, on the last day the Mariner's
played in the Seattle Kingdome, after he had played a spectacular game,
a reporter wanted to know whether Griffey had planned that kind special
ending. This was his answer:
People have to
realize, baseball players have to do it today. You guys may be able
to say, 'I'll do it tomorrow.' But for us to be successful, we have to
do it today. I don't have time to think about tomorrow. If it's good enough,
it's good enough."
(Tacoma Tribune, 6/28/99)
Add this to all the "moment" quotations. A put off accomplishment
may never happen. More important, the opportunity of a present moment can
be forever lost. Griffey understands that. His greatness is in giving each
moment his best shot.
I wonder what the reporters thought who were dutifully writing down his
words. Weren't they also trying to do as good a column as they could? Baseball
isn't the only game in life that calls for daily excellence.
Griffey is probably aware that playing days are numbered. His chance at
greatness is now. He can't be thinking about tomorrow if he's going to
do well today. This kind of anxiety is crippling. In the Sermon on the
Mount Jesus is quoted as teaching us not to be anxious about our lives.
"Do
not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself."
One line in the Lord's prayer teaches us to pray for "our daily bread."
This brings life into focus, into the here and now.
I think about all my retirement age friends. One thing I notice is an unspoken
urgency to do it, whatever "it" is, "while we can." An elderly aunt
admonishes us in every letter, "Do it while you can." A grab-the-moment
idea, like Griffey's.
My daughters run busy
lives with very active children. I don't know how they keep up. They must
dream of a more hassle-free existence. Whenever I see parents trying to
keep their children involved in such busy lives, my hope is that they have
some of Griffey's outlook. They might say: "Parents have to do it today.
You may say, 'I can do it tomorrow.' But for us to be successful, we have
to do it today."
In these helter-skelter
times when our lives are overloaded with information and world wide connections
to everything, it is all the more important to get focused. Without taking
away from the importance of dreams and preparation for the future, we need
the moment idea. Griffey has it. We can have it too.
- Art Morgan, Summer 1999
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