Doniphan exemplified collaboration last week. By the time you read this, the first football game in Brumitt Stadium in Griffin Field will be the new chapter in the history of that sport in our schools. What a journey for sure! The dictionary defines collaboration as a joint endeavor to produce or create. The action to make the return of football possible took longstanding passionate investment of time, energy, labor and love while ignoring the bystanders who quipped every chance they could, “It’ll never happen.” It started out some years ago in a few minds with vision enough to share it. Though shelved temporarily, when retrieved, dusted off and proposed again, it had enough of the community on board to gain momentum.
No one ever made the impossible a reality by listening to the naysayers. That’s why sometimes it SEEMS a dream materializes out of thin air. Could be that those dreamers chose not to divulge their ideas or plans at the git-go to avoid that negativism. It can be a drag.
Sometimes naysayers play a role in the success of a project without realizing it. How? By giving the dreamers a heads-up on potential obstacles, to help them ‘head ’em off at the pass’ before becoming seemingly indestructible roadblocks. There comes a time in any dream when talk stops and actions take over if that dream is to become a tangible force in the real world.
Have a vision of your own? Look to this success to learn a lesson or two about progress.
*Rigid attitudes can thwart anything. Flexibility is paramount. Just because it won’t get done the way you want it to, doesn’t mean it can’t get done.
*Timelines can be pliable. You’re human.
*Don’t sweat the small stuff, but it ‘ain’t all small stuff’ so be willing to ask for help. It’s out there.
*You’ve heard patience is a virtue. Believe it. There might me a lot of time and frustration between firing up at the start and crossing the finish line. Don’t give up.
*Gratitude counts. Celebrate the milestones and those who help you get there.
*Be for another what others were for you.
I don’t know what the final score. I might argue we were winners regardless.
This was written for my Close to Home column in the Prospect-News in 2018.
