CHALLENGE #2

ALWAYS FORWARD: THE WAY THROUGH FEAR

The neighborhood bullies were bored and on the lookout for prey. They chain-smoked cigarettes and guzzled beer and cheap wine. They stalked, much like the predators on the Savanna. Unlike the predators on the Savanna who survive by instinct, their lot was chosen.

That day, they found me. I was nine at the time.

As I would navigate the three-mile gauntlet to school every day from neighborhood to neighborhood, I was always vigilant of what lurked around corners.

The image from that day is still etched vividly in my mind. It changed the rest of my life from that day forward. I was wearing my prized birthday possession. I loved my brand new baseball hat with the small plastic baseball sewn on the front. The hat was cool because of that little ball on the front; it was unique, my favorite.

I can still remember those ornate, beveled stones that decorated the exterior of the church. There was a small enclave carved out of the façade. The bullies pounced from the shadows, the sounds of half-empty beer cans hitting pavement. The chase began. My legs were churning as I was running as fast as I could. I ran into the church enclave and was trapped. I remember the hat being torn off my head. Time was suspended and so was I, floating through the air from a shove, I watched the miniature baseball bounce around between those stones. There were laughs, taunts, threats, and anger in the faces and words of my tormentors.

I ran home, shirt torn, hat crumpled, the little baseball in my hand, my heart racing from the church all the way into my garage.

Working away in the garage was my father, a six-foot-three-inch authoritarian Pennsylvania State Police trooper. He was the county’s version of John Wayne. As usual, he was covered in sawdust; wood working was his passion and pastime. He looked up and surveyed my torn and frayed clothing.

“Dad, Dad, they beat me up!”

My father leveled a serious look at me, then offered lecture and lesson. “Son, you can keep running from the bully, but one day you will run out of room. When you run out of room, you will have to make a choice. You can cower in the corner from fear, or you can stand, plant your feet, and face it.”

That’s life, we can run but at some point we will run out of room, grow tired, stop, and surrender. Life will present us with choices—we will either slink or cower in the shadow of fear, or take the pain and move forward. Each resolute step will make you stronger, forging your resolve and creating the self-confidence to move forward.

I began to build myself up, both mentally and physically. I learned to see my problems for what they were and faced them head-on. Over time, I developed an arsenal of resolve, fortitude, and spirit to dispatch the bullies in my life. Life will test our inner resolve. It will question, we must answer. We must be able to physically cash t