What if you gave everything you had to give and it still wasn't enough? What if you did the best you could to make a difference...and it really didn't?
These are questions potentially facing Everson Walls today. Seven months ago, he became America's best-known organ donor, when he gave his good friend and former teammate, Ron Springs, a kidney.
Walls and Springs were Dallas Cowboys teammates in the '80s. They developed a firm and lasting friendship. Then, Springs developed adult onset Diabetes. The disease was advanced, debilitating, and potentially life-threatening. Springs needed a kidney in order to improve his quality of life and possibly extend his life expectancy. Walls volunteered to give his friend a kidney...and their story became the feel-good sports-related story of the year.
The news came down yesterday, however, that Ron Springs had fallen into a coma during an operation to have a cyst removed from his arm. As of the writing of this article, he has not awakened, and His son, Shawn, a cornerback for the Washington Redskins has taken leave from his team to be with his father.
I am not sure how it feels to be Everson Walls right now. I am sure he is hurting for his friend and his friend's family. I feel he must be proud that he did the best he could to save his friend, to give him a chance at a more "normal" life. But one might think that perhaps he is dealing with some level of disappointment or frustration, too.
We can all identify with how it feels to do the best you can and learn that your best just wasn't good enough. How one deals with that, I believe, is a sure sign of that individual's character. Thinking about that made me think again about The Paradoxical Commandments written by Dr. Kent Keith...
People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the
smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.
I am certainly not saying that all, or even most, of these things apply to the Springs - Walls story. I am just saying, it is good to do good for the sake of doing good, regardless the outcome.
Do it anyway.
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