Bringing a little healing with hoops
Photo by @ncannellf
By Tim Kolodziej
EnspireU
Do all you can.
With what you have.
Right where you are.
Who’s got next? Stephania Ergemlidze does. So does Khalil Gardner. The friends from Philadelphia have inserted themselves into the heart of this week’s demonstrations. But they’re not marching. And they aren’t destroying property. Instead, they’ve been captured on social media lugging around a portable basketball hoop, a ball, and a message of hope scrawled with a Sharpie on cardboard. It reads:
“I’ve always used basketball to bring people together. Today I feel is a day we need that most.”
Can I get an Amen?
Stephania and Khalil are playing hoops to bring people together. And it appears to be working.
Children are accepting their “1 on 1 challenge.”
So are adults.
And cops.
They’re black.
They’re white.
They’re from the inner city.
And they’re from the suburbs.
In one small pocket of downtown Philly, it’s all about the ball.
In my lifetime, I’ve seen nothing bring people of all races and beliefs together like our beautiful game. It doesn’t see blue or red. It doesn’t see religious affiliation. It doesn’t see where you live or your family situation. And it doesn’t see race. For anyone wanting to gain admittance on the playground, the game asks but two questions. And they’re ALWAYS the same two questions:
1) Can you PLAY?
2) Can we count on you if we let you run with us?
Though Stephania didn’t compete in high school or college, this young lady can BALL. You can see for yourself right here.
“I’m hoping we can try to find some kind of common ground and at least break some tension so there’s not as much destruction going on,” she told Pat Gallen of CBSN Philly. “We want to push for what’s right but we also want to make sure that we’re keeping our home intact.”
One is white.
The other is black.
One is female.
The other is male.
Side by side, jumper by jumper, they’re easing the tension in an enflamed city. And they’re showing people there are different ways to get to the goal.
I think Mister Rogers may have had them in mind when he famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”
Indeed.
Stephania and Khalil are doing all they can.
With what they have.
Right where they are.
And even though they’re all the way across the state, these two have shared a simple, but powerful, statement that hits home here, too.
Maybe a little 1-on-1 time really is the best way to spread your message to the masses.
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