AGGRESSORS NEEDED

Playoff hockey is like playoff anything else except way more physical. Sportscenter showed a hit on a Boston Bruins center David Krejci by Philadelphia Flyers Captain Mike Richards which landed Krejci in the hospital with a dislocated wrist. The season just ended for Krejci not long after Bruins Forward Marco Sturm tore his ACL and MCL in his right knee. The Bruins are up in the series, however, though their projections of winning the Stanley Cup are not favorable given the key injuries.

Aggression has an unmistakably pernicious connotation. It’s a bad word, almost profane and little boys are reared one of two ways: Either play the role of the quintessential bully or ebb at even keel. The bully becomes a societal menace if some demi-bully doesn’t teach him a lesson and Mr. “Even Keel” usually realizes one day that he is a soft, complacent individual who has let life HAPPEN to him. So maybe somewhere between the ferocious Mike Richards who ended Krejci season and the dutiful non-risk-taking person there’s a proper use of aggression.

I thought about my own history of aggression or the lack thereof and found that I missed out on tons of things because I didn’t ask outright, left a voicemail message instead of stopping by in person, sent an email to do a phone call’s job, gave a person a reason to say NO to my product because it sounded like I didn’t really believe in it. Aggression, as with anything, has merit in moderation. There’s nothing wrong with saying, “I’m going to need $50,000 to get this project done ma man.” A lot is read and left between the lines when it comes to communicating. And yet, some of the most successful people have figured out that it isn’t offensive to ask, to query, to offer, etc.

The people who most resemble me in this world fear rejection, an inanimate and unavoidable truth of day-to-day grindin’. It is true that you have to find out what you really want out of this world and pursue it. It goes without saying that you must know why you want it and that it ought not be superficial. Nevertheless, proper aggression is the way to contend with what afflicts people from your neighbors to villains operating child trafficking rings world wide. The guy who broke Krejci’s wrist actually set up the opposing team for the winning goal. That’s bad aggression. The Bruins remained on the attack using what advantages they still had. The Lakers are doing the same thing exploiting their size advantage against the Utah Jazz. On a personal note, I had to stop saying that my words didn’t matter and accept that if I have one gift, it’s that when I speak, people listen and hear my heart. I’m a lodestone. What’s your claim to aggressive fame?