The world moves backward more often than it should but your participation is this movement is optional. Yesterday I had a conversation with a coach about a player who got his ear pierced recently and wanted to keep the stud in during a game. He figured he’d just cover it up with a Band-Aid.  I know, right? Norman you make a bid deal out of things like this because you’ve always been this way. You never got your ear pierced or procured a tattoo. Half true. I may have never worn an ear ring or inked up but it’s not because I was always opposed to it. There was a time when I couldn’t wait to do both of those things. But I’m not concerned about a teenager getting his ear punctured. I was more annoyed that the player my coach friend was talking about moved the team backward.

There are certain decisions we make everyday that benefit only one person, YOU or ME. And when those decisions materialize, the day just started going backwards. I used to ask my students what would happen if the whole world was selfish. They’d wrestle with it for a while and occasionally someone would retort, “The World would be more dangerous.” And to that I’d say, “Not exactly, try a stronger word. EXTINCTION.” We’re all selfish as a rule, from the Third World to the land of affluence. From a basic school day to game day in every gym in America, it’s selfishness that threatens progress and of all the things we don’t control, this is not one of them.

Husbands and wives, coaches and players, principals and “Staffulty”, teacher and students, business brass and subordinates bear in common the fear of losing control. But nothing  moves an entity backward faster than selfish ambition because such a mentality is laced with the assumption that there’s not enough for everyone or people cannot be civil enough to accept reasonable input.  Conversely, perhaps, when confronted with the metaphorical “Ear Ring Incident” we’re afraid to enforce necessary rules that establish order. There’s myriad factors involved with a backwards day but the thing I’ve come to accept is that I’m in control of most of them. Today I can avoid gossip, text my wife a compliment, ask a player a tough question about the choices she’s making, etc.  I can write on the Facebook wall of somebody I don’t usually talk to or simply continue to pray for the Haitian community long after the world conveniently sifts the recent tragedy from its memory. There’s infinite ways to make certain today isn’t a backwards one.

There’s little one can add to a personal resume like that of John Wooden. He coached long before I was old enough to appreciate even the shape of a basketball but I can’t remember not knowing the name “Wooden”. Interestingly enough, I know him for the fortitude it must have taken to champion absolute truth in an ever increasing morally relativistic world.  Randomly, let’s say we attempt to discuss things like one spouse of a different gender for a lifetime, firm discipline of children even if it means subjecting them to the law’s consequences or giving money when you yourself are hand-to-mouth. Our world is not even tolerant of such a conversation let alone willing to adhere to what is perceived as close-minded, prudish ethics.

But what I like about John Wooden is that for the little I know about him, the most noteworthy aspect of his legacy is unwavering commitment to God’s truth. Which God? You figure it out. I think people respect Wooden for his unrivaled run as UCLA basketball coach and his freakishly admirable sense of loyalty and love. But what people refuse to acknowledge is that he actually isn’t a phenomenon, at least he shouldn’t be. They say in the video that he hasn’t used a curse word since age 14 or something on that order. I can’t say the same for myself. But whether it’s drinking, using profanity, promiscuity, etc.  it’s as if the world has always looked for ways to sanction behavior that is inconsistent with truth. Wooden makes no apologies for who he’s become at age 99 and no one would dare publicly indict him. He’s not the Wizard of Westwood, more like the patron saint of basketball.

With that in mind however, you and I aren’t Wooden in the eyes of the public. Take the sports world for instance. I walk into a meeting with my 6ixth Man t-shirt on singing my siren song of the  self-reflective character development model and I’m risking humiliation. They have no reason to honor my legacy. I don’t have 10 National Championships, I’m only 34 and I haven’t earned a University millions of dollars. But the message I (you) bear, the commitment to truth and the willingness to mentor from a perspective that absolute truth should remain our focus requires our ambassadorship. John Wooden is neither afraid to die nor afraid of the winds of change. He’s one fading symbol reminding us that Truth is always en vogue and always the benchmark.