theexpandingshrink

E. Daniel’s response to Don Hess, father of Matt who plays defense for the Blazers,  the Lancaster Mennonite High School soccer team that won the state championship on Friday night, November 18, 2011

Subject: Tell me it is really true

What a delightful bedtime story: good things happen to good people!  Tell me again that it is really true.

In this age of cynicism and fallen heroes when happy valleys are devastated by raging flood waters of bitter shame, tell me that somewhere good is really good. Tell me that the coaches did not abuse the boys, that the parents did not bribe the referees and that the boys did not cheat on their exams.

Tell me that tomorrow we will still hold our heads up high; that there will be no headlines of secret steroid use or of drunken brothel brawls.

And tell me that as the years pass and distant events give way to cloudy recall, one memory will hold its own: the cold night in November 2011 in the sweetest place on earth when good things really did happen to good people.

And tell me that this was only the beginning of good things; that succeeding years had more momentous victories. And finally tell me that each one of this great team makes the final goal and hears the welcome words, ‘Well done, good and faithful servants. Enter into the joys of thy Lord.’

E. Daniel