Two stories I heard this morning. Although they might be apples to oranges, they bear the fruits of comparison….
I caught this segment on the Today Show this morning and was impressed by the attitude expressed by the parents of 3 year old Cameron Shores who apparently is known as “the wail heard ’round the world” after a video went viral yesterday of an incident that happened at Wednesday’s Yankees-Rangers game.
The video shows a foul ball thrown into the stands in cameron’s direction. Instead of him catching it, a couple sitting next to him (Sean Leonard and Shannon Moore) snatched it. The couple have been unfairly villified, thanks to the video, and New York Yankees commentator Michael Kay:
“Oh my God. They can’t give it to the kid? That’s awful,” he lamented, adding, “They’re rubbing it in the kid’s face,” when the couple posed happily with the ball for a photo as Cameron looked on.
But sometimes a picture isn’t worth a thousand words. Sometimes stories require context.
Instead of feeding into the narrative of the couple as being heartless, the parents of Cameron went on the Today Show to give a voice of reason to what occurred:
“I felt sorry for Cameron and for the other couple because they were made out to be such horrible, cold-hearted people and I didn’t get that impression from them at all,” said Cameron’s mother, Crystal. “They were very sweet and they talked to Cameron a lot.”
The couple was attending their first baseball game and are getting married Saturday. They actually offered the toddler the ball, but his parents turned down the gift.
“He’s three and we’re kind of at that stage where he thinks gets everything and anything,” his mom explained.
And in baseball, much like in the game of life, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.
“I never once thought that they should have given him the ball,” said Crystal. “We’re trying to teach him he doesn’t get everything every time.”
Now contrast this parental attitude with another one I heard on talk radio when I left the house this morning. What is the teachable moment to be had in this one? What example is the father setting for his son and is he justified?
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.