Ok, I readily admit that I rarely peruse the sports' pages of the daily newspaper. However, with the Olympics and all, the following article about Scott Hamilton in the NYTimes, caught my attention (Scott Hamilton Was Demoted as an Olympic Broadcaster. Don’t Feel Sorry for Him)
I've often maintained that much of our success in life is shaped by how we manage entrances, exits and significant transitions in our life's journey. For the narcissists, so often 'entrances' are perceived as 'having arrived;' 'transitions' are seen as opportunities of climbing ever higher that ladder of unremitting success; and 'exits' can be crushing blows to our egos with their loss of power and influence.
For people of character, often forged by struggling and coming to terms with and befriending one's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, these moments are inevitably contextualized and transformed by what we gradually come to embrace as the truly valuable things in life.
Scott Hamilton has been bumped from his prime-time role as commentator for figure skating competition at this year's winter Olympics. He is graciously making way for a new generation of commentators and he is doing so with grace and class.
He continues to face cancer squarely in the face. Illness, especially one that threatens the ultimate transition in life, has a way of relativizing so much of what we waste so much of our time getting angry and resentful about in our daily life. Hamilton has learned the great lesson from all this, in bringing a grateful heart to moments of entrances, exits and transitions in life. What a lesson for us all!