From the Sidelines – Nothing’s going to change my world

By Alonzo Garza
POST-REGISTER

For those of you who took the time to read my column last week and felt like you were left hanging, your intuition and instincts were right and I apologize. It seems a whole paragraph was mysteriously omitted. It happened accidentally, but since it was the conclusion of my Valentine to you, I feel obligated to finish what I started.


Last week”s column ended with “Nothing”s gonna change (without a period). It should have read “Nothing”s gonna change my world.”
Here is the last paragraph in its entirety:
Finally, at the risk of sounding redundant, despite all of our wants and desires, all we need is love. Love is all you need.
On this Valentine”s Day remember to love your God, love your spouse, love your children, love your parents, love your siblings, love your neighbor, love your brothers and sisters, love your friends, love your world, love…just love.
Happy Valentines Day.
I know my Valentine wish is a week late, but maybe the lesson here is we should not wait for a specific day to express our feelings of love and affection for one another. Maybe this happened so that we can feel free to treat everyone of our loved ones to a valentine of kindness, sweetness, sincerity, respect, affection and love on any given day.
If we all took it upon ourselves to make a serious effort to love wholeheartedly without pride, without prejudice, without prerequisites or conditions our world would be a much more pleasant place to live. By “live” I mean enjoying life and all its blessings, not just existing.
In any case, I feel fortunate to have a forum from which I can share my thoughts and feelings with others. I know some of you may be saying, “What does any of this have to do with sports?”
For anyone feeling a bit nauseated by all the cheesy “love” talk, let me assure you that it took a lot of love from loving parents who cared enough about their children to encourage them to pursue their dreams of excelling in their respective sport.
I know for a fact that Alyson Daily”s parents love her and support her in her efforts to excel as a pole vault star athlete. I”m sure Aly loves her parents for supporting her, teaching her and encouraging her to be and do her best.
I”m sure Rory Tunningley”s parents love their son unconditionally, whether or not he keeps earning first place medals in cross country and track. Rory loves his parents for caring enough to keep him involved and on track as a student and an athlete.
You have to have a certain amount of passion for something, anything, to excel in it. If you are an artist, you must be able to love art so much that you are willing to sacrifice everything else for your art. If you are a musician, your love for music will eclipse any potential distraction and keep you focused on the music. If you are an athlete, your love for your sport will be enough to help you forsake all other activities for the pursuit of perfection in your chosen sport.
Yes, it takes hard work and discipline to be a great athlete, but more than anything else, it takes heart. And that, my friends, is where the love is.