I don't know who said it, I guess maybe I could be the origin of this great quote though:
"The are no shortcuts to greatness."
I've always made it a point to be pretty open and honest about my life experiences, the good and the bad ones. Like everyone, I've lost some people who were very near and dear to me, and probably even a few more than many. I'm absolutely amazed at the strength of Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Romeo Crennel this past weekend. He led his team, as any head coach must, despite the tragedy he bared witness to. No two situations are alike. I won't even begin to say, "I've been there, I know how you feel," because I don't. Only he does. All I can do is admire him, admire his team, and thank God that he put people on this Earth who show us the right way to deal with adversity, for its through Crennel's example that we all can learn.
That Chiefs tragedy though reminded me of one of those losses I had to deal with, and I spent a lot of time thinking about Matt Gwaltney today.
Chiefs QB Brady Quinn said something I learned years ago and many times over, don't ever take for granted having anyone in your life. With social media and technology, text messaging, and all of that, we are quick to take short cuts in keeping in touch with those we care about. One day, every one of us will be gone, and I'm a firm believer that those things have already been planned out. It's cliche, but true, that we can't take anyone for granted, that we'll see them again tomorrow.
Matt Gwaltney was someone I looked up to from the first time I met him. As an 8th grader, walking into the weight room in the field house at Thomas Dale High School for the first time, I looked up to the upperclassmen who were already where I wanted to be. Gwaltney was one of those guys, and when I started spending as much time as I could at the Chester YMCA, he was a familiar face that I had met at the high school I was about to start going to. He was a senior on the varsity, a great student, polite, thought he was funny (haha), and he was smart. I learned so much from him, just by watching him play, watching him interact on and off the court. To this day I don't think he knew how much I looked up to him, and I guess maybe I didn't realize it either at the time.
I had just left my 8:00 a.m. class on April 16, 2007. I was a freshman at Methodist University, and I was stopping by my dorm on the way to get treatment in the training room on my injured left wrist, that I was still rehabbing from an injury during the season. I remember someone asked me, knowing that I was one of only about a handful of students from Virginia, if I had heard what had happened at Virginia Tech. I remember turning on the television and seeing those same images that have been played back a million times over. I was one of the thousands of people picking up their phone and calling friends and loved ones there, trying to get through and make sure they were safe. That pretty much dominated my day, and then that afternoon, I found out from a friend and then my mom that Matt was one of the victims.
Up until that point in my life, I'd lost family members, but never a friend, someone just a few years older than me that I aspired to be like. I don't remember my state of mind, but I know that when I drove home the next day to pay my respects and try to clear my head, it was a sad, lonely drive. I do remember the last time I saw G-Walt (as I always called him). It was just a few months before in December, home for a few days over the holiday season between practices, where I always saw him, at the YMCA. He was in between semesters of grad school at Tech, and up there shooting one night. It was just me and him in the gym, and I don't remember what we talked about, really. I'm sure we talked about my season, college life, how his grad school was going, stuff like that, and probably a few jabs at who was still the better shooter, and maybe a joke or two about how he knew me when I was 13. You better believe every time you saw Gwaltney he'd have some witty comments, always accompanied by that sly grin. But I do remember telling him that I looked forward to seeing him again that summer.
It's easy to think, wow what should I have said if had had known it would be the last time I would see him. One of my top motivating factors as a player, and now as a coach, is simply realizing that today might be the last day I get to be around the game of basketball, so if it is, how do I want my last day to go down? We don't live this way, but maybe we'd all have a better awareness of the mortality of our relationships, our careers, and our own lives if we did.
I found one of my motivational bands today on my dresser, amongst a pile of them, and instantly put it on. It says "No Shortcuts". I made this 4+ years ago in memory of Gwaltney, because one thing that stuck out to people about him is that he didn't take any. It's a reminder to earn everything. It's a reminder that life is like a game of Shoots and Ladders, sure some of us land on the right spots that shoot us up to bigger and better things, but for most of us to win, we have to go the long way. The long way sometimes takes patience, and it always takes a lot of effort, a lot of tries, but you feel better when you win that way.
I'm guilty of taking shortcuts. We all are. When we take one, we start looking ahead to find the next one. But I think if you focus on where you are right now, and how many turns you have to take to get to where you want to go, maybe then you find more success. That success is bought. You pay a price for it, and the more you're willing to pay, the more you end up giving. But the more you end up giving, the greater the return at the end of it all.
I'm thankful for Matt Gwaltney, and I can live for years to come and not be half the man he was. I'm thankful that, while he's on my mind every night when I say my prayers, that what he meant to so many people is back in the forefront of my mind, so that I might work harder tomorrow. Be greater for the ones you've lost. Live in your own reality. No shortcuts.
http://www.remembrance.vt.edu/2007/biographies/matthew_gregory_gwaltney.html
-TP
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