Grandpa's Little Buddy
As Steven stood awkwardly on the bank of Lake Malone in
Western Kentucky, his grandfather watched his "Little Buddy"
desperately attempt to get just one of the many flat rocks
he'd gathered to skip over the lake's sun reflective
surface. "Keep at it son!" his grandfather shouted with much
enthusiasm. "Grandpa," Steven asked in his pre-adolescent
and breaking voice, "Why am I no good at anything I try? I
want to be a great pitcher like you used to be!"
His grandfather gently touched his shoulder while observing
his grandson's eyes beginning to brim with tears. "Little
Buddy, let me tell you why you are already a great pitcher
and will be a better pitcher than your old grandpa ever was.
Can I give you a little advice son? Steven looked intensely
into his hero's eyes and replied, "Yes grandpa! I'll do
anything to be great like you!"
His grandfather sat him down on a hollowed out log and
pulled him in close. "Little Buddy, I want you to remember
what I am about to tell you and all I ask is that you never
forget what I had to learn the hard way. Do you promise you
will remember?" Steven's grandfather asked. Without pause,
Steven assured his grandfather he'd remember any and
everything he told him.
His grandfather continued, "If you think someone is better
than you, always remember that you are the only one who is
thinking the other guy is." His grandson looked at him
inquisitively and caught his grandfather off guard with his
response. "So you're saying that I need to use my brain, is
that what you said grandpa?" "You got it Little Buddy! Many
folks focus on what they are doing wrong, but the winners
figure out what they are doing right."
His grandson replied with yet another super insight based on
what he'd heard his grandfather say. "So I need to tell
myself that I am good?" he asked. His grandfather smiled and
went further: "Not only do you need to tell yourself that
you're good, you must always believe that you are great! You
see Little Buddy, you've got determination and grit. I've
been watching you throw those stones for over two hours and
anyone who stays at it that long has what it takes to be a
winner even though he may get a bit down on occasion!"
As they walked back up the hill to the home Steven's
grandfather built for him and his wife 20 years earlier, his
grandfather took hold of his Little Buddy's hand and stated
the last piece of wisdom Steven would ever hear him provide.
"You'll be at the pitcher's mound next season and I'll be
there Lord willing. When you're on that mound, I want you to
repeat to yourself what I'm about to tell you when you start
to throw each ball. Are you listening son?"
He glanced at his grandfather and boldly stated, "Yes Sir!"
"Okay then, I want you to repeat this right after me. 'When
I feel down, I know God will lift me up'!" His grandson
repeated it three times before they finally reached the
front porch.
The next season came and Steven looked into the stands
searching for his grandfather's always eager and proud face.
"Mom, I don't see grandpa anywhere! Where is he?" he
anxiously asked his mother of very strong faith. "Steven,
grandpa won't be here today because God called him to be
with him last night."
Steven began to cry as his mother consoled him with a firm
and comforting hug. "Steven, grandpa told me last night
before he passed away to be sure to tell you that he loves
you and to repeat what he told you to when you get up to
that mound." Steven's dark brown eye's steadied as he wiped
his tears away with his baseball shirt's sleeve.
Steven's tears wiped away, he immediately looked up and
stated, "When I feel down, I know God will lift me up." His
mother's eyes began to water as she patted him on the back
and directed his eyes towards the pitcher's mound. As he
walked to the mound, his mother continued to hear him repeat
what his grandpa instructed him to repeat.
With two strikes and three balls thrown awry in the bottom
of the ninth inning, the crowd watched as Steven paused,
knelt to one knee, muttered something and stood upright and
proudly. He gazed into the eyes of the batter and shouted
loud enough for the entire crowd to hear, "When I feel down,
I know God will lift me up." Oddly, he held the ball like
the stones his grandfather had watched him throw that sunny
day only one year ago.
Steven poised himself with his gaze remaining in the
batter's eyes. Before the pitch was released, he remembered
his grandpa's other words of wisdom--"If you think someone
is better than you, always remember that you are the only
one who is thinking the other guy is."
He released the ball with a furious and awkward sidearm
pitch that the "more-than-a little-bit" intimidated batter
never seemingly saw curve over the middle of the plate.
"You're out!" the umpire shouted and to Steven's surprise,
the crowd mostly comprised of the parents of both teams,
stood up and gave Steven a roaring applause. His team and
the opposing team both rushed the field and carried him off
the field.
Things had settled down after all of the pomp and
circumstance and Steven noticed an old man walking his way.
"That was a heck of a pitch you threw son," the old man
stated with the same look of pride his grandpa often had
shown on his face. "Sir, thanks a lot." Steven appeared
confused and asked, "Sir, do I know you from somewhere?" The
old man grinned, touched Steven gently on his shoulder
before uttering, "No son, you don't but your grandfather
did."
Steven excitingly exclaimed, "You know my grandpa?" The old
man's eyes began to fill with tears as he told Steven, "Your
grandfather struck me out just like you did that boy when we
were about your age. He told me something I'll never forget
just before I got signed on with National Baseball League."
Steven's eyes lit up as he waited for what the old man would
say next.
"Your grandfather told me that my greatest asset in the Big
League wouldn't be my throwing or batting. He told me that
if I ever thought someone was better than me, to always
remember that I was the only one who thought the other guy
was. What he never told me was what you shouted while
standing out there on that mound. Your mother called me long
distance late last night and asked that I come on down. I
was feeling down on the trip to get here, but thanks to you
son, God has lifted me up!"
Copyright © 2001 Brian G. Jett
bjett1@alltel.net
* From "Chicken Soup For The Grandparent's Soul."