Jeff:
Adam was always a bright and happy
child. He was also quite stubborn. As his father, I always found
that frustrating in one respect, but I also admired it. I'm a
believer that stubbornness is an innate belief in oneself and
that it will provide you courage to follow your own path, no matter
where it takes you. As it turned out, that was very much in Adam's
favor.
From the very beginning, Adam was never interested in sports.
In an effort to jump-start his interest, I pretty much brow beat
him into signing up for soccer at the tender age of four. I told
him that if he would play just one game, then he could quit after
that if he didn't like it. He reluctantly agreed. I knew he would
like it if he would just try it.
From the very first practice, it was evident that he just didn't
have that "fire in the belly" attitude it takes to win. He was
so passive. Winning just wasn't that important.
When the big day of his first game came around, he really didn't
care. His performance, or lack thereof, was as you might expect.
His team lost, but I don't think he knew. This really bothered
me and when I asked him about it, his response was, "I want to
quit soccer."
I said, "You can't quit soccer, you made a commitment."
He said, "No, you made the commitment, I want to quit."
I hate losing an argument to a four-year-old so I talked him
into a few more games. He did, but even I could tell this was
going against his nature. He would rather be pedaling around in
his miniature Volkswagen car by himself, happy as could be. And
even as much as I wanted him to play sports, I was smart enough
to realize that I was going to make everybody miserable making
Adam fit into a mold of my own making.
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