Father Like Son?

I did a lot of ruminating when out on my bike ride this morning to Flora City. Not much else to think about while tooling down the trail. It seems that sometimes you can see more clearly through the rear view mirror than when just looking straight ahead. I think that was my perspective this morning, anyway.

I thought about a story of a man and his young son. The dad, in his youth, had been a star basketball player, played football in high school and aspired to become a professional baseball player one day. He dated a pretty, vivacious cheerleader for years. I'm sure he would have been called a jock.

The man married and soon had a son. His dream was to have his son become the athlete he had been, hoping to realize the unfulfilled dreams of his own youth. The dad tried to nurture his fine son into that athlete. He coached his son's baseball team for several years, showing patience towards his son as he worked to find a place for him on the field.  He drilled the lad for hours in the back yard trying to teach him to "keep your eye on the ball", to no avail.

However, hard as he was to try, turning his son into an athlete was not to be. Yet, as the years fell away, he noticed a quite different side of his son, his intellect. The son was very bright and had developed a keen mind while the dad had been focused on this athletic prowess instead.

They began playing chess together, the dad winning at first, but soon the boy developing strategies that surpassed his own. Awards for intellectual pursuits became the norm for the youth instead of baseball trophies.The dad became very proud of his son over the years and never looked back to his early dreams for the boy. The dad realized that not only he, but his son, was much the happier when he let the boy become the man he was intended to be. Himself, not a replica of his dad.

It's interesting how this story can be played back with the roles reversed.