I remember the first time I heard the phrase 'Life imitating art'. It was on a VHS cassette of the great sports moments of the 80's, narrated by Al Michaels. I don't think I fully understood the ramifications at that time, but I was able to glean from the context of the statement (in reference to the 1980 US Olympic hockey squad that, in case you haven't heard, shockingly won the gold medal against the far superior Soviet squad) what it meant.
The implication is that when it comes to telling a compelling story, the artistic medium has a huge advantage over reality. This is because you can dictate everything about that story. You set the details, the chronology, the terms of engagement- everything. You can make it anything you want- and if you do it well enough, it will tap into that place inside all of us that longs to see wrongs set right and the hero of the story triumph against impossible odds. Real life, on the other hand, is bound to the cards it is dealt and left to walk along the paths where the chips fall. The hero doesn't always get the girl. The villain doesn't always get caught.
But that doesn't mean that there aren't real life stories that don't take us to those places. Sometimes, events unfold before our eyes that seem to have been written by a master writer. And when they happen, they are much more powerful than any story could be...because they happened for real. It's one thing to watch a movie and make the leap to reality- because after all, it's easy for the protagonist to succeed when they are passively following the path laid before them by the author. But when the exact same thing happens in the news- we sit up and take notice, because this time our hero more than likely had to take matters into their own hands. And that gives us hope that such strength resides inside of us as well.
Such a thing happened recently, and as a former basketball player and resident of Michigan- it hit somewhat close to home. If you haven't heard, Fennville High star Wes Leonard hit the game winning shot in a high school basketball game on March 3rd- a shot that additionally propelled the Blackhawks to an undefeated regular season. In the midst of the celebration, Leonard collapsed. A couple hours later, Leonard was pronounce dead due to a heart attack caused by dilated cardiomyopathy.
This would be an event that would shake any community. In a town of about 1400 people- well, I can only imagine how much collective pain is being shared. I was especially shocked to find out that in 2010, the school also lost a 14 year old wrestler. Wow. Two young athletes in the span of 14 months, dead well before their time. How do you recover from one- let along two?
My favorite sports stories all revolve around the idea of victory in the face of overwhelming odds. These types of stories reach inside of me and bring me to my knees. I cried during Rudy, and I cried during Remember the Titans, and I even shed some tears during Bull Durham (although...they were probably tears shed for a different reason). But these were movies- stories that were able to be intricately woven, truths that were changed to enhance the dramatic impact. How do you overcome things like the death of a beloved high school athlete?
If this story was a movie, the obvious ending would be for the team to gather around the memory of their fallen comrade, and march through the postseason tournament with a series of stirring victories, until excitement reaches a fever pitch in the championship game where the team falls behind to a prohibited favorite and then rallies to win the title with a last second shot.
It's much too early to tell whether that will happen or not- Districts just started yesterday. And realistically, such an ending would really just serve to reduce the life of Wes Leonard to that of the sports star- and that is in no way fair to his legacy, his family, or his community. The real life team spent the weekend deliberating about whether or not to even play in the tournament. In the end, the Blackhawks decided to go ahead with their Monday game against Lawrence. To say that the end result, a 65-54 win, is merely a footnote in this story is like saying that Charlie Sheen is a little crazy.
I'm not one of the people directly impacted by the situation, so it's not for me to say whether or not a state title ending would be the best ending- although I can't imagine anyone rooting against them. But this morning I read about how the District tournament game unfolded (and I highly recommend reading this hyperlink), and I realized that this story is about much, much more than a series of tournament brackets and box scores. It is about people confronting the harsh realities of life and having to lean on each other to make it through. It's about the forming of meaning in the face of the meaningless. It's a story that cannot be contained by school allegiances or county lines. It is the story of Wes Leonard. It is...the story of all of us.
It's easy to care when you're getting paid to be a football player at Notre Dame (um, I mean, in the movie. Yeah, yeah, that's it). Of course you'll be all about racial equality if Denzel is your coach. But the grace shown by the visitors from Lawrence (agreeing to move the game from their home gym, wearing tribute shirts for Wes Leonard) and the strength to come out and compete by the Fennville team...those kinds of things cannot merely come from the minds of writers. They have to come from deep inside of us. They come from a place that we all hope never to find, but we all need if we are to make sense of the horrible events that stalk our lives.
The death of Wes Leonard is an unmistakable tragedy. Whether you believe in a divine entity that controls our fates or simply random luck and chance, we all experience loss of loved ones- and sometimes that loss happens well before we feel that it should. And so we are left to scramble to pick up the pieces and fill the holes that have been carved into our hearts. That is why this story has resonated with me so. It is not about the death of Wes Leonard- it is about his life, and a celebration of what he meant to a small community in southwestern Michigan.
I pray we all find the strength to have such in the midst of hard times as the wonderful people of Fennville. I wish your team the best of luck in this state tournament, but more importantly, I hope you all find peace in this terrible loss.
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