Last night I was talking to a wonderful friend.
I haven’t known this person for very long but I see them often.
We chat for a few minutes almost on a daily basis; last night our conversation was close to 20 minutes.
The subject?
Her younger brother.
The correlation…he is a spitting image of yours truly.
What do you mean, you ask…?
Let’s just say at a very early age, the guy quit his basketball team.
Seems like at an early age this young man had a hard time committing to things.
He went through his teens and 20′s not fulfilling his obligations.
I looked at my friend and said, “Holy shit, that sounds like the old me…”
But…there’s hope for him.
It takes some people a little longer for that light to come on.
We all fuck up in life, no one is squeaky clean.
We all make poor choices one time or another.
Whether it was love, sports, or even family, I made some bad choices as a teenager.
I quit the Holy Name basketball team a few times (thanks to Danny Pisselli for accepting me back with open arms). I quit the varsity team at John Jay. And of course I quit high school at 16.
The first love of my life, Maureen Horan was the greatest thing that ever happened to me at 15. I fucked that up too by not trying to make it work; I kept walking away when things got tough. I couldn’t commit.
Ironworking was the same way, if I didn’t like a boss or a co-worker, I quit the job. My Grandfather and Uncle Tim made me pay big time by sitting in the shape-up hall at Local 40 for months.
“Never quit a job” was the secret code of being an ironworker. Matter of fact, that’s a law in life that no one should break.
It wasn’t until my early 30′s when that behavior changed.
Now I’m proud to say I finish things, commit to my word and never, ever quit on anything.
I pass along this valuable life lesson too.
Just recently my daughter played on a Lacrosse team, she wasn’t very happy with it and wanted to quit mid way through the season. There was no way my wife and I were letting her walk away until the season was complete.
It’s a lesson she learned and will thank us later on in life.
Don’t quit, stick with things…it’ll all work out!
Respectfully,
Steve
Hoops135@hotmail.com
STEVE JOHNNY SEILER HERE SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE GENTLMEN, RIGHT NOW I AM GOING THRU A SERIOUS ILLNESS I JUST CAME OUT OF METHODIST HOSPITAL I C U I DONT LET IT GET ME DOWN . IGET UP AND DO THE THINGS I NORMALLY DO A LITTLE BIT SLOWER NOW BUT I DO IT . I REFUSE TO QUIT, THANKS FOR THE WORDS OF INSPIRATION TAKE CARE OF U AND FAMILY.
John,
Stay strong.
Stay active.
Stay positive!
Stay in touch…
THANK YOU STEVE FOR THE WORDS OF INSPIRATION THAT IS WHY YOU ARE THE COACH!!!!!!!!!!!
Steven,
That was the rule with my kids,,, join whatever you want but you can’t quit
until the season ends. It’s a rule we should all follow.
John,
Keep the good attitude. Regards….
Good post, Steve. One thing I’ve learned as I’ve moved on in years is the importance of effort. Even if there are obstacles in certain situation, I may not be able to remove those obatacles, but I am able to put in the effort, knowing that I at least tried. Rather than expect things to happen, which may or may not occur, anyway, we can be the ones who make things happen. At least, in our lives.
If I’m not mistaking, that white door is the old entrance to 127 windsor place, my home from ’65-’75. Those 2nd floor windows were our apartment. To the right is the entrance to Ballards and to the left is the current door(entrance) to the apartments upstairs ! Talk about memories ! Couldn’t wait to walk outta that door to see what new adventures awaited us ! ! !