So much Heart!

I read the story on the air this morning, more than once, but I still had trouble believing it. How can a guy with so much heart have heart trouble. Of course I'm talking about Etan Thomas. Most of you know him from his exploits on the court. Perhaps you know him for his fisticuffs with Brendon Hayward. But I know a different Etan Thomas. I met him a couple of years ago at an event in the district. I will never forget how much heart this young man has.

Let me take a step back before I tell you my story about Etan. You need to know that I've had the pleasure of being an emcee and a judge for the "Do the Write Thing" essay contest here in the district for the last few years. http://www.dtwt.org/ I like to tell people the kids don't write their essays with their hands they write them with their heart. There is no way you can read these papers without being moved. They are stories of kids growing up on the mean streets of America. Confronted with drugs and violence, they are making a pledge to turn their backs on both. Soon you'll be able to hear the stories behind the essays and the essays themselves. It's a radio production, you can learn more about it at this site.

http://www.treehouseproductions.org/doTheWriteThing.html

I'll never forget reading one of the essays this year. This teen wrote vividly about his first encounter with violence. He was a little boy fiddling with the TV, changing the channel. His grandmother got up and changed the channel back to the one she was watching. She admonished him. She went back to her seat, by the time she sat down he had changed the channel again. It's the kind of playful, yet annoying thing kids do every day. This game of up and down went on a couple of times, before the grandmother slapped his hand and told him to stop it. What followed was a verbal altercation between his grandmother and father. It ended when the father fired a gun at point blank range killing his grandmother. The story was gut wrenching, and I've only told you a fraction of his story.

I've told you that story to help frame the event two years ago when I met Thomas. It was an evening bringing together the winners of the "Do the Write Thing" essay contest from throughout the country.

Tommy Davidson, the actor-comedian got up and told a story about his childhood that really connected with the kids. He was followed by the gentle giant Etan Thomas. You may or may not know that Etan is a poet.

He read one of his poems. Wait a minute, he didn't read it, he delivered it. The kids were spellbound, so were the rest of us. It was so important for these kids to see this athlete showing them that reading, writing and poetry are just as important as layups, rebounds, and three pointers.

For kids who had written heartfelt essays in order to be here, it was such a big moment. But it was more than that. After he was done speaking, after the event was over, I remember him spending so much time with those kids. The adults who wanted to come up and meet him would have to wait. He made each kid feel so special. That night Etan did something so many athletes aren't doing these days, that night Etan Thomas was a role model in a big way. So this morning I'm hoping for the best for Etan. I know his heart is damaged, but I also know he has a big, big heart!