Papendick: Knock, knock. Who’s there? Not loyalty
Going all in seems to be at death’s door.
Some coaches and others also like to use the phrase selling out. Are you willing to do what it is going to take to sell out completely for your team and your teammates?
That is a tall task for a teen-age or 20-something athlete, not to mention an adult.
We are asked to “sell out” or be “all in” all the time.
Spouses are asked to sell out for their spouses who say they will love them forever. Believers are asked to be all in for their Lord who died on a cross for them in some faiths. Investment companies ask investors to put all their eggs into one basket of promises that sometime turn out more vague than stunning.
Yet, people still resist.
On and on the list goes. Athletes are asked to sell out to their teams. Farmers to their bankers. Employees to their bosses. Children to their parents. Renters to their landlords. Pastors to their denominations and churches. Friends to their friends. Students to their teachers. Homeowners to their mortgage holders.
Sometimes, those whom we are asked to sell out to do not have our best interests in mind. More and more in college athletics, we see the transfer portal in action.
Coaches want athletes to sell out. Athletes want their teammates to sell out. For this year, anyway. Until they move on to different teams next year.
But don’t blame college athletics, its athletes or coaches. And obviously, there are legitimate reasons for changing schools, jobs, relationships or whatever. Plus, the transfer portal of life has been grinding up loyalty long before coaches and athletes started switching teams to better their situations.
Too often, people stop short of selling out. We let our selfishness, pride, peer pressure, and other reasons hold us back. We say we will go all in tomorrow, but tomorrow never comes.
Going all in or selling out means working to become the best you can be for someone or something. That takes sweat, study, wisdom (knowing the facts well enough to apply them), dedication, focus, loyalty, trust, honest self-assessment and submitting to a greater cause. Not easy stuff by any means.
That is why people who spend their entire careers at the same company or organization are becoming extinct. Some consider a couple of years at a job is now “a great run” and a couple of months on the job “a good shot.” And when an employee lasts only a couple of hours on a job, some will say, “Well, at least he tried.”
Everybody wants to hold back that little something in case a better deal comes along. Teams walk off a field and some say, “Well, we gave it our best shot.”
Well, probably not. Likely, more than a few were holding back, if not most or all connected to the team.
More and more, there are people who will walk through this life without ever knowing the feeling of going all in. Few amongst us know that feeling now, and few knew it before.
Rare are those who go all in. There are just not a lot of examples or teachers to be seen. Rare are those who sell all out. When you find them, study them.
Anyway, what keeps you from selling out from something you should be all in on? When a friend recently asked me that question, all I know is that it has left me and kept me thinking of my own shortcomings in faith, family and life.
Long-time South Dakota journalist John Papendick is a freelance writer, public speaker and seeker of new life experiences. Email: papendickjohn@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: John Papendick column Knock, knock. Who’s there? Not loyalty
