‘Our life during this earthly pilgrimage cannot be without temptations, for we make progress along life’s path precisely through our fight against temptations; nobody can know himself unless he has experienced temptation, nor can he be crowned if he has not been victorious, nor can he be victorious if he has not fought, nor can he fight if he has not enemies and temptations.’
— (Enarrationes in Psalmos, 60, 3)
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This St. Augustine quote was sent to me by my personal Catholic priest, Father Jim Sorbus of Our Lady of Fatima in Huntingdon, WV. (He is my personal priest, I am his personal weatherman. I got the better end of that deal.)
I want you to look at that quote and put it in perspective. Enemies are rarely people. Very often, they are the weaknesses you and I have.
As I got older, I realized the true value of wrestling at Penn State was elevated more each day of my life. In talking to athletes today, I have trouble understanding why some aren’t cherishing their sport more. If you don’t cherish it, you cannot possibly learn the bigger lessons, nor can you possibly go as far as you otherwise could.
The only person who owes you anything is you, and and what you owe is getting the most out of your talent. For those that believe what I do, it also means giving back to God for the gifts he gave you. The New Age folks love the term ‘life experience.’ Well, since my idea of life continues after this world, it is also spiritual life experience.
I am spending an awful lot of time in the wrestling room these days, as outside of my family, it’s my only true form of joy. It is maintaining the connection to something that, looking back, was the spiritual link between what I was taught as a child and what I grew into as an adult. It is a never-ending journey, one that requires the idea that ‘the time is now.’ Tomorrow is on no calendar. Fight as hard as you can now, and if you are blessed with another day, you will be ready.
When I was in college, I got closer to God because of wrestling. When realizing how weak you are, you seek to be stronger. Rolling around with my teammates, I realized how weak I was (and as I age, I am learning that even more).
What can make you stronger? What I learned is that I need to ask questions of myself that only I can answer with the help of God. In the end, when faced with problems, it comes down to that. Are you willing to do the work to see the result, and are you smart enough to learn from it?
If you work hard enough, you have the strength to fight the battle as it comes. This is why you should never set a goal less than the top.
Inside each of us is the desire to be something more than what was given. It is interesting to see how a coach can help with that. No coach can make someone something they do not wish to be. However by teaching the athlete that they have to dig in deep to find out what they are about, they build a mentality in the athlete to go farther. And by only setting the goal at the top, can you possibly figure that out. How do you know what is in you, unless you actually pursue it?
What happens when you get the goal? It comes down to this: Why set the goal if you
are not willing to go beyond it? If you are caught in a stream, just treading water will eventually get you
drowned. The only reason to get to one goal, is to get ready for another.
Suddenly, it hits you: The reason I am doing this is because something inside me is searching. Bingo! You realize the goal is simply the light you are reaching for. But unless you are willing to do that, fuggedabout it, as we say.
Your goals can be a way to to get higher, and in my case, they lead me toward God.
This is harder, much harder, to grasp and fight for. Its not like knowing there is a letter blanket or perhaps
a large trophy waiting for you. It comes down to doing very hard things for next to nothing to prepare
yourself to be able to search for everything.
It comes down to an amplified version of something Coach Koll said once: What would you do for one point? If you are willing to do that, then you have a chance to go much farther.
And its why I am always in the room, not to re-live glory days, but to make sure that connection to push beyond what I was given is always there. Lifting weights reminds me to do the work to see the result. The ‘glory day’ for me was the journey of the room, and so I go back to the well
as much as I can.
You know you have it down when you are at peace with yourself. It’s interesting, because I know
darn well the talent I was given is in weather, and the obsession with it is part of that. It’s like eating
and breathing to me, so I don’t think there is any excuse for being wrong or not benefitting the company more so others around me eat better.
I go to the wrestling room to remind me that you have to fight and never quit reaching for the true lesson if you truly want to learn it.
I will tell you this: We have a room that seems to have people who, whether they know or not, are on the right track for learning such things. So it makes sense to me that I would still be so hungry here. I don’t want to walk off the field thinking I came up short with what I was given in the weather.
And you thought we wrestlers were all a bunch of sweaty Neanderthals, eh? (Actually, I
am a different breed, a Neanderthal nerd.)
We started with St. Augustine — without the fight, there is no victory.
And we end with the Jersey philosopher Springsteen. This line from ‘The Rising’ sums it up for me: ‘I wear the cross of my calling, with wheels of fire I come rolling down here.’
That may be the spiritual lesson of wrestling, and it’s from a Jersey rocker.
Find out what you are made to do, and use it to reach for beyond your grasp. After all, that is what heaven
is for (said poet Robert Browning).
And go like there is no tomorrow. It’s the spiritual lesson wrestling taught me.
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So, lets get sum this up: St. Augustine, the spirituality of wrestling, Bruce and Browning all rolled
into one column. It’s going to be hard for any local hockey legends to top that, even if it is from a wrestling scrub.
