I was reading Sports Illustrated last night – not the most recent issue (I still hadn’t finished the previous one) – when I again looked at my life and thought I wanted more.
When Stan Musial is on the cover, one has to read the article. I’d never known much about him before, except that I’d never heard one bad word about him. Sure, Babe Ruth was too fat, Joe DiMaggio hung out with celebrities, Mickey Mantle got injured too much, Willie Mays should never have played for the Mets, Ty Cobb played dirty, Pete Rose gambled on his own team and Ted Williams got cryogenically frozen for Pete’s sake. Musial is baseball's all-around good-guy. He played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals, won three World Series Rings and was known for never turning down an autograph. In the article, HOF pitcher Robin Roberts was quoted as saying "none of us are perfect. We all disappointed someone from time to time. I guess. Well, all of us except one... Musial."The article told stories about his friendliness, his genuineness, and his respect of others.
Last night I was also reading Donald Miller's blog. I'd fallen behind and was attempting to catch up as a break from my directed reading (I'd read 150 pages that day alone about corporate capitalism reconstruction during the Roosevelt and Taft administrations...). Anyways, Miller had written this entry about his friend Bob, a fellow he'd written substantially about in his book 
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. 
This guy is amazing. I couldn't do him justice by writing about him, so you'll have to check the story out for yourself. The blog post reminded me about the feelings I had when I read the book last October, during Fall Week of Worship. The book discussed Don's change in thinking regarding life. He began to see his life as a story and realized he didn't like the story he was living. It made me realize that I too didn't like the story I was living. That was a good week if I remember correctly. I tried to live a better story. I can't remember any particulars besides a good chat with speaker Terry Johnsson and reading this book.
Reading about Musial and Bob back-to-back made me realize that, like Don, I didn't like my story very much either. Granted summer school isn't glamorous in general and I'm far behind in my directed reading so that takes due diligence, but I just feel as though my life is boring. I feel like I've been less friendly, aloof really, and I'm sick of it. I want people to say about me what Musial's friend Dick Zitzmann said about him: "He loves making people happy." Now that makes for a good story.
"He just believed that that every man had the right to be treated with dignity."
Last night I was also reading Donald Miller's blog. I'd fallen behind and was attempting to catch up as a break from my directed reading (I'd read 150 pages that day alone about corporate capitalism reconstruction during the Roosevelt and Taft administrations...). Anyways, Miller had written this entry about his friend Bob, a fellow he'd written substantially about in his book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life. This guy is amazing. I couldn't do him justice by writing about him, so you'll have to check the story out for yourself. The blog post reminded me about the feelings I had when I read the book last October, during Fall Week of Worship. The book discussed Don's change in thinking regarding life. He began to see his life as a story and realized he didn't like the story he was living. It made me realize that I too didn't like the story I was living. That was a good week if I remember correctly. I tried to live a better story. I can't remember any particulars besides a good chat with speaker Terry Johnsson and reading this book.Reading about Musial and Bob back-to-back made me realize that, like Don, I didn't like my story very much either. Granted summer school isn't glamorous in general and I'm far behind in my directed reading so that takes due diligence, but I just feel as though my life is boring. I feel like I've been less friendly, aloof really, and I'm sick of it. I want people to say about me what Musial's friend Dick Zitzmann said about him: "He loves making people happy." Now that makes for a good story.
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