Wondering about my Wanderings

Different Strokes For Different Folks

September 3rd, 2013
Yesterday billed as a time for a tennis extravaganza. I looked forward to playing tennis with all three of my adult children and one showed up. I grew up playing the sport. My other three played in high school and some after that. My learning is that it takes all kinds of strokes to make up a serious game of tennis. Who knows maybe Michael and Julie were trying out the strokes in a different kind of setting.

I see tennis game as a learning microcosm of life. There many strokes to learn in order to play the game effectively:

1. There is the serve. The most important thing about the serve is getting it in. To serve for the sake of serving makes no sense. There are so many kinds of serves. top spin, slice, flat, quick serves and if all else fails the plopper serve. The first thing I would teach is the importance of the serve and knowing which kind of serve to use.

2. There are spins. How many of us know that there are many ways to spin any one story. The spins keep people off balance for the one shot that will finally win the day. No matter how you spin it remember the other guy can spin it sometimes that much better than you.

3. There are backhands and forehands. These strokes are about making sure you get in the right position. Other wise you might be hit in a very vulnerable place.

I let my kids go even as a tennis ball goes off my racket seeking a perfect placement. I hope that above all that they are in the game of life to love and to win. What else could a father want.

Tim and I played. We both won as different as we are in the way we play-different stokes for different folks. Your serve!!!

Chapter 4 or 5 I am losting track. "Behold" shares about the different strokes of the prison system.

I have learned that it is best that you treat everyone the same. It does no good to look for what crimes they committed and judge them accordingly. As a guard you learn that you need to be safe. In the course of the week prisoners get agressive emotionally and physically. How you handle all that is thrown at you determines whether or not you stay in the game.

Above all else we try to avoid violence of any kind, but there are some situations that demands us offering back some kind of resistance to let the prisoner know that being crazy and out of control does not work. First I give them all manner of firm and fair verbal instructions about what to expect and then let them decide how they will respond to that. In the course of a week people can get hurt. The key to it working is that persons need to know that there are rules needed to make all concerned safe. Some of the prisoners are cooperative and others are off the leash defiant. All that being said there are different strokes for different folks. Being in control of your strokes and accountable to how they are meted out is the name of the game.