How to Create Space
A shorter one? Is that better for you?
Baseball and the Open Field
My favorite sport is Baseball. I love everything about it. I love it so much that my wife likes watching it with me because I see things she doesn’t. She enjoys my joy when watching baseball. (I have a good wife.)
Some of my favorite stories concern the first Black baseball player, Jackie Robinson. After writing about space last week, I remembered the stories about how Jackie Robinson was hated because he was entering a space previously reserved for white men. I have seen the same ire directed toward various genders and races for the same intrusion in different arenas today. The reflection of the Jackie Robinson led me to Pee Wee Reese.
The Legend Goes…
The legend goes that Jackie was in a slump, a baseball term for a poor hitting and/or fielding streak. He was playing in Cincinnati, and the fans were getting to him a little extra that day. And that was the day that Pee Wee Reese created the space for all Black Americans to play and enjoy baseball. All Reese did was walk over and put his arm around Robinson. It didn’t cost Reese much as one of the most popular players in Baseball, and it doesn’t compare to the hatred Robinson received before or after that moment. The hero of this story is not Reese; it’s Robinson for his endurance. But let’s reflect on what Reese did to create that space so we can do it for others.
If you think about that moment or perhaps the others that might inspire you, how did these people create space for others? The answer is deceptively simple. They had integrity and spent it. I know what you are thinking; what does that mean? Well, here is the list
You have to have integrity.
You have to be a non-anxious presence.
You have to spend it or be willing to not be the hero.
Pretty simple, right? So why don’t we all create more space for people instead of conquering or colonizing other people’s space? Because the concepts in those three steps are challenging to master and often take a lot of work before the moment comes.
So, we will look into each of these for the next few weeks. Some of my favorite books come from these areas and have helped me develop a sense of cultivating integrity and spending it well.
Let me know how you created space. What is your experience with integrity or anxiety? Have you ever intentionally spent influence to help someone else out?
I look forward to seeing you next week.