I recently had to sever a relationship that was beginning to mean a lot to me. I was in a position to help someone who is much less established put a lot of points on their board. Yet they disrupted my field of play mid throw. They tried to take my game away from me and become captain of my team. They tried to go around me and carry my ball across the finish line. I wasn't even that mad, worse, I was disappointed and I was done. Game Over.
It is too bad that when we see others winning we try to interfere for self-gain. Where does that come from? And here is the kicker, I saw it coming. I saw the play being formed on the field long before it was fully executed. I was hoping beyond hope they would see the weakness in the play, but they didn't. Their play had been scripted.
In my case, I did not even call a foul or a time out. I took my ball and I went home, leaving this person frozen on the field. Never a word spoken about what had transpired. I would not allow the insult of any explanation to further spoil the result.
There is room for all of us to succeed. When we come together as a team and respect the rules of engagement we can all score. I promise. This starts with respecting all of the hard work it took to get onto that field in the first place. Things like sacrifice, sweat, tears, preparation, learning, re-tooling, and prayer. And yes it takes a healthy dose of doing what is right and caring more about the team than about one's self. Not everyone on the field is there to play dirty.
Their loss, my win. My ball.