Darryl Strawberry was one of the most popular players in baseball during his career, which began in 1983 and ended in 1999. Drafted as the first overall pick in 1980, his future in the sport seemed bright. Three years later he went on to earn National League's Rookie of the Year award, and after that he was voted to the all-star team eight consecutive times. He also helped the New York Mets and the New York Yankees to win the World Series, which earned him four rings As his career blossomed, he became one of the most intimidating hitters and his swing was often compared to that of Ted Williams, arguably one of the greatest hitters of the game. However, unlike the success he had on the field, he had some failures off of it.
Unlike the controversy of steroids surrounding baseball today, Strawberry suffered from substance abuse. As a result he spent time in prison. Along with that he even had a battle with cancer. But after all is said and done, he does not regret any of the decisions he has made.
Like he said, “I'm not ashamed of who I am. Of course I'm ashamed of the things that have happened. But with life experiences, you're able to give back and help others.”
By making bad decisions we are given the oppurtunity to learn what we did wrong, and able to evaluate the whole situation so that we know what we should do when another scenario of the sort occurs again. Sure some of us would want to go back in time and do what he had done on the contrary, but we would not have the knowledge of what to do under situations like that.
By going to jail Strawberry had plenty of time to recuperate, and analyze the chioces he made during his life. When he finally got out he was able to clean himself up and was able to "find his way."
In his book "Finding My Way" he discusses the family conflicts he had at a young age that lead him to drugs and alcohol. Then through a long process of thought he tells readers how he was able to clean himself upand overcome his past. Through his mistakes he was able to learn about what his true identity was. After his epiphany he has started a few organizations willing to help others such as The Darryl Strawberry Foundation.
Like Strawberry, we should not avoid our pst decisions that were bad, but welcome them as life teachings. We need to realize that not only what we did was wrong, but to also find away how we can make it right the next time. This way we can make the right choice and help others to avoid making the extremely bad chioces.
Here is some more information about The Straw Man.
http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Strawberry_Darryl.html
This is the kind of topic that people write essays about. I can definitely say that I've learned this lesson. Although things have happened in my life, I'm glad that they happened, because I learned from it, and others can learn from my experiences too. I've never heard of Darryl Strawberry, but he seems like a good rolemodel.
ReplyDelete-daisyfriend
Dear Latiqua,
ReplyDeleteStrawberry definitely had some good points, ones that are the subject of many controversial debates. Time and time again, the topic of fixing past mistakes comes up. But I agree with this blog- messing up has it's plus sides. As a result, a person is able to better empathize with others who have done the same thing, it helps the person to grow stronger, and to become less apt to make another mistake.
-A Little Bird
Hi,
ReplyDeleteThere is no questioning that all of us have made a particularly bad decision in the past that we with we could take back. But once we learn from it the bad decision turns into a learning experience. This happens only if we make the choice to. These decisions leave an imprint on us and ultimately taint our reputation. Because of this embarrassment we want to redeem ourselves.