I want to tell you the story about an amazing boy and an amazing family I met. Courage comes in many forms. Sometimes it is falling on a hand grenade. Sometimes it is just getting up in the morning. And sometimes, it is just appreciating what you have been given in a way that calls forth the best in us.

This past Saturday I sat on the sidelines and watched as my second grader played a basketball game. They didn't win a game all last year and lost the first one this year. But Saturday, we got our first win. But, we, the parents of the 'winning team' got more out of the watching the other team than watching ours win their first game, ever.

As the kids played the first quarter, they began scoring and ran up a lead. A first for our little team! When the second quarter started, one of the kids on the floor for the other team came out took his place.

He had leg braces on both legs and was mobile only with the aid of two crutches. Both hands were in use to move up and down the court on the crutches. The tops did not come his arm pits so that he could lean on them. It was all arms.

As the rest of the boys got to one end of the court to set up to shoot, he would just be getting there as the play was ending and they would tear off down to the other basket. He would turn around and begin the process of making his way down court, sometimes just getting past the mid court line as they were coming back. Over. And over. And over.

Always, he was giving his best and full effort.

In the third quarter he came back out on the court and this time, he caught a rebound, dropped to the floor and as he lay there, passed the ball to a teammate who scored. Every parent cheered.

Two ladies were sitting next to me and were the parent and grand parent of another kid on the team. They hollered out, "Way to go, Zachary!". I turned to the grandmother and swallowed hard to get the lump out of the way and said, "That's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen."

"Oh, Zachary?"

"Is that his name, yes!"

"Oh, yeah, well he just wants to play and he just keeps playing, so they let him."

"Well, (swallowing hard again) that's just incredible."

"Yeah, well, you should see him at soccer and baseball... He just appreciates playing."

You should see him at soccer and baseball.

I just couldn't respond. I opened my mouth, but there was no sound, no words could come out, no way to keep talking. I looked back out on the court and the kids were still going at it, playing away without really taking much note of Zachary. To them, he was just another kid... playing. Which is all he wanted to be.

When the game was over I found his mom and told her I thought her son was a stud, because that was the only thing I could think to say. Her friend standing beside her laughed, not out of discomfort or embarrassment or unease. She laughed because they have so accepted Zachary that his accomplishments have become normal and my comment was so out of context of their perceptions of him that it seemed humorous to her.

But, his mom thanked me.

I found his dad and I shook his father's hand and as I did I bent down to Zachary and told him, "You're a stud!". Sheepishly, he quietly said, "Thank you."

But that was all I could get out. I couldn't talk. His dad kept pumping my hand and smiled warmly at me, thanked me and wished me...Merry Christmas.

On the way home we asked our son what he thought about the boy with the braces. As an adult, I was ready to use this moment to teach a life lesson. The answer was so profound I didn't have anything to say although we tried in our adult way. He hadn't really noticed him all that much.

They are seven. They just want to play, to experience the joy of play, appreciate play for what it is to them: an expression of life affirming youth and joy on a level we adults have often lost.

And what was so profound about Zachary on one level, is that he just wanted the same thing and had the courage to do so. On another, was that he didn't want to be considered exceptional, courageous, a role model, a hero, different or outstanding. He just wanted to be a kid playing a game and having fun for the pure joy of doing so.

The human spirit is capable of many things. Many good things. But sometimes we need reminding.

Whatever our struggles, whatever our position, whatever our insecurities, our jealousies, our tendencies to blame, to look at the world from an ego centric point of view and a sometimes desperate need to be recognized and validated, we will be only what we can be, when we can find a place of deep appreciation.

Not guilt fueled appreciation for what you have accumulated. Not appreciation for what some self centered accomplishment has brought you. But appreciation that comes from affirming your connection to life and recognizing that there is a place maybe just behind your heart, that has light with no beginning and no end.

Appreciation what opens us it up to joy and goodness, because with appreciation comes the spirit of all that is good and right. And that my friend, is courageous.

Zachary, you are my hero whether you want to be one or not. I don't even know your last name, but I love you.

Pat Hicks
http://www.pathicksonline.com