The other day I was talking to a friend who told me this story. On June 2nd, 1925 after 10 years with the New York Yankees first baseman, Wally Pipp was benched and the starting lineup altered. His replacement was a little known baseball player from Columbia University. Lou Gehrig went on to play 2,130 consecutive games for the Yankees and is considered by most to be the best baseball player of all time. That moment in time was one of extraordinary change for everyone involved especially Gehrig. A unknown, hometown boy from New York City who just wanted to play baseball that no one would have ever know about if not for one small change one day in June.
After he told me the story he turned to me and said, “Are you Wally Pipp or Lou Gehrig?”
“I don’t know.” I answered. “You’re both.” He replied.
I am on the cusp of change most of the time in my life. I don’t do well with things that stay the same and don’t move forward. How many moments like that happen every day? How many times do we say and do things that alter someone’s perception of life? I had someone tell me once that I was a catalyst for change, that just by my presence in a room people were motivated to change their perceptions. I think in a way we are all catalysts in different ways. The fact that we are aware of this is a different idea all together. But we are afraid of change, afraid of what is around the corner that we can’t control or don’t know about.
To be afraid of change is to be afraid of life and to close yourself off from all the things that it might bring to you. Do not be afraid, go out into the world and see what it has to offer.
