At the start of a school year there are lots of promises about trying harder to do the ‘right’ things or to make better choices. As schools are so filled with learning that we sometimes confuse what it takes to do the right thing or make better choices. We sometimes think that learning will move us to make the right choice. But, for most of us, that’s not true. We already know right from wrong; we already know which choice is better for us. The challenge lies somewhere else.
The extraordinary career of one of my childhood basketball heroes, Wilt Chamberlain, illustrates this. I am grateful a Malcolm Gladwell podcast about him reminded me of this. If Wilt were still alive he would have turned 80 years old this month. He was extraordinary. Although he retired from the NBA in 1973, he still holds more NBA records than any other player - ever.
Wilt was a prolific scorer. He accumulated 34,419 points in 14 NBA seasons at a time when there were no three-point shots. By way of comparison, Steph Curry has played 7 NBA seasons and accumulated 11,089 points. At Curry's pace, if he played as many seasons as Wilt, Curry would fall short of Wilt by about 9,000 points.
Wilt was a prolific scorer. He accumulated 34,419 points in 14 NBA seasons at a time when there were no three-point shots. By way of comparison, Steph Curry has played 7 NBA seasons and accumulated 11,089 points. At Curry's pace, if he played as many seasons as Wilt, Curry would fall short of Wilt by about 9,000 points.
But Wilt’s free throw percentage was dreadful.
Through his NBA career Wilt missed 5,000 free throws. His free throw shooting average was barely above 50%. Curry’s is close to 90%. If Wilt could have come close to 90%, he would have increased his lifetime scoring total by more than 4,500 points. Wilt was so horrible at shooting free throws that a friend hired a psychiatrist to work with him on it. They worked together for a month. Wilt later said, “At the end of that month, the psychiatrist was a better free throw shooter than I was.”
Ironically, Wilt knew exactly what he needed to do to improve his free throw shooting.
Through his NBA career Wilt missed 5,000 free throws. His free throw shooting average was barely above 50%. Curry’s is close to 90%. If Wilt could have come close to 90%, he would have increased his lifetime scoring total by more than 4,500 points. Wilt was so horrible at shooting free throws that a friend hired a psychiatrist to work with him on it. They worked together for a month. Wilt later said, “At the end of that month, the psychiatrist was a better free throw shooter than I was.”
Ironically, Wilt knew exactly what he needed to do to improve his free throw shooting.
You might have heard Wilt was especially famous for scoring 100 points in a single game in . (One hundred - that’s no typo.) During that same game Wilt made nearly 90% of his free throws - 28 made out of 32 attempted. How did he do it? During the 1962 season of that famous game Wilt shot his free throws underhand, “granny style.”
Even though his free throw shooting underhand was fantastic, he chose not to do it again. He made that choice because he was afraid of how making free throws that way would look to others. If Wilt Chamberlain -- 100-points-in-a single-game-Chamberlain -- was afraid of how others would see him, imagine how challenging it is for us when we worry about how others will see us or think about us!
Wilt knew what was right way to shoot free throws. But he lacked the will to do it. He did not have the courage to make the right choice. Instead, he chose a practice he knew was not only wrong for him, but also a detriment to his team and a limitation on his legacy. In fact, Wilt's coach Frank McGuire once said that if Wilt made all of his free throws the team would never lose. The choice was up to Wilt.
Torah teaches a similar lesson this week. The Torah narrative is clear about which behavioral choices bring blessings and which bring curses. In other words, Torah makes clear what is right and what is wrong. Still, we need to make the choice. “See, I am putting a choice before you today between blessings or curses.” (Deut. 11:26.) This is the Jewish affirmation of free will. To make the right choice, we don't need knowledge or information; we need courage to choose wisely.
Brene Brown echoes this perspective in Daring Greatly, one of the 2016 summer reading books for the JCHS professional community:
"[W]hen we make the choice to dare greatly, we sign up to get our asses kicked. We can choose courage or we can choose comfort, but we can’t have both. Not at the same time. Vulnerability is not winning or losing; it’s having the courage to show up and be seen when we have no control over the outcome. Vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our greatest measure of courage.” (emphasis added.)
For Judaism, this is at the very core of human free will: having the courage to make the right choice even when it is uncomfortable. Abraham Joshua Heschel taught, “the essence of [humanity’s] freedom is [one’s] ability to surpass [oneself]. To a certain extent [each of us] is enslaved by [our] environment, society, and character, but [one] can think, will, and make decisions beyond those limitations." (God in Search of Man.)
As we start a new school year, I invite all of us to be courageous enough to make the right choices, even when our comfort, our environment, or our character urges us to do the opposite. Let our friends and teachers encourage us rather than inhibit us. As Torah reminds us this week (“putting before you a choice today’), this opportunity is renewed daily. May we have the courage to make the right choice every day.
Amen! May we be able to support each other, en-courage each other, and engage with each other in making the "right choice every day."
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rabbi Ruben!
nice
ReplyDelete