Since so many of you have played on the outdoor basketball courts – situated on campus on the way to/from Shabbos House – here’s an update and insight from those courts as we drove to school one day soon after the end of the UAlbany Spring 2021 semester:
This morning, on our drive to school, our younger kids noticed big road machines tearing up the basketball courts. Aghast, they pointed to the once-tall poles & hoops lying askew & scattered on the ground. Students loved that they cried, why are they breaking it down?
Obviously, the hopeful assumption is that UAlbany is repaving the courts to be even better than before, the Talmudic adage: destruction for sake of construction at work here. But youth have a harder time seeing an invisible intent or opportunity with the negative so bold & vivid.
And obviously, a life lesson for us adults as well. It can be really hard to see positives within negatives, to find hope in despair, ignore short-term pain for longer-term benefit. Most of life isn’t swish shots, we may have to go backwards to go forwards & a lot of it is rebounds.
Wishing everyone lots of great shots, good teamwork and some amazing 3-pointers!