The Better Angels of Our Nature

As I have my fair share of things to feel guilty about in this life, I’d like to share something that I had forgotten about, and thus triple my guilt!

Every Spring, the PGA Tour has a tournament in Phoenix, Arizona. It is currently known as The Waste Management Open (WMO). As far as golf tournaments go, it’s on the boisterous side! The fans in Phoenix seem to let loose a little more than at your average venue. No “golf claps” here! It’s a Duke home basketball game…played outdoors. This will become relevant shortly.

Professional tournaments are actually played Thursday thru Sunday. There are practice days earlier in the week where pros play with sponsors and other amateurs to raise money and awareness for causes as well as the tournament itself. It’s one of the things that professional sports and especially the PGA Tour are very good at…raising money.

One of the charities that the PGA Tour (and other leagues) sponsors is the Special Olympics. And at this year’s WMO a young woman by the name of Amy Bockerstette was chosen to play a hole with tour pro Gary Woodland during a practice round. The hole was the par-3, 16th. It’s one of the most unique holes on the entire tour. Think of an arena (yes, with tiered seats) like the Boston Garden or The Wells Fargo Center with no roof and a golf hole on the floor, surrounded by 16,000 crazies. At the risk of giving a boring play-by-play, the YouTube link is below and you can cry and laugh to your heart’s content. But a few thoughts…wait, excuse me for a second.

Sorry about that, I watched the video again and had to wipe the tears from my eyes. Anyway, as I said earlier, one of the PGA Tour partners is the Special Olympics of which Amy is a member. You see, Amy has Down syndrome. Approximately 6,000 babies (1 in 700) per year are born with Down syndrome in the United States. Down syndrome (the most common chromosomal disorder) is a congenital condition resulting from a chromosomal defect – an extra 21st chromosome. It causes varying degrees of mental retardation and physical abnormalities, including small stature, a single crease across the center of the palms, flatness of the back of the head, and configuration of the tongue that impedes articulation, and a slight upward slant of the eyes. Not too long ago, in 1972, people with Down syndrome were still commonly called Mongoloids.

Also, not too long ago, a doctor would have asked the parents of a Down syndrome child if they wanted to take the child home; the other options being to institutionalize the child or put the child up for adoption. Whether warehoused or just allowed to languish from lack of stimulation and attention, people with Down syndrome, not given early and continuing interventions, were generally thought to be incapable of living well, and hence usually did not live as long as they could have. Fortunately, that is less and less the case, today. Now, Amy and thousands like her are called American citizens.

After watching the video for, oh I don’t know, a hundred times, I realized a few things. The first of which is, the world would be a better place with more Down syndrome people. It is said that we are born brave, trusting and greedy, and remain greedy. People with Down’s must remain brave in order to navigate life’s complexities. And they have no choice but to remain trusting because, like Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire, they depend on the kindness of strangers. Judging by the people in this video, they almost always receive it, because let’s face it…people with Down syndrome or any other handicap are just like the rest of us, only more so.

Secondly, I think we all have a shadow of loneliness that is part of the human condition. We strive to overcome it in many ways but it’s always there. This shadow, I think, is a little darker for people like Amy because their ability to articulate their innermost thoughts and feelings, which helps us cope and helps alleviate the darkness, is more difficult for them.

But you wouldn’t know about that darkness this day, in this video. Because the third thing I saw was an utter joy in her. I know it may just be part of the emotional make-up of this particular handicap, but I don’t care. Her wide-eyed happiness almost makes me rescind my “People suck” philosophy. And that’s no easy task for your cranky correspondent. Amy and others like her may not understand the blessing – “More life into a time without boundaries” – but she is living proof.

As she hit her tee shot (yours truly would have swung and missed in front of all those people), and then hit one of the best bunker shots you’ll ever see, and then…well you’ll have to watch the video to see how it ends. The crowd surrounding the 16th went nuts for her on each shot. The tour pros that were with her, Gary Woodland along with Matt Kuchar, were supportive, wonderful, and caught up with laughter, smiles, hugs, and high-fives that I hope they will never forget.

I encourage you to watch the video, turn up the volume, and listen as she spends those few moments surrounded by people with extraordinary aptitudes and talents because they are winners of life’s lottery. But as you listen, maybe you will hear what I heard: that in more ways than one, Amy is also a winner. She seems to have won the gift of serenity. I hear it as the microphone picks up her repeated self-encouragement: “You can do this,” and “I got this”, and most heart-warming, “They love me!” Perhaps this is because, given the nature of Down syndrome, neither she nor her parents were tormented with a “What if?” Down syndrome did not alter her life’s trajectory. There was no trauma at the age of 13 that robbed her of sight or hearing, or whatever. Amy was Amy from conception on. And by the way, Amy is on a full golf scholarship at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, Arizona.

Lastly, as you watch, remember that your humble correspondent is not always right!  People don’t always suck. Every once in a while we get to see the better angels of our nature. Enjoy...

Gary and Amy


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