We are all privileged, even more than we think.

I was scrolling through Facebook earlier, wasting a few minutes while I waited for my Dunkin’ Donuts K-Cup to finish brewing in my Keurig so I could dump in some peppermint creamer and sit down to return a few of the recruit emails that have started to pile up in my inbox.
 
One of those “Share if you support, ignore if you don’t” posts popped up on my feed. (And of course now I can’t find it to share it with you all.) Normally I see those and just continue scrolling through the posts about babies, complaining, and work. This one caught my eye though, so I stopped and read the caption underneath the picture. The picture was a young boy, hitting a tennis ball off a tire using a stick. The caption stated: “We don’t all have $300 bats, $100 cleats, or $75 hitting lessons…but we all still want to get better.”
 
I am privileged. This is something I didn’t understand growing up (as most kids don’t), and now am thankful for every single day. My parents were at every softball game I ever played and traveled all over the country sacrificing their own lives for 20 years for my sister and I. I was able to accept a part-time position that paid $12,000 a year after college doing what I love because my parents helped to support me through college and I didn’t have loans to worry about. I now work for an institution where we have the budget to buy amazing technology like Rapsodo (Google it, it’s incredible!) for our softball program.
 
Every time I think of something like the gear we receive, the technology we are able to buy, the indoor turf facility we are able to practice in, I think of this picture. It makes my heart hurt when I hear athletes talk about how they don’t have time, don’t have a catcher, don’t have a net, etcetera and then in the next breath say they want to get better. If you want to get better, there is ALWAYS a way. It may not be the easiest, or the most fun, or the best way, but there is always a way.
 
We are privileged more than each of us know. The fact that you have a ball glove, a bat, and parents who bring you to practice or a lesson is so much more than some people have. Use your privilege for good. Work harder, get better, use what you are blessed enough to have! I am a firm believer that by 12 years old softball players should be volunteering working with younger players (even if it’s T-ball!). It puts in so much perspective where you came from, what you have accomplished, and the role model you can be. Use your privilege, be thankful that you have it, and pass on that appreciation to the next generation of softball players.