The impact of sports – and our heroes in sports – has never been more evident than now. One of the many touching stories to come out of the unspeakable tragedy at the Sandy Hook Elementary school has been how Victor Cruz, wide receiver for the New York Giants, reached out to the family of Jack Pinto, one of the twenty children lost in the shooting. We all wonder “what can we do?” at times like this. It’s so unimaginable. We don’t want to intrude. But Victor braved that field and decided to do something. After all, Jack had a huge connection to Victor, even though they had never met.
And so Victor did what any hero would do, he made a connection back. He spoke to Jack’s family and together they came up with a very public gesture to honor the wonderful spirit of Jack. Victor wrote “R.I.P Jack Pinto” and “My Hero” on his cleats and gloves and then brought them to Jack’s family. He brought a small light into what is, without a doubt, the darkest hour they will know.
THIS is what carrying the Insightful Player® impact means in this world. It means ALL of us finding one small light to carry in even the darkest moments, especially to kids.
Victor met with the Pinto family and with the local Pop Warner team, many of them wearing his #80 jersey. He was speechless to find out that Jack was buried in his own #80 jersey. The NY Times quotes Victor Cruz as saying, “There were instances where we would take some time to talk football or talk just life in general,” Cruz said. “But those instances lasted a couple of seconds before you would revert back to saying something about Jack or something about the family or something about the nearby family that also suffered a loss. It was tough.”
So what CAN we do? We can simply, as Insightful Players® in this world, show up to serve the living as our way to honor those who were lost. Victor Cruz did more than that on that day. He reminded us all to know that we are NOT powerless. Thank you Victor.
God bless the victims and families of Sandy Hook Elementary.
Until next time, Chrissy Carew Founder of Insightful Player, LLC