Dripping sweat and serving

Sunday morning, two TEDx team members arrive to our meeting in their sports jerseys and excitedly say: “We’re in a basketball tournament and our team has a playoff game right now. Can we go play the game instead of working on TEDx today?” After talking about the fact that basketball or TEDx is their choice and they are grown men who are free to make their own choices, they choose to go play their game. Considering how excited they were about being in the playoffs as well as the men’s past dedication to TEDx, it was a perfect decision as far as I was concerned. A little while later, the two men come back into the room, out of breath and dripping sweat, excitedly saying “Mariette, It’s half-time. We have about 20 minutes. How can we serve right now in 20 minutes? How can we help?”

Seriously?!? The men were playing basketball (and winning, might I add) and, instead of using their half-time to hang out with their homies, to rest and chill out, they immediately run back into our room to see how they can serve. And serve they do. One of the men notices that we missed something that only he can take care of. So, he runs off to the housing units to take care of it. The other man listens to the speakers practicing their talks to give them feedback.

The commitment of these men to their TEDx program continuously astounds me. They are the ones who keep pushing the envelope of what can happen and how to make it happen peacefully and with a great diversity of opinion and expression. They continuously go beyond what we had imagined to create the event of a lifetime. And tiny moments like this one remind all of us of their dedication.