I Wanted to Make a Difference

Hunter D., Tennessee, USA

football players

Illustrations by Casey Nelson

Going into my senior year of high school, I had to make the decision whether or not I would play football. The previous year I’d decided not to play because of the rough environment on the football team. But I felt that in my senior year I could have some sort of influence on my teammates. So after a lot of prayer and a lot of thought, I decided to play.

As the season began, the same doubts I’d had about playing the year before returned. The conversations among teammates were often inappropriate, and I felt alone a lot of the time. I kept praying that I could be an influence for good, but I couldn’t see how I was making any difference to my teammates. This continued until the last game of the season. Our team played hard, but we lost and finished the season with a losing record.

I walked into the locker room, packed up my stuff, and headed for the bus, feeling like a failure. As I walked, one of my teammates ran up beside me. We started talking about the game and the season and then he said something I didn’t expect. He told me that he appreciated my kindness to him and the rest of the team throughout the season. He said that no matter what, he knew I would be kind to him and the others on the team.

As we rode the bus back to our school, I looked with a new perspective on the past few months. I realized that the feelings of failure I’d felt had been worth the feelings of success that I was having now. I knew that even if it was for only one person on my team, I had made a difference.