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The Undertaker |
By:
Dan Celentano |
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Let me say up front that I am not a fan of professional wrestling. However, I was impressed with one of the wrestlers I met. Let me explain: A friend of mine who oversees the arena where the wrestlers wrestle had some extra tickets and gave them to me to use for some at risk kids I bring to my ranch. A few nights later the kids and I went to the match. Towards the end of the match, my friend came to where we were sitting and asked me if the kids would like to meet some wrestler named THE UNDERTAKER. Of course the kids wanted to meet this guy so we all followed the man to the basement of the arena and into an empty room.
Among other people in the room was this skinny, sickly, 9 year old boy sitting in a wheel chair with his mother standing behind him. Suddenly this BIG, giant of man comes to the doorway. It was THE UNDERTAKER.
The man was so big he had to duck to get through the door. He immediately sees the little boy and walks slowly towards him. The boy looks at this big man walking towards him and begins to vigorously shake in his wheel chair. So much so you can hear the chair rattle and sweat starting to form on his forehead. THE UNDERTAKER gets to the boy and then paused a moment.
You could have heard a pin drop. Everyone in the room was expecting him to say something like “I am THE UNDERTAKER and I’m going to body slam you.” If he did that, no body would have thought twice about it because projecting a fierce image is how this man makes his money. Instead of doing this, THE UNDERTAKER kneels down on one knee and puts his arm around the boy. You could have heard a pin drop. His assistant then brings over an UNDERTAKER T shirt. THE UNDERTAKER gently lays the shirt out on the boys chest but the boy is shaking so much that the shirt falls to his knees. The UNDERTAKER gently brings it up to his chest once again, smoothes it out, and waits for a reaction. The boy gradually stops shaking, then slowly looks up to this giant of a man who is still on one knee. The UNDERTAKER makes eye contact with the boy and then flashes a smile.
I'm probably the only one to see the UNDERTAKER smile. The boy smiles back. The UNDERTAKER then genitally pulls the boy towards him as the boy slowly rests his head on the UNDERTAKER’S chest. The kid was in heaven. Here he was resting his head on the chest of his hero. Life couldn’t get any better.
Now, why do I like this guy so much? Because instead of keeping up his image to impress everyone in the room and maybe scare the heck out of the little boy, he chose to show compassion and respect instead. And, as I said before, showing respect to those who are weaker than you doesn’t diminish your reputation but rather enhances it. The compassion, the gentleness, the respect this UNDERTAKER guy showed to that little boy surely enhanced his reputation in the eyes of those in the room that day. It sure did in my eyes. Heck man, I almost want to watch wrestling.....NAAAAA.
Dan Celentano has worked with a variety of at risk kids for close to
30 years. He is author of a book for teenagers entitled
Ten Essential Facts of Life Every Teenager Should
Know ( see www.teenage-book.com ), and gives advice to teenagers
on his web site www.choicesforteens.com In addition to this, Mr.
Celentano speaks to high school students on various issues having to
do with teenagers. Currently Dan is preparing for his next project
which is working with blind children on his ranch.
Dan Celentano is available for freelance writing and can be contacted
at ranch@copper.net.
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Article Source: http://www.PopularArticles.com/article150887.html |
Article: The Undertaker
Author: Dan Celentano
Total Views: 63
Word Count: 700
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