Thursday, February 19, 1998
Fields of
Green
by Rick Aristotle Munarriz
(TMF Edible)
Did I ever tell you about the time I was almost a hero? No? Well, it was eighth grade, and I was a second-string cornerback on our school's junior varsity football team. We were playing for the district championship and were so far ahead that the coach put us scrawny leftovers in to finish the first half.
With just a few seconds to go before half-time, the opposing quarterback dropped back and looked to throw deep. Tiny me had the wide receiver smothered. Still, the ball came our way. We raced towards the end-zone, towards the hurled pigskin, and it fell right into my waiting hands.
Adrenaline and logic are rare bedfellows. While the field was pretty open, at the first sight of a bulky offensive lineman I fell down and end the half. Everybody was happy and patted my back -- everybody except the other cornerback, who was quick to point out how he had his guy blocked out and if I would have gone down the left side of the field I would have had an easy touchdown.
The coach agreed and suddenly the praise turned into mumbling. I did a good thing but I blew the chance at doing a great thing. Like all seemingly trivial moments in life, this too has investment ramifications.
How many times does someone take control of his finances, like an errant football, only to lay down at the first sight of alleged superiority? How many people glow at the prospect of moving money out from under the mattress and into the hands of a high-load mutual fund or a churn-happy broker. A turnover? A loss of downs.
You feel the congratulatory pat on the back, you have new buzzwords for the next cocktail party -- all until a jester-hat cornerback bursts your bubble. If you had done a little legwork, greater riches could have been yours. A small step towards good could have been a giant leap towards greatness.
The Motley Fool can't block out the entire opposing team. You will need to dodge some tackles yourself. A juke step here, a good book there, your path will be unique -- but the sound of the cheering end-zone will always ring universal.
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