This summer I have "played" golf with my sister, Caren, quite a bit. Okay, I followed her around and took score. Participating in golf has taught me some life lessons:
Always be a straight shooter. The fairway is down the middle of the course, and the green is at the end of the fairway, so hit it straight. Caren tells me that is easier said than done. In life we need to be straight shooters, too. Tell the truth, even if it hurts someone's feelings. I would much rather be surrounded by straight shooters than liars. Sometimes a liar will lie even when it isn't necessary. Remember the old cliche: Honesty is the best policy. I have got myself into some predicaments following this policy, and I have lost friends, but I will always be a straight shooter.
Sometimes you hit in the rough. The fairway is down the middle of the course and the rough on the edge of the fairway. There is short rough, tall rough, and then trees and shit. No matter how hard a golfer tries to hit on the fairway sometimes the ball will get away from the golfer and the ball lands in the rough. And then when the golfer tries to hit the ball out of the rough, it lands in even deeper rough. If the golfer hits the ball enough it will eventually make the green. In life we sometimes hit rough patches, and when we try to get out of the rough patch we get in even deeper. Don't give up! You will eventually hit the green. It takes will. It takes determination. It takes time. And it always gets better.
Everybody deserves a mulligan. In golf a mulligan is a do over. If a golfer hits a really bad shot like in the trees and shit, the golfer can have a mulligan or a do over. Now, this is not true in tournament play, but in a friendly game of golf a golfer usually gets two mulligans. In life everybody deserves a mulligan. When people mess up and get themselves in the trees and deep shit, they should be able to shout, "Do Over!" Don't get me wrong, I don't think rapists and murders deserve a mulligan, but maybe someday forgiveness. I am mainly talking about breaking hearts, hurting feelings, screwing up at work. Take your mulligan, but use it wisely because you only get two.
Today was my last golf game with Caren for sometime. I will miss the great drives and the near miss putts. I will even miss the sand shots and the hits in the trees and shit. Most of all I will miss the time spent with my dear friend and sister, Caren. In summers to come I may learn some more golf life lessons and if I do, I am sure I will share.
Paco's Perspective
Are you saying even Flip deserves a mulligan?
The Flip Side
Does that mean when I poop in the house I can shout, "Mulligan!"?
I love spending time with my sisters too. There's nothing like sisterhood.
ReplyDeleteSince I, like you, am not a golf watcher, and apparently not much of a golf person at all, I am happy to know the term mulligan. I'd like a dozen, please. Where might one order them?
ReplyDeleteAnd I would like to add, that is life, like in golf, sometimes you can judge a person's most important skills by how they get back on to the green when life hands them a ball that lands where no one ever intended it to go. You can tell a lot about a person at times like these.
Maybe if the annalysts on TV were more like this blog, the ratings would go up?