No Sports Today
A high school classmate of mine passed away this week. Tarri Van Wallace succumbed to his fight with cancer. We weren't close and didn't know each other that well, but everybody in Richmond, Indiana knew Tarri.
My hometown isn't a small town like John Mellencamp sang about, but it isn't a metropolitan area, either. You get some diversity and you mingle with people that don't look like you, but it is less than 40,000 people. There weren't a lot of outliers in town when I was growing up.
Tarri Wallace was an outlier. He was gay and he was out before I ever met him in high school. He was out like he dropped kicked the closet door off its hinges, and didn't give a rat's ass what anybody else thought.
Tarri and I ran track together, but I wouldn't say we were friends. I was cool with Tarri though. Shoot, Tarri was cool with everybody.
Me and some buddies used to go camping on occasion in some woods outside of town. It was nothing special. We would start a fire, cook some hotdogs, laugh a ton, and sleep in the dirt. Sounds kind of awful now, but it sure did seem like Mardi Gras at the time.
One of those times we were camping, we got word that Tarri and somebody else were coming out to join us. So let's run the numbers on that scene. Seven hetero, white males around a fire in the woods in Indiana. One homosexual, black male and friend coming to join them. Sounds like the opening scene of a bad movie, doesn't it?
Nothing movie-like happened though. Most folks in my circle were polite and accepting, and tried not to get into other people's personal business. I didn't perceive our community to be a bubbling cauldron of hatred the way middle America is sometimes today portrayed to be.
Tarri and his friend joined the conversation, shared some food with us, and left after an hour or so. Nobody was hurt, and nobody was transformed that night. It was cool -- Tarri was cool with everybody.
When you think about that scene, you think it was a really bold move for Tarri to come out there. But Tarri was bold from day one living his truth in the open. He was so accepting that I don't think he ever thought much about people accepting him or not.
This past week, I had the opportunity to listen to Harry E. Johnson, Sr., the President and CEO of the MLK Memorial Foundation, speak about his organizational and fund raising efforts that resulted in the dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument on the National Mall in 2016. He told us that the MLK monument needed to be on the Mall, because of the ideals that Dr. King lived by.
Johnson also said you have to get out of your comfort zone in life. According to him, you have to hang out with people that don't look like you or aren't exactly like you. Tarri was comfortable living outside of everybody else's comfort zone, and he was always hanging out with people unlike himself.
There are four words engraved on the MLK monument that attempt to highlight the principles Dr. King lived by -- Love, Audacity, Hope, and Democracy.
My Facebook feed this week confirms that Tarri Van Wallace loved and was loved by many. He was clearly audacious. I hope most of us are in some way audacious like he was. I think our democracy would be better if we are.
I bet Tarri would have been cool with that.
My hometown isn't a small town like John Mellencamp sang about, but it isn't a metropolitan area, either. You get some diversity and you mingle with people that don't look like you, but it is less than 40,000 people. There weren't a lot of outliers in town when I was growing up.
Tarri Wallace was an outlier. He was gay and he was out before I ever met him in high school. He was out like he dropped kicked the closet door off its hinges, and didn't give a rat's ass what anybody else thought.
Tarri and I ran track together, but I wouldn't say we were friends. I was cool with Tarri though. Shoot, Tarri was cool with everybody.
My high school classmates Kurt Disney and Tarri Van Wallace at the Sunshine Café in Richmond, Indiana.
Me and some buddies used to go camping on occasion in some woods outside of town. It was nothing special. We would start a fire, cook some hotdogs, laugh a ton, and sleep in the dirt. Sounds kind of awful now, but it sure did seem like Mardi Gras at the time.
One of those times we were camping, we got word that Tarri and somebody else were coming out to join us. So let's run the numbers on that scene. Seven hetero, white males around a fire in the woods in Indiana. One homosexual, black male and friend coming to join them. Sounds like the opening scene of a bad movie, doesn't it?
Nothing movie-like happened though. Most folks in my circle were polite and accepting, and tried not to get into other people's personal business. I didn't perceive our community to be a bubbling cauldron of hatred the way middle America is sometimes today portrayed to be.
Tarri and his friend joined the conversation, shared some food with us, and left after an hour or so. Nobody was hurt, and nobody was transformed that night. It was cool -- Tarri was cool with everybody.
When you think about that scene, you think it was a really bold move for Tarri to come out there. But Tarri was bold from day one living his truth in the open. He was so accepting that I don't think he ever thought much about people accepting him or not.
This past week, I had the opportunity to listen to Harry E. Johnson, Sr., the President and CEO of the MLK Memorial Foundation, speak about his organizational and fund raising efforts that resulted in the dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. monument on the National Mall in 2016. He told us that the MLK monument needed to be on the Mall, because of the ideals that Dr. King lived by.
Johnson also said you have to get out of your comfort zone in life. According to him, you have to hang out with people that don't look like you or aren't exactly like you. Tarri was comfortable living outside of everybody else's comfort zone, and he was always hanging out with people unlike himself.
There are four words engraved on the MLK monument that attempt to highlight the principles Dr. King lived by -- Love, Audacity, Hope, and Democracy.
My Facebook feed this week confirms that Tarri Van Wallace loved and was loved by many. He was clearly audacious. I hope most of us are in some way audacious like he was. I think our democracy would be better if we are.
I bet Tarri would have been cool with that.
Absolutely beautiful!!
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