UNITY (UNITED AS ONE)

[Carla Whitehead]

Why does it take the passing of a fellow bowler (a love one) to make us, The Atlanta bowlers scratch, handicap, beginning, youth or what have you; for us to come together as a family.

It has long been said by bowlers in other States, that the bowlers in Atlanta hate on each other. Deny this if you wish, but there is more truth than fiction to this statement. The male bowlers have a stronger bond than the women bowlers. It is said that the women scratch bowlers separate themself from the beginning and middle average bowlers, how true.

Regardless of what your average is this should not be the deciding factor on who you do or do not associate yourself with. We are all bowlers that is what should matter.

I personally challenge each of you to continue this unity that Jermaine passing has brought about and not let it end with Jermaine's burial.

[Theo McNair]

Well Carla, I agree with you that we need to make this time of coming together something that continues here in Atlanta. I personally feel that we have made strides as a bowling community, yet there is a ways to go.
Life is precious, and life is to short to get caught up in rifts and indifferences over things that are there to be for fun and recreation.
Bowling should be an outlet from the everyday dramas we go through on our jobs and sometimes in our homes. Let's take this time to become closer and try to understand others more, even if they are different from us.

I was not able to hear Charles Jordan toast for Jermaine at the center tonight but, I heard there were some very positive things that needed to be said. So, thanks Charles for speaking out and helping us to move in the right direction.

[TIM MCNAIR]

Carla, i'm in total agreement. We(bowlers) should come together and be supportive of each other if for no other reason......our love for humanity and our love for the sport of bowling. When Theo and i got involved in coordinating bowling events one of our driving motivations was to create a closer bowling community in Atlanta. I think it all starts with us supporting, mentoring, teaching, and helping one another. Bowling is the ultimate sport in my opinion, because it brings together people from all walks of life that enjoy competition, fellowship.........and alot of the friendships that are forged are life long. We witness each others transition thru different phases of life, marriage, children, school, changing jobs, residence, etc. So we truly do become true family members, some of us are possibly closer to some of our bowling family than any other group out side of our blood families. With that said i encourage everyone, whether you're in Atlanta or elsewhere to go that extra mile to be a positive presence in the life of those in your bowling family. When we do that we will grow bowling to where its something every one wants to be a part of.

[Nick Smith]

I absolutely agree. But its not just bowling its in every aspect of life, look back at the 911 tragedy immediately after it happened 75% of the country immediately ran to their nearest church, temple depending on relegion, and began praying. For several months America as a country came together to support one another. Look at where we are now back to the same struggles against one another as before, but for some reason it takes a tragic event for us as people to do that. Death has that effect on us. I was once told that God must first bring us to our knees in order to get to see his will. I think that is what death does to some of us, it makes us realize and notice more than we normally would.
Its some what difficult to compete with friends and not get angry or irritated with them from time to time and then you throw money on the line, money is root of all evil, and it can ruin a relationship.

[Carla Whitehead]

Nick, you are correct money is the root of evil. At some point the value of a person's life should far out weigh the value of money. I know that friends fight, argue, have disagreements, but the debt of that friendship should make us all say "no matter what, I still love you" apologize and move on. That does not appear to happen now. We must all stop and think about what we do, what we say and how our actions whether physical or verbal will affect our lives and the lives of others. It times for us as humans to stop making excuses and live life as it is precious and invaluable. We need to value life, as if though we are about to take our last breathe, we need to value friendship the same. To sum it up treat people like you want to be treated. Learn to let go and let God. That means give it to God and he will work it out. If you get mad at someone let them know how you feel and then let it go. MOVE ON.

One last thing, if the only thing you can say about a person is negative then keep that thought to yourself. Judge me not......