Brave Enough To Be Bliss

2. “Do you consider yourself a hero?” – Journalist, Tom Junod 3. “We are trying to get the world positive ways of dealing with our feelings.” – Mr. Rogers 4. “You love broken people… like me.” – Tom to Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Rogers, “I don't think you are broken.” 5. “Sometimes, we have to ask for help. And that's okay.” – Mr. Rogers 6. “He's just about the nicest person I've ever met.” – Tom about Mr. Rogers 7. “Just take a minute and think about all the people who loved us into being.” – Mr. Rogers 8. “Thank you. For that perspective.” – Mr. Rogers to Tom 9. “Fame is a four- letter word, but ultimately what matters is what we do with it.” – Mr. Rogers 10. “Look for the helpers. You'll always find people who are helping.” – Mr. Rogers 11. “Do you know what forgiveness means? It’s a decision we make to release a person from the feelings of anger we have against them.” – Mr. Rogers 12. “Sometimes it’s hardest to forgive the ones we love.” – Mr. Rogers 13. “There’s always something you can do with the mad you feel.” – Mr. Rogers 14. “To die is human, and anything human is mentionable. Anything mentionable is manageable.” – Mr. Rogers 15. “Children need to know that even when adults make plans, sometimes they don’t turn out as they hoped.” – Mr. Rogers I don’t know if he will appreciate the analogy or not, but writing about Mr. Rogers made me think of Coach Bill Snyder. The similarity that came to mind is their unwavering belief in the goodness of people, even when they had to say hard things people might not want to hear. Coach Snyder was a first-year head coach at K-State in 1989 when I worked in sports information. When he took ove r, there hadn’t been a win since 1985 when they won a single game. What I remember more than anything that he brought to K-State that fall, though, was hope. Hope that the future would be different than the past. Hope that things were going to change, at least with what he could control, and those things were good and right. He was not only a great football coach, even more he was a tremendous leader who brought the team together, truly cared about each player, and created a football family. He recruited players no one else believed in and then he not only believed in them, he also helped them believe in themselves and each other. If you watch the video below all the way through, you’ll learn about other things he did that other coaches don’t typically do, simply because that is the type of human being he is. I’m sure at the time, he may have recognized me enough to know I worked in sports information, but I don’t recall talking with him other than pleasantries. The team only won one game that first season and even though that still felt like hope and he was saying all the right things at the press conferences, I assumed there had to be days when it was a little discouraging to be losing so many games and recognizing there was still a pretty big challenge lying ahead. I found an encouraging card and gave it to him after that season, and while I don’t recall specifically what I wrote in it, I wanted him to know how much I admired all the changes he had made behind the scenes in the program. I felt sort of silly doing it because I was just some sports information student assistant, so I thought it wouldn’t mean anything at all to him . I was sure he had all the encouragement he needed from important people in the organization, his family, football donors and so many others. And yet, I still sent the card, figuring it couldn’t hurt anything. He was doing the right things for people and that deserved praise and recognition, no matter how many wins he would end up getting. And when I left after graduation the next spring, it was still so fun for me to see all the success he experienced through the years. I think I learned a number of leadership lessons simply from having the opportunity to hear him and watch him that one year.

K-State FB | Bill Snyder Tribute (youtube.com)

When I was working at KU a year or two later, Mitch Holthus was in Lawrence for a K-State vs. KU game and told me Coach Snyder still had the card set out on his bookshelf. I’ll never forget how shocked I was and how it made me feel to know that the words I had shared, even as a nobody, really did mean something after all. That

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