The Yard’s Acceptance

**The following is a guest post from athlete, Sal Masekela**

There is an energy that resides in this yard of cracked cement and simple imperfection – that we call DEUCE – that is just plain different. It’s hard to quantify but you know it. You feel it. It’s undeniable. You’ve had that moment, perhaps to yourself, where you stop and look around at the collection of contraptions… some advanced, most wonderfully rudimentary in their design. Then, you survey the people. Humans distinctly different from yourself. Humans that, had you met them under different circumstances than inside the yard, would most likely not be anywhere near your life, not because they’re good or bad people. It’s just that outside of the yard, they probably wouldn’t get a fair shake at meeting the standards of your painstakingly curated, subliminal life clique, which we all know is bullshit, by the way. A feeble attempt at regulating who gets to engage you at a base level. Don’t get me wrong, you’re very good at it. You’ve carved out your private island at work, cherry picked the most enjoyable members of your family, and manage to engage in minimal interaction with strangers at Whole Foods.

Yet, the second you step through the gate and into this yard, your powers are immune. Every time. They don’t work here. Why?

Acceptance. I’ll say it again. Acceptance. The yard will not tolerate you, but it will without judgement… accept you. And it is this acceptance that is a greater gift than all of the fitness you will ever collect. A gift, that no matter how hard it may be on those days when you simply don’t want to be here; when life is giving you all of the business you can possibly handle and refuses to relent. It is that knowing of unbridled acceptance that provides the needed allowance to check your problems at the gate… and dip into what’s on the other side.

 

Sal Masekela

@salmasekela