The Life of Ely

by Jason L. McWhirter

  The rest of the day was spent weighing in, getting a light breakfast, and then putting on their gear and heading out onto the mats that covered the Dome’s massive floor. There were sixteen mats total and the entire Dome was a bustle of activity. Wrestlers from hundreds of teams warmed up while workers, refs, coaches, and scorekeepers moved around like worker ants trying to get everything ready. But Ely didn’t notice any of it. He had his headphones on and the sweet notes of Beethoven drowned out the chaos around him, enabling him to slowly stretch, warm up, and prepare for the matches to come.

  Ely had already spotted his mother. She was sitting near mat two and nearby was Amanda who had come to watch with a friend of hers.

  Once the matches had started, things got even crazier. There were thousands of people in the stands cheering and yelling, wrestlers milling about trying to figure out when their next match was, and coaches scurrying from mat to mat, looking for their wrestlers and trying to organize which coach was going to watch which wrestler.

  Jeff won all of his matches that day placing him in the finals. Ely won his first match, and then his second match, putting him in a position to possibly make it to the state finals. He pinned the first kid, catching him in a head and arm and squeezing him tight until he couldn’t breathe. Ely knew he would win when he leaned way back and looked at the lights above him, his arms, like a boa constrictor, cinched around his opponent’s head and arm as he lifted the wrestler’s head. His opponent squirmed and fought, but Ely’s weight, now consisting mostly of solid dense muscle, finally broke down his defenses; Ely was able to press his shoulder blades against the mat for over two seconds. The second match was a close one. It came down to round three when Ely scored a point for an escape. The score was now six to five, with Ely down by one point and only fifteen seconds left. But his opponent was tired, and he leaned into Ely with his legs straight and his arms out wide, a position that leaves you open for attack. Ely was thankful for all his hard work, all his early morning runs, as he still had some energy left, and he used it to launch into his favorite move, the arm drag. The guy didn’t know what hit him. It was not a common move for heavyweight wrestlers since it required a certain amount of speed and finesse, traits not typically prevalent with the big guys. It was the same move that he had used on Adam, and it worked like a charm this time as well. Ely scored a takedown, earning two points, and winning the match by one point.

  When it came time for the semi-final match Ely was now nervous. He couldn’t believe he had come this far, and now that he realized that he had a chance to actually be in the state finals, his stomach began to churn with nervous energy. To be honest, he had really not expected to make it to the semi-finals. Now there was only one opponent and six minutes separating him from possibly being the top wrestler in the state.

  He had never been more nervous about anything in his life. Luckily, once the whistle blew, training and instinct took over, converting nervous energy to focused energy. His opponent was tough, really tough. He was big, strong, fast, and knowledgeable. Ely wrestled well, countering his moves, and executing some perfect moves himself. But in the end he lost by one point. He was down in the third round and all he had to do was get an escape to tie it up. But every time he tried to stand up his opponent broke him down, immediately applying head pressure and working for a two on one or a half nelson. It went on like this for an entire minute with no wrestler scoring a point. Ely could hear his teammates screaming. He could hear his coaches yelling at him. The sounds and their movements seemed to be in slow motion as he focused intently on working to his base, standing up, and getting away. Every time he was knocked down he would try again, never stopping, grunting and growling his way through the third round. No matter how hard he worked, his opponent relentlessly matched his own intensity. When the whistle finally blew, ending the match, Ely stood up proudly. He didn’t want to show that he was tired. And at the same time he wanted to show respect to his opponent who had earned the victory.

  It had been a tough loss, losing by just one point, but it wasn’t the most difficult part of the tournament. Ely now had to battle his way through the loser’s bracket on the second day to wrestle for either third and fourth, or fifth and sixth. Ely’s goal that day was to just focus on each round, one at a time, and do the best he could, to try and not think about the matches, his opponents, or the possible outcomes. He lost himself in his music and concentrated on every move he was going to unleash on his opponents. The tactic worked. One round after another, Ely powered through his opponents and ended up taking third place. He won his next match by a major decision, placing him in a position to take third or fourth place. That match was another close one. It came down to round three and the score was tied four to four. Both wrestlers were standing and Ely performed another brilliant arm drag, taking his opponent down in the last few seconds for two points. He had never been more proud in his entire life. He was the third best wrestler in the state, all because he made a decision, a conscious decision to not be a victim, to go out and tackle life. Every step of this new path had given him new confidence, and each ounce of confidence had allowed him to access his abilities and to test himself further.

  The matches had been an endless dance of moves and counter moves, the instinctive actions that were the result of hard work and training. He could hardly remember any specific moments. Yet the time he spent on the awards stand was burned into his mind. The screaming from the crowd, the flashes of cameras, the smell of the mats mingled with the sweat of his fellow wrestlers standing with him on the platform became permanently etched into his consciousness.

  In the crowded stands Mary Carter looked down at her son standing on the third place stand. She wiped the tears from her eyes and cheered wildly for her son, this marvelous boy who had, for the last year, been her inspiration. She marveled at his newfound dedication. He had taught her that anything was possible. She had lost almost sixty pounds and was feeling better than she had in a long time.

  “Here you go,” a voice came from her left. Mary looked up to the bench behind her and saw a man handing her a tissue. He smiled as he gestured for her to take it. The man was large with a solid bulk around his mid-section. But if you had just looked at his face you would not have guessed that he weighed two hundred pounds. His defined jaw belied his weight, and his chocolate brown eyes softened his biker look defined by his black and gray goatee and shaved head. He looked strong and powerful, but when he smiled he looked like a cuddly teddy bear.

  “Thank you.”

  “Sure. One of them must be your son,” he said as he indicated the awards stand below them.

  “Yes, third place. His name is Ely.”

  “You must be very proud.”

  Mary laughed. “You have no idea.”

  “My name is Bob.” He smiled warmly and presented his hand to Mary, who took it and smiled in return.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “I bet your husband is proud as well,” the man said.

  Mary hesitated and smiled awkwardly. “Well, he hasn’t been around in a while. We’re divorced.”

  “Me too,” he said. Their smiles lingered for a moment before Mary shyly turned her eyes back onto the podium where her son stood.

  Ely was staring into the crowd in the stands, his entire face a massive smile. He looked up and saw his mom cheering wildly for him. Amanda was there too, jumping up and down and screaming his name. Ely gazed into the crowd, hoping to take mental snap shots of the moment so he would never forget it. The only thing that was missing was Mr. Seljin. But he didn’t let that thought sully the moment. He couldn’t let it, for as surely as the sun sets he knew that Mr. Seljin would never have approved of such morose thoughts while he stood on that stand. He knew that he would want him to enjoy the moment, to soak it up like a sponge. And that was exactly what he did. He created a memory scrapbook in his mind, complete with photos and captions. This was an event that he would never forget.

  ***

  Five months
later Ely found himself in another situation that had again kick started the butterflies. He was sitting in the front row of the school auditorium with Jeff, Cisco, John, Amanda, and others from his graduating class. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and he reached up to adjust his tie, hoping to loosen it up just enough to give him some relief from the heat building up under his button up shirt.

  “It’s okay,” Amanda whispered as she rubbed his knee. “You’ll do fine.”

  Ely smiled nervously. He wasn’t so sure. It was the night of their high school graduation ceremony and the gym was packed with students, parents, teachers, and friends. The graduating class all sat in chairs on the gym floor while the bleachers were filled with parents, friends, and family members.

  Mr. Youngchild, the principal, stood at the podium addressing the crowd. “I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight to share this wonderful occasion. It’s a great opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of this year’s graduating class. I know you didn’t all come here to hear me speak so I’d like to pass the microphone over to this year’s valedictorian, Ely Carter.”

  The students and parents clapped and cheered as Ely stood up from his chair. His friends in the front row, and others sitting nearby clapped even more excitedly for Ely, screaming his name and cheering him on. Ely took a deep breath and walked to the podium.

  In the audience Mary Carter clapped enthusiastically for her son. Bob, the big guy she had met at the wrestling tournament, sat next to her, cheering and whistling loudly. As it turned out, Bob was from North Kitsap, which was pretty close to Gig Harbor. He had a nephew that had wrestled in the state tournament and he had come to watch him wrestle, meeting Mary in the process. They had struck up an easy conversation that day that had progressed to an invitation to go out for a cup of coffee. Since then they had begun seeing each other on a regular basis and were now officially ‘dating’. When the applause subsided Bob reached over and held her hand, smiling at her as she wiped a lone tear from the corner of her eye.

  Ely stood before the podium, took several deep breaths, and began his speech. “I’m glad you could all make it here tonight,” then he took another deep breath, hoping to push down the nervous lump that was forming in his throat. “Sorry. I’m not very good at speeches.”

  “You got it, Ely!” someone yelled from the audience. More yells of encouragement rang out from other students, mingling with the cheers of Jeff, Amanda, and the rest of his friends in the front row. Ely smiled and continued. “I would like to start off by telling you a story. It begins in front of an old run-down store. A fourteen year old boy is sitting on a curb, his head in his hands, hiding his face. You see, his nose is broken and bleeding, and his eyes are a bit black and blue. He reaches under his sweatshirt to grab hold of something hidden under the old worn out garment, when a young kid, around his age, comes over and asks him if he’s okay.”

  Jeff shifted uncomfortably in his seat wondering where this was going. Amanda leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Do you know about this?”

  Jeff shook his head as Ely continued.

  “The young boy introduced himself as Jeff, and you all know him as Jeff Hanson.” At the mention of Jeff’s name everyone in the graduating class screamed and shouted, but not Jeff, who sat still, smiling awkwardly, unsure about where Ely’s story was going. “You see, that young fat boy with the bloody nose was me. I can still remember what Jeff said to me. He said, ‘My name’s Jeff. I don’t recognize you. Are you from around here?’ I answered shyly that I had just moved here a couple weeks ago. He went on to ask if I was going to Key Peninsula Middle School. It was the day before school was to start and I didn’t know what to say, so I said ‘Yes’. At that moment I simply wanted him to go away. I had other things on my mind. Then he said a few simple words, but for me they were very profound. He said, ‘In that case, it looks like I’ll see you tomorrow.’” Ely paused for a moment to gather himself. Everyone in the audience was deathly silent, listening intently to Ely’s story, wondering where he was going with it. “You see, Jeff showed me an act of kindness that day when no one else would. Jeff, who is now my best friend, whom I’ve never told this to, or anyone else for that matter, literally saved my life that day four years ago. Jeff went back to his car and brought me out a towel from his backpack to wipe my face. He said to me, ‘You can have it. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ Then he turned around and went back to his car to join his family. I can still hear him say those words in my head. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ What Jeff didn’t know was that under my sweatshirt was my dad’s gun. I hadn’t really planned on anyone seeing me tomorrow.”

  Jeff sat frozen in his chair, staring at Ely through the blur of his tears. Amanda reached over and gripped his knee, her face reflecting a mix of emotions, as tears welled up in her own eyes. In the stands Mary gasped and held her hands over her mouth, trying vainly to control her own emotions. Bob said nothing; he simply put his big arm around her and pulled her in close.

  Ely paused again as he struggled to maintain his composure. He glanced at Jeff, and managed a smile as he directed his gaze back up to the rest of the audience, the silence in the room broken only by muffled sniffles and the nervous shuffling of feet.

  “I am standing here today because of someone who did something seemingly insignificant. Tonight I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jeff for showing me kindness when very few did. I would like to thank him for saving my life. His words didn’t erase the problems in my life, but at the time they were enough to hold onto, providing me with the distraction of hope. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make me put the gun away. I’ve never told anyone this story before. As things got better for me I felt like it wasn’t necessary. But there’s an important message here that’s worthy of sharing, especially now, before we all go our separate ways after graduation. Simply put, it’s important for all of us to realize that everything we do can make a difference in the lives of others. Something that seems small and insignificant to you could mean the world to someone else. You might even save a life. A simple smile, a friendly greeting, a small act of kindness can have an unexpectedly positive impact on someone. Conversely, thoughtless and mean behaviors, like a shove in the halls, name calling, malicious teasing, bullying, or merely ignoring someone can, over time, have devastating consequences for them. When you leave here today, think about that. Everything you say and do does make a difference in people’s lives.”

  Mary was crying openly now, tears pouring down her cheeks as Bob continued to hold her tight.

  Ely took another deep breath before continuing. “There is one more thing I would like to say before we all move on to the next stage of our lives. But first, would all the teachers in this room, including the audience, please stand up.” Ely paused as people looked around, wondering what was coming next. “Please, all the teachers here stand up.” Slowly, the teachers that were sitting behind him stood up, followed by a handful of educators in the audience who hesitantly followed suit. “I want every student to look at those who are standing here today. These individuals are unsung heroes. We tend to look up to firefighters, police officers, and the soldiers who defend our country, as well we should. They all deserve our respect and praise. But we also must not forget the silent heroes among us, those who are in the trenches each day, nurturing, mentoring, and doing their best to educate those who will one day make decisions not only for themselves, but for our country. There are few jobs where an employee is responsible for up to a hundred and fifty students each day, many of whom would rather be elsewhere. Then they are given the daunting task of educating these students, often finding it necessary to take on the additional role of friend, counselor, coach, or surrogate parent. And then, after spending eight to ten hours at school each day, our teachers continue their jobs at home, planning lessons, correcting papers, contacting parents, or even attending classes or seminars. They give their sweat and their hearts to all of us and they deserve our gratitude.” Ely paused and took a sip
from the water bottle that he had brought, providing a moment of silence for students and parents to digest his words as they looked around at the teachers who continued to stand self-consciously. “I would not only like to thank all those who are now standing here, but I would also like to take this opportunity to dedicate this night to a teacher who saved my life as much as Jeff and my mom did. I want to thank Mr. Seljin, who as you all know, passed away last year in a car accident.” Ely paused as he tried to keep his voice steady. “I want to thank him for believing in me and for giving me the confidence and the skills that I needed, that have helped me achieve things I never thought I could. Mr. Seljin, if you can hear me, you are the dad that I never had.” Ely took a deep breath as his voice again began to abandon him. Just a few more minutes he told himself.

  “I would like to conclude by asking everyone to give a big round of applause not only for our teachers, but our parents, our friends, and anyone else who has helped us overcome the fears and obstacles of our lives. May we all be worthy of their effort and dedication.” Ely held his arms out to the audience, then turned and spread his arms to encompass the teachers behind him. “Thank you...thank you all very much.”

  There was a brief moment of silence as everyone was unsure if he was really finished. Finally Jeff stood, followed by Amanda, and they began to clap. Within moments the gym exploded in a deafening sound of cheers and applause. Ely smiled and looked out into the crowd, then made more direct eye contact with Jeff, Cisco, John, Amanda, and his mother, all of whom returned his smile tenfold.