I heard some shocking news from my parents a couple weeks ago and saw confirmation from his sister on Facebook a few days ago.
Craig and I were only a couple grades apart but, in a small town, two years could feel more like twenty.
So we weren’t particularly close in school but our parents were good friends and frequently hung out together. (I’m not sure but there’s a good chance the first place I ever sat on a horse was at the Smith ranch.). This meant Craig and I would hang out and talk sports or play sports or talk sports some more while our parents drank Five Star Whiskey and shot the shit about wheat prices and weather reports.
It’s no surprise that one of my fondest memories of Craig involves sports which were such a huge part of his life.
It was when I was really young – maybe five or so – and we were playing hockey at their farm with his older brother and possibly our sisters roped into playing too.
I was being a bit of a “puck hog” so Craig stopped the game to take me aside and talk to me about how it was just as important to pass as to shoot.
He did it in a very kind and gentle manner (not all my hockey lessons were in those days were as I basically got beat up and abused by older kids anytime I played hockey with them) and to this day, the fact that I remember that moment also reminds me of how the smallest acts of compassion and empathy can have lifelong impacts on people in ways you can’t even imagine at the time.
It’s a strange jump to make but I wonder if a lesson when I was five, on the surface, about playing hockey the right way but subtly about how to be kind and generous and share knowledge with others has stayed with me and influenced how I approach my work and my life?
Because really, at the end of the day, it may be the people who shoot the puck who get the glory.
But it’s the people who know how to pass to a teammate that make good things happen in the first place. And that’s definitely a lesson that’s about a lot more than hockey!
RIP Craig Smith
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