Coach Flap

Coach Flap
Pollin family disapointed over Arenas firearms flap
WASHINGTON, January 2, 2010 (AFP) - It's still not clear just what happened between Gilbert Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton in the Wizards locker room, but the family of late owner Abe Pollin Saturday deplored the presence of guns in the NBA team facility.
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I've never told this story before.

I was born with a dark brown lumpy birthmark that covered half my left cheek. My mother, heartbroken at the thought of her daughter living a life being teased and ostracized, put me in my cot, offending cheek down against the blankets.

My grandmother (God bless her), giant and garrulous, when she came to visit me in the hospital, strode in to the room and commanded my mother, "Penny - don't you hide that child - she's a gorgeous little girl and you ought to show her with pride."

Something snapped in to place for my mum and never again for one instant did she allow a thought of fear or worry about my social acceptance creep in to her presence with me. At least, I never felt it.

As it turned out, I was an independent and confident child. I showed signs of leadership and was made Captain of the Patrols in Grade Six (though my sister loves to point out that I was full of double standards and would run across the zebra crossing instead of walking).

As for my birthmark, I had plastic surgery when I was three to remove the lumpy, potentially cancerous skin. The skin graph did not take and I was several months in hospital, left with a mangled brownish scar the diameter of a potato. Later, at the age of thirteen, I had another experimental operation called a "flap rotation" which did some nifty shifting of the skin that left me with the scar I have today - along my cheek under my eye, and down along my smile line. My niece calls it the "triangle."

I was called "Scarface" for a while on the bus to school. But the name just bounced right off me. The movie with Al Pacino was a cool movie! So that one failed to leave its mark.

I never let my scar hold me back. It never occurred to me that it would be a hindrance. If anything, I tried harder at everything to prove that it really did not matter. And it didn't. I had many boyfriends - they never cared.

I'm not saying that I never cried tears of self-pity. I did. I was a teenager full of angst - over many things. But crying under the covers never made me feel any better. So I'd pull myself out of bed and get on with it. There were more exciting things to focus on, like my next canoe trip and summer on the lake.

One day I met a girl who had a tiny harelip - her lip curled up with a small distortion. She had rounded shoulders and furtive, scared eyes. She was constantly embarrassed to meet people lest they stare at her lip. My heart went out to her. I, too, had a facial deformity, but never let this keep me from a life of joy, pleasure, love, and freedom. It was a conscious and subconscious choice to live life to the fullest - in whatever package I had arrived in.

Here was this beautiful girl, slender like a waif with lovely brown hair, afraid to say hello. And all she had to do was choose: confidence or fear. But she didn't know she could, and she didn't know how.

From this moment, I felt a passionate need to help others discover their inner strengths - mind, focus, and feelings. I started working with young people at Camp Stephens in Canada, leading canoe trips to help kids discover their inner resilience and beauty. My career choices have always been about this - helping others discover and access their inner strength.

You see, whether it's a harelip, a scar, or some other blight on the soul or body, we all have this amazing magical instrument - a gift from God - our mind. Through it, we make our life on earth a divine heaven or a living hell. All you've got to do is choose.

Life is a brief, beautiful song - sing it loud and strong.

Yes, you are truly beautiful.

Law of Attraction Block Buster Coach Zoe Routh helps busy professionals and business owners turbo-charge their personal effectiveness. Zoe has paddled 30 weeks by canoe, run 6 marathons, hiked hundreds of kilometres in Australia's outback, bellydanced at festivals, written a book, survived cancer, married a fair dinkum Aussie bloke, and wrestled a 6 meter crocodile. It's all true, except for the crocodile part. Sign up for more Law of Attraction Block Busting Tips and your free Law of Attraction Checklist in Compass Bearings at http://www.lawofattractionchecklist.com

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