New Year's Eve is my friend's birthday and it was the night Roberto Clemente disappeared forever.
I found myself thinking about the link after the fact. Clemente, who is my favorite baseball player and the first Latino major leaguer to put Hispanics on the map in the MLB, was Puerto Rican. My friend is Puerto Rican and also a huge baseball fan. My father, who was born an hour south from Pittsburgh, is a huge fan of Clemente -- so much so, in fact, that he named my older brother after him.
Yet what gets me to thinking about all of this is that Clemente was known as a great baseball player, but also was a great man. He was a great father, a great husband and a great human being. His death came on Dec. 31, in 1972, when he left San Juan, Puerto Rico, on a plane to help earthquake victims in Nicaragua.
It's been a long time since I've heard of such generosity of spirit from a professional athlete. Clemente was somebody who saw a world in pain and wanted to make it better. He wanted to help others and he didn't care where they happened to be. He touched the hearts of millions and though I never got to see him play, I still mourn his loss -- to the sport, to me, to the world.
This country has been thrust into some dark and uncertain times. Sept. 11, a looming war with Iraq, a failing economy, domestic terrorism and a great threat from North Korea hang over us all. Still, even when things seem their darkest, we can take from the past and put it into practice today. Clemente once said that people were put on this Earth to make it a little bit better. Standing up and helping others -- no matter who they are, what culture they come from, what color skin -- should be a priority.
So look at the people surrounding you and for the New Year, let's make the hole of light in all that darkness a bit brighter.
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Angela Williams
Editor in Chief
