C-Nasty's Review of the Precious Present

After reading The Precious Present, discussing the story with teammates, and reading everyone’s blogs, I think it is safe to say that there is a consensus that the Precious Present’s takeaway is to “live in the present” and to really preserve the unique experience of being present. The author conveys this message as the only means to true happiness—that one cannot dwell on past occurrences or spend each day hoping for a better tomorrow, for these are wasted moments. I have seen this theme repeated in several axioms (one being, “today is a gift—that’s why they call it the present”) so I figure it must have a pretty substantial amount of validity. It can indeed apply to this year’s basketball team upcoming basketball season.

Example: No matter how much I miss the girls from last year, I cannot carry those feelings of sadness into this season, for they are part of a basketball team in my past, and not part of the present. It will be a purposeless and in no way beneficial to the success of this team. I must live in the present—and cherish the people and experiences of the now. (I love you girls!) J
Additionally, I cannot brush off this season and instead focus my attention to next year when there will be more than eight players. A this-season-doesn’t-matter attitude is certainly no way to win basketball games.

Though The Precious Present delivers a significant account of the notion of being present, I would argue that the author makes a mistake in downplaying the importance of the past and future. One’s present is codependent with his past and future. The past is essentially the determining factor of one’s present state. Different pasts yield different presents, and as a basketball player, it is necessary to revisit the past from time to time.

Example] I am on the bus ride home from an away game in which I continued to allow my man to score. Instead of just forgetting about it and being “in the present”—sitting in silence while many girls are talking to their parents on the phone or are sleeping—it is much more practical to examine my recent past. Why did I let her score? What was I doing (or not doing) to allow her to get to the hoop? It is important to get to the root of my mistakes that way I will not let it happen in the next game.

Which brings me to my next point. As a basketball player, it is vital to look towards the future. (Isn’t that, in essence, what going over a scouting report is all about?)

Example] Same scenario as before: My girl kept scoring on me. Well, after visiting the past and realizing what went wrong, it is now time to ask the question of what I can do next time to prevent this from happening.

The past, present, and future are all very reliant on one another, for just as different pasts yield different presents, different futures yield different presents.
Example: My man kept scoring on me because I was not in a defensive stance. If my past was different, namely, if I had been in a defensive stance, my present would be different in that my man would not have scored on me, in addition to the fact that I would not currently be even thinking about this topic.
After I realized what I had been doing wrong—not being in a defensive stance—I will have then decided to make the necessary changes in my workout to ensure that my girl will no longer keep scoring on me. I will have thus looked towards the future to make certain that I will have a particular present.

Okay, so I never really intended to write this much...I think ideas kept coming to me as I was writing. I feel as if I have just written a philosophy paper. But you get the point. Yes, it is important to live in the present, and I truly believe that this will unearth a whole lot of happiness, but one can never neglect the past or ignore the future to maintain whatever happiness the present may generate.

So (my) moral of the story: Live your life AAAaaayyyyyy AAaaayyyy Aaayyy

[On a side note: Why couldn’t the old main just explain to the boy what the “precious present” was? Instead, the boy wandered through life looking for something that he probably would have found out sooner, had the old man never even mentioned it. Just a thought.]

-Christina "C-Na$ty" Spencer #23