My childhood friend is now an MLB superstar

a Torah Anytime original series. A few weeks ago, I'm sitting in my car. I'm just cruising along, listening to the radio, and the New York Yankees are playing the Toronto Blue Jays, and I hear this. Next up to bat is the shortstop for the Toronto Blue Jays, Bernie Clement. And I'm thinking [music] to myself, Ernie Clement, Ernie Clement, wait a minute, where do I know that name from? And then it hits me. I'm like, Ernie Clement, like as in my my friend, as if my neighbor, as in the kid I [music] grew up with. I'm sitting in the car blinking like, this cannot be real. But it is. Ernie Clement, yeah, my old buddy Ernie is in the major leagues. The Toronto Blue Jays. He had a breakout season. He made it to the World Series. [music] He just set the world record for the most hits in a postseason by a single player in MLB history. I couldn't believe it. Ernie Clement, my neighbor, the kid I play little league in Rochester with, we were a bunch of shnooks. And yet somehow here he is literally breaking [music] records. And then it hits me. Everything starts making sense. Memories start pouring in. The little league fields, the block we grew up in in Brighton, [music] New York. Ernie showing up to practice early, long before the rest of the team. Ernie staying after games to field grounders while the rest of the team had already long ago gone home. I remember his father and mother who never ever missed one of the games, sitting together in the stands, never missing a pitch, shouting encouragement. Every single time Ernie stepped up to the bat, they would shout, "Hit it out of the park, Ernie. Hit it out of the park." or you'll get it next on time. You'll get it next on time. That a boy Ernie, great job, Ernie. An 11year-old [music] endlessly. I remember practicing on his front lawn and on his side lawn and on his back lot. It made no difference the weather, rain [music] or sleet or wind. There he was practicing frigid winters, snow piled high. There he [music] was tossing grounders, throwing to a springboard in the middle of December, freezing. But there he was day after day after day after day. And that's when it hit me. Look, sure, some people are born superstars. Some [music] people are born allstars and geniuses and natural leaders. But not nearly enough credit is given to good old-fashioned hard work, to rolling [music] up your sleeves, showing up early, staying up late, putting in the work when no one's watching. That's [music] how you achieve greatness. We tell ourselves sadly, okay, I'll never finish. I'll I'll never be that kind of person. I'm 25. I don't think like a sadic. I don't act like a sadic. I definitely don't smell like a sadic. I'll never be a sadic. One second. One second. Roll up your sleeves and work hard and put in the effort. Yeah, you can finish. Yeah, you can live a life without lash. Yeah, you can live a life of and just put in the effort and you'll get there. Because [music] greatness doesn't wait for perfect conditions. It doesn't [music] wait until you're rested or until you're inspired and comfortable. It's forged in chaos and spilled coffee and crying babies and the [music] rough day at work and the long winter night when the world is quiet and dim. That's the [music] path to greatness. It's not about being born a sadic. It's about becoming [music] one. choice by choice and step by step and day by day and slowly over months [music] and years and decades your life and your character and your soul starts to [music] reflect the greatness that you chose to chase because as the says hard work pays off even when it feels impossible even when you feel like you're a shnook on your block the grind works one day you'll look up and realize like I did watching Ernie Clement. All that effort, all those early mornings and those frozen December afternoons, that's what [music] greatness looks like. So, stop waiting to be born great. Stop waiting for a sign or a [music] mentor or some perfect moment. Show up and hustle and sweat and fight and fail and get up and do it again and do it when no one's watching and do it when it hurts and do it when it's inconvenient. Because before you know it, you'll be celebrating your graduation from good to great. Because [music] hard work is how ordinary people become legendary.