O’Neil also showed power to forgive

The Amish community in Pennsylvania demonstrated the power of forgiveness, and so did Buck O’Neil, the Negro Leagues baseball star and manager of the Kansas City Monarchs, who died last week. As Michael Bates noted for the ChronWatch Web site, O’Neil had every reason to be angry and bitter as he was passed over at the Baseball Hall of Fame earlier this year. But O’Neil responded: “I can’t hate a human being because my God never made anything ugly. Now, you can be ugly if you wanna . . . but God didn’t make you that way.”
Ugly exists, hate exists — but what is more important is that the power to forgive also exists.
Posted by Angie Holladay

5 Comments

  1. GMC70
    Posted October 14, 2006 at 12:21 am | Permalink

    Buck O’Neil: A gentlemen through and through, and a credit to baseball. Baseball should be ashamed he was not indicted during his lifetime.

  2. mrcontroversy
    Posted October 14, 2006 at 1:22 am | Permalink

    GMC, I’m hoping you mean “inducted”.I agree. I’ve had the honor of meeting both him and Rosa Parks, and I’m struck by the quiet dignity both of them had when speaking with someone one-to-one.

  3. Mr KIA
    Posted October 14, 2006 at 9:55 am | Permalink

    I had the honor of meeting Mr. O’Neill on a handful of occassions.One of the few people in life I’d say it was a honor to be in their presence.Without a doubt as positive an individual as I’ve ever been around.Major League Baseball is a joke. I’m still a fan of the game. But the politics of the sport at its highest level is worse than our government!

  4. sotheysaid
    Posted October 14, 2006 at 10:37 am | Permalink

    Mr. O’Neil was a man of integrity and he lived his life remembering that God was always with him. You could see it in is actions and his words.

    He was a great man and human being.

  5. lucee
    Posted October 14, 2006 at 10:45 pm | Permalink

    Major League Baseball today is all about the money. Being a good sport and playing your best (without steroids) is fast becoming a lost art.

    But O’Neil was right – ugly is as ugly does.