Terry Bollea Is Just A Man
by VINCE RUSSO
This is so difficult for me to write. Why? Because whatever I say is going to be both judge and criticized by others, and I know that with every, single word I type. So with that—I’m going to ask God to type for me. I’m going to ask God to speak through me–simply using me as a vessel to get His word across. And–if you can’t deal with that—then just stop reading now.
Due to my history with Terry Bollea, I cannot run from this issue no matter how much that is clearly “the safe” thing for me to do. It seems as if everybody has chimed into this issue, some who know Terry, and some that don’t. I realized that there are many who are waiting to see what I have to say on the matter simply based on my working relationship with Terry over the years. And, yes, I keep saying Terry for a reason, simple because Terry Bollea is not a super hero, he is not larger than life, he is certainly not immortal—but—rather flawed just like every, single one of us.
Every man walking this planet is a sinner—every last one of us—and, I am no exception. We are not perfect–in fact far from it—we are flawed—we all fall short of who our Creator created us to be. None of us can ever live up to His expectations—not one. The fact is, He created paradise for us right here on earth, and we polluted His very gift, forcing Him to send his own flesh and blood to save us all. If you don’t understand that–it is perfectly fine—one day all of you will.
In becoming a Born Again Christian some twelve years ago, there are two things that God immediately instilled in me; first and foremost was to not judge others. Who are we to be jury of any of God’s creations? Can we possibly imagine what His plan was for them—without even knowing what His plan is for us? Can we understand His purpose for others, without understanding the purpose of ourselves? Do we know, and understand His will? Because—He has one—for all of us to follow. And, the trials and tribulations that all of us go through in our lives were created for us to learn, with the hope of being able to walk closer and closer in His footsteps every, single day.
In my imperfection, God also made it clear to me the importance of Forgiveness. Being that we are all sinners, we are all going to fall short of the mark–every, last one of us—and it is at those times that He made it clear to us that we are simply to love our brothers. Uplift them when they are down. Have compassion in our hearts because that same compassion is what we are going to need as human beings—when it’s our turn to fall short of our expectations.
For 15 years, people continue to go back in time to a moment in wrestling when as a wrestling character I cut a wrestling promo in a wrestling ring about another wrestling character. On that night I was doing my job as an entertainer to simply entertain the audience who was engaged. The fact is that every time I was ever in front of a camera, that’s all I was doing, pretending to be somebody I wasn’t to simply play a role in the play. Personally, in my heart, I never had any distain for Terry Bollea. Due to the circumstances was I a bit angry at that moment in time—yes, I was, but as a human being I never either disliked, or hated Terry Bollea as a human being. At the end of the day he was trying to do what was right for him, as I was trying to do the same for me. The problem was that we BOTH made the mistake of putting ourselves before the other.
Thankfully, later on, I had the opportunity to work with Terry once again, and during that time, what I saw was the heart of a child, who was still loving and enjoying every second he was around the business he loved. That is no lie. But, the truth is, even somebody as polished as him, could wear his emotions on his sleeve at times, making the error of speaking strictly from raw feeling, rather than to think about the words that came out of his mouth. . . words he might regret later. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been guilty of that. The truth is . . . we’ve all been guilty of that. Why? Because it goes back to that sin gene which we inherited and which we all needed somebody else to sacrifice themselves for–in order to cover us.
Today, I will pray for Terry Bollea. I will pray for God to show him and his family a love and forgiveness that only He can. And . . . that is what our forgiving God will do. But, the question is . . . will we?
I guess that answer will come when we ask ourselves if whether, or not, we are above the very one who gave us life.
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