Forget about being like Mike; it’s a guy named Ian that you should have your kid emulate.
Ian McMillan is being heralded as the best kid EV-ER!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock or your power’s gone because of the intense heat, then you’ve likely seen this video… over, and over, and over…
The clip was shot Wednesday night when the Arizona Diamondbacks hosted the Milwaukee Brewers. The uneventful game heated up when the Brew Crew’s infielder Rickie Weeks tossed a ball to a young fan in the stands.
If you look at the video carefully you’ll see that Weeks was aiming for a 6-year-old fan named Nicholas. Unfortunately, the kid is, well, he’s six and not exactly tall, so he failed to catch the now-famous toss.
The ball ends up being deflected off the hands of some older Diamondback fans and eventually fell near a park employee, who placed it into 12-year-old Ian McMillan’s outstretched baseball cap, which just happened to be overturned to form a bowl perfect for collecting potential foul balls, or in this case, a random game orb that would change the course of his life forever.
When young Nicholas sees Ian, and the ball meant for his little hands, walk back to an upper row of bleacher seats, he runs into his mother’s arms and bursts into tears.
He’s six.
After celebrating for a bit with friends, 12-year-old Ian’s conscience is stirred and he decides to walk over to the sobbing 6-year-old and hand him the ball.
What happens after that has turned into somewhat of a media firestorm and a lesson on honesty and generosity.
After reviewing the ball brouhaha, the game’s commentators elevated young Ian to Gandhi status. ABC News made Ian their “Person of the Week,” while other media outlets Ian insisted that young Ian’s selflessness restored faith in humanity.
Meanwhile, a few dissenters are calling foul on all the hoopla.
One eagle-eyed sports analyst went public claiming that Ian isn’t saint material given that the video footage reveals the park employee, who initially handed him the ball actually pointed to Nicholas, indicating that she wanted the older boy to give the ball to the younger Brewer’s fan. So, according to the sports guru, Ian was actually doing what he was told to do rather than being motivated by generosity, charity and sympathy.
Meh, it is what it is.
In the end, Nicholas got the ball that was meant for his hands, while Ian scored tickets to another game and a bat autographed by Diamondback’s star right fielder Justin Upton.
Meanwhile, parents around the world are presumably showing their kids the video clip as a lesson on how doing the right thing can pay off big time.
Related Articles:
Do You Discipline Your Child in Public?
Teaching Your Toddler to Lose Gracefully
Do You Punish Your Kids For Swearing?
Do Your Kids Need a Manners Makeover?