By Staff
There is a time to put up and a time to shut up.
Such is the case today.
The Dowagiac volleyball program was supposed to host Lakeshore in a Big 16 Conference West Division showdown tonight.
The match has been postponed until Wednesday, Feb. 2 so that Lakeshore students may attend the visitation for Nathan Broehm, a Lancer wrestler who was tragically killed on Friday in an automobile accident.
There certainly is no love-loss between Dowagiac and Lakeshore and it could have been easy for us to feel no sympathy for those student-athletes.
But that is not our style.
This community may not care much about what goes on in Stevensville, but when it comes to the untimely death of a student-athlete, it does.
I don't care who you are, when a young man or young women is killed it touches all our lives.
We take the time to hug our children a little tighter and to tell them we love them - even though it may have been some time since we have done either of those things.
I know a lot of people were looking forward to this match-up between Lakeshore and Dowagiac.
The Chieftains are trying to take their program to another level and beating Lakeshore is a good place to start.
Dowagiac knocked off Niles last week, something that gave our girls some pride.
A win over the Lady Lancers would do more than that. It would give Dowagiac new direction for its program.
But now is not the time to be worrying about beating Lakeshore in anything.
Now is the time for us to send our thoughts and prayers not only to the Broehm family, but to all the families in the Lakeshore school district.
Now is the time to pause and reflect on our good fortunes as we feel sympathy for those who are less fortunate.
I hope that when Lakeshore rolls into town next week for the volleyball match on Wednesday and for the wrestling meet on Thursday we can put aside our bitter rivalry and extend a heart-felt greeting to the Lancers.
The pain those young athletes feel will not have gone away by next week. It may never go away for those who were closest to Nathan.
But getting back into the routine of their daily lives will help ease that pain.
We can help by providing a sportsman-like atmosphere throughout the two days of competition.
We can help by showing up and supporting our student-athletes as well as theirs.
There is a time for being bitter rivals on down the road. Just not tonight.