If she murdered somebody, Gilroy’s Rev. Alison Berry would make
the front page of the Dispatch tomorrow.
If she murdered somebody, Gilroy’s Rev. Alison Berry would make the front page of the Dispatch tomorrow. And the Mercury News … ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox News. She might even make CNN if it was a heinous enough crime. However, the fact that all she did was run a marathon for a good cause last Sunday is not going to be noteworthy enough to put her on the front page. Less than 1 percent of the world’s population ever runs a marathon and Alison herself is not a marathon runner in real life, yet she took on this challenge and succeeded in completing the entire run.
The California International Marathon in Sacramento follows a course that retraces one of the original gold miners’ routes. The 26.2-mile event begins near Folsom Dam and continues through the neighboring communities of Orangevale, Fair Oaks and Carmichael. After it crosses the American River and passes by historic Sutter’s Fort, the final miles show off quaint midtown Sacramento where increasingly loud crowd support signals the finish in the shadow of the beautiful California State Capitol. The runners come from places as diverse as Bend, Ore.; Brainerd, Minn.; Blue Springs, Mo.; Niceville, Flor.; Mechanicsburg, Penn.; Saskatoon, Canada; and Dusseldorf, Germany.
A lot of interesting sights met our eyes at the finish line: one man who actually had enough energy left for jumping high in the air as he crossed, four women holding hands as they finished together, the interesting clothing the runners were wearing (or NOT wearing!), and the runner crossing with a dog dressed in a Dalmatian jacket. Perhaps the most electrifying moment came when it was announced that a world record was about to be set. We all held our breaths as 80-year-old great grandmother (she didn’t start running until she was 55) Helen Klein came into sight. As she thundered down the final stretch, running arm-in-arm with her husband, Norm, we couldn’t help but get chills and misty-eyed at what we were witnessing. “Her time is 4:31:32!” the announcer yelled into the mic, “She has broken the world record by over 38 minutes!” She was showing us the possibilities in life, physically illustrating the idea that we are not limited to a preconceived destiny. To me, this kind of news is worth repeating and ought to make the front headlines more often, rather than the gory details of every shooting, rape and criminal activity.
What if every good thing, every noble action and every sacrifice made for a fellow human being made the news – how would we see the world differently? What if the media trumpeted the good of our community, what if it blared the best latest news of our neighborhoods, such as the way school teacher Valerie Kelly is organizing soup kitchen teams to feed the homeless at The National Guard Armory? Or the way Bernadette Barrera of Gilroy Unified School District is helping migrant children enroll in school? She goes beyond the call of duty in locating resources for providing medical care, warm clothing for winter and food on the table. What about the way Catholic Priest Father Derry whipped out a check this week to pay for college books when a refugee from a war-torn country asked for help in attending Gavilan; or the way Bonfante Board Member Patti Hale took the time out of her extremely busy schedule to help a recent immigrant fill out a job application at Home Depot? What about the way a Gilroy senior citizen is organizing layette kits to be sent to disaster areas so that mothers have swaddling clothes and blankets to keep their newborn babies warm?
And what about the creative way a pastor inspires us to daring new challenges by running a marathon to raise pledge money for an apportionment fund supporting many worthy causes, including the Black College Fund? Since 1972, the Black College Fund has supported the programs of 11 historically Black colleges and universities. These universities provide opportunities for many students of promise who otherwise might be excluded from the educational process. They provide a high-quality education and produce many African-American leaders in the United States.
The pledges raised by Pastor Berry’s marathon also go towards a fund that is used to support Africa University, which has served and graduated hundreds of men and women from 20 countries. In a continent torn by war, AIDS, poverty, cyclones, and other natural and human-made hardships, Africa University shines as a beacon of hope and light. “I hope a new breed of young men and women with vision is going to come out of the institution to champion social change in Africa,” says Rutendo Mandunya from Zimbabwe. Yollande Samba Mavund from the Democratic Republic of Congo adds, “If, in the future, I’ll be able to help even one person, I’ll do it with happiness and love because of what the church has done for me. Thank you.” Theologian John Wesley advised, “Do all the good you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can.”
There are so many people doing so many good things in the world for so many others, including Gilroy’s Rev. Alison Berry, but the truth is she’ll never commit any newsworthy crimes. So we’ll never see her on CNN.
Kat Teraji’s column is published every Thursday in The Dispatch. You can reach her at [email protected].
