The Toll - Poem
Updated: Sep 10
A reflective poem that examines the price of the choices we make. In “The Toll,” Greg Luti considers how the sacrifices we accept in pursuit of something we love eventually come due.
Three, two, one, it’s over! They won! Oh my god! I can’t believe what just happened! What he just did! That was one of the most amazing sequences I have ever seen. He is definitely going down as one of the best who ever played.
Going forward, the defendant will no longer be able to see his children. Not on the weekdays. Not on the weekends. Not even on the short ride home from a friend’s house. For the damage he has caused the prosecution, he will pay half a million dollars a month so they can live a comfortable life. If the accused attempts to see his children, or fails to make the monthly payment, he will be held in contempt of court, with possible wage garnishment or prison time. And with this ruling, the court session has adjourned.
Time to pay. Time today.
They say you can’t outrun your past.
The very things you try to run from in your youth will eventually get back at you.
It may not be in the immediacy.
It may take some time.
But they will be back.
And when they do, they will ask for payment.
You played the game.
You gave up something to get where you are.
Now you must pay the toll.
All life has tolls you pass by.
You get to a toll and are posed the question as to whether you wish to advance, with the promise of payment at a later time, or you turn back and try another route and find another toll to pay.
Some wish to never go by any of the tolls, for they fear they will never be able to pay it back.
You can’t be in debt if you never take out a loan.
You also can’t say anything important if you keep your mouth shut.
Others…. Others are fine with waiting on the payment for a later time.
They accept the costs and see the potential payoff as far greater.
You can’t go anywhere without risk or sacrifice, so they accept those terms and advance.
Some of these even imagine that they may not have to pay the toll back one day.
But that is not how it works.
Of course, there are those who are then put into a system where they have to pay the tolls later.
They have no choice.
Before they even know they are in debt, they are pushed into a system where the tolls are paid later.
They were not aware of the trade they were making.
They weren’t even aware of anything happening.
They got to the toll, missed it, and kept going forward.
Those at the toll saw them, though, and they never forget.
For everything in life has a price, even success.
No matter what you do, you cannot run from this.
Time to pay. Time today.
“I guess the biggest regret of my life is that I am not as great of a father to my kids as my dad was to me.
I sometimes wake up in the morning, and I remember how my dad would be there at the kitchen table, and we would talk about life and sports and stuff.
And then I remember I can’t have that with my kids.
I just see an empty table.
I wonder if my dad won life in a different way than me.
Sure, I won the games, but I mean, he won something else.
Mom loves him. I loved him. He had a decent-paying job. And had a good enough home.
That is really all a man wants, I feel like…
I don’t know…
I think I made a deal somehow, one I didn’t know at first.”
“Do you mean a deal with the devil?”
“No, it was not that kind of deal.
I mean, I committed my life to the game I love.
Every day I woke up to be the best player I can be.
Always improve, I said. Always strive for perfection. Always strive for greatness.
And I did.
I got into the game early, and I was not aware that no one comes out of it normal.
You can’t do what I do and expect to live a life like everyone else.
I didn’t know what. My dad, who encouraged my success in the sport, didn’t know that either.
I mean, why would we?
We only knew I was pretty good at this game, had a passion for it, and that there was a real way for me to be a pro.
If I knew…. I don’t know.
I think my dad had it right in a lot of ways. He really did.”
The new season is upon us all, and let us remember what a great player is like this year. What is greatness? It is winning the game in the final minutes and making championship plays. And there is only one player who showed he can do that time and time again.
Every player, I mean, every player is to be compared to him. He set the standard. He is the standard. And if you win, you are only competing against the bar he already set. If we don’t talk about that when bringing him up, then what are we talking about?
“Do you miss him?”
“Every day. He was my best friend. My coach. My mentor. He was so much more to me than a dad.”
“Would you trade a championship to see him again?”
“Oh, Jesus….
I…. I don’t know….
I have to think about that one.”
“How about a championship to get custody of your kids?”
“I…
Let’s go to a break.”
Time to pay. Time to pay. Did you know it is time to pay? Time today. You have to pay either way.
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