I went to Las Vegas on September 30, 2017, with my father to see what my future home would hold. We stayed outside T-Mobile Arena at New York York and enjoyed the various nuances of Sin City. Well, at least I did.
My father struggled with the traffic, among other things. It's tough trying to adjust when you come from a less appealing town in the Midwest. But I digress.
While I had fun, the trip back home was much scarier. No, it didn't involve the plane almost crashing. That's when my co-worker at the deli asked me a rattling question.
"Oh my God, Jacob! I was worried about you! We thought you had been killed!"
"What?"
"Wait, you didn't hear about what happened in Las Vegas?"
There was a mass shooting that killed 58 people and injured nearly 500 more on October 1. People were shocked and devastated in the Las Vegas area by the news.
"How could this happen in our community?"
"How can we recover from this horrific event?"
Then, a funny little thing happened. The Vegas Golden Knights stepped in and took over the sports world. Mind you, this was an expansion team that everyone thought had no shot of making the Stanley Cup Final... except for the Golden Knights.
What can we learn about the Vegas Golden Knights and celebrating the lives of others?
Sometimes, a small act in life can lift the spirits of others. That includes buying a meal for them or holding the door open. Such acts can leave us with a smile on our faces.
But what the Golden Knights did for the city in the wake of the mass shooting was phenomenal. They didn't just exceed expectations from the hockey world. They skyrocketed past them and won the Pacific Division and the Western Conference.
While they fell short of the Stanley Cup that year, they would win it all in 2023. It's like destiny was calling for the Stanley Cup to come to Sin City.
Still, 2017-18 was an incredible gift to a city reeling from a horrible tragedy. When the people needed heroes to uplift them, the Golden Knights came in and provided that heroism. What better way to be a hero than for the expansion team to step in?
With that, I leave you with this. Be someone's hero today. Do a courageous act that'll leave your peers in awe.
That can come in the form of volunteering at the local soup kitchen or the animal shelter. That can also come as small deeds that only take a second of your time. Whatever the case, lift your community up, especially during these hard times.