Even a Little Light: a story of the power of simple kindness

Here at TexAgs, if we're not writing about sports, we're usually trying to create something light and fun in an effort to propel through cyberspace content we think you'll enjoy. This Christmas Eve, we want to shine a light on a small act of kindness by an Aggie who also happens to play football. This one requires a bit of backstory, but we think you'll find it worth your while. Merry Christmas from the TexAgs family to you and yours!

In February of 2016, Brock Faulkner, class of 2004, died after two exhausting years of fighting leukemia. I know they were exhausting because I witnessed much of that arduous battle up close. Brock was my friend. Our friend. Several of us at TexAgs, including two of our owners, Brandon and Josh, were close with Brock after investing over a decade of life together in the same church community. We take that word, community, seriously, and walking that road with Brock and his family changed us all.

Brock — actually Dr. William Brock Faulkner — was an Assistant Professor of Agricultural Engineering at Texas A&M. He was an Aggie three times over, earning a Master's and a Ph.D. from A&M after his undergrad years as member of A-Battery in the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band. You aren't supposed to be granted tenure at the institution where you received three degrees, but Brock was the guy who compels an exception. In addition to his academic career, he was an advisor to the Secretary of Agriculture on the USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force. He also consulted for cattle ranchers, ran his own beef operation outside of Bryan, and was an elder in our church. 

By the way, Brock was only 34. My resume at 34 was a bit...well, shorter. 

Arlina Pletcher

Emery, Brittney, Charlie, Brock, and Lyla Kate on the homesite at their ranch before they began building their house in 2015.

But with absolute confidence I tell you that Brock would want you to know that his most important roles were husband and father. The loss we continue to feel as his friends is only a shadow of the ache his absence creates for his wife Brittney and their three children—Emery (9), Lyla Kate (7), and Charlie (4). 

In addition to my work with TexAgs, I've been a pastor for most of my adult life, and while I'm as convinced as ever that the grand story we tell this time of year about a loving God coming to be with us is true, I can't offer you a satisfying explanation for this next part.

Last April, just over a year after they lost Brock, the Faulkners' home was struck by lightning and caught fire. Everyone escaped unharmed, but the house, which they had begun building on their ranch before Brock died and which they lived in for about six months, was lost.

Once the insurance company decided there was no way to salvage even the house's frame, we watched giant machines tear and then scrape its charred shell back to the slab. They may have even let Brittney exercise a little angst by taking a swipe or two at it with the excavator, which, if it did happen (and I'm not saying it did), I'm certain didn't violate any sort of OSHA rules.

TexAgs

Top: A small army, including some of Brock's students, worked to inventory everything in the Faulkners' home after the fire for insurance purposes.
Bottom: Brittney and the kids pose for this year's "family photo in front of the house" holiday card, and Emery sneaks in a Gig 'em.

Jokes help now, but it was all as devastating as it sounds. Brittney and the older two kids were home at the time of the fire, and you can imagine that the compounding trauma weighs heavily on a nine- and seven-year-old. 

It's fair to say they've had more than their share of loss over the last couple of years. But this is a story about a ray of light in the darkness — one ray of many, but one that matters.

Over a month ago, one of the Faulkners' neighbors sold an item on Craigslist to a guy named Kendall. Before he came to pick up the item, she discovered that the buyer was Kendall Bussey, a sophomore running back for the Aggies. She asked him if he would be willing to spend a few minutes to meet a die hard young Aggie fan who has had a tough few years. 

I should pause here to mention that I've never been to a football game with Emery, but my son Aiden (15) and I have taken him to several Aggie baseball games. Aiden and I — both pretty devoted and literate Aggie sports fans ourselves — spent a lot of those games listening to Emery's encyclopedic knowledge of the team, nodding along as though we knew the things he assumed we knew. In one 2016 Super Regional game, the infield fly rule came into play, and I turned to the boys to explain the rule, which most grown men don't fully understand. When I finished, Emery said, "Oh, they do that because..." and proceeded to demonstrate that he both understood the rule and he intuitively understood its rationale. He was 8. So yes, he's dialed in, and he bleeds maroon. 

Kendall quickly agreed to meet Emery, and he graciously took a photo with him and signed his hat. Everyone was grateful, assuming that was the end of it. Emery had an autograph, a photo, and a cool story to tell. And for most college students, that probably would have been that. But it turns out Kendall Bussey isn't most college students.

TexAgs

Emery, 9, holds a football signed by the Texas A&M football team and gloves signed by Christian Kirk, both gifts put together and delivered by Aggies running back Kendall Bussey.

A few days ago, Kendall drove out to see Emery again because he had something for him. When he arrived, he was carrying with him a football signed by the team. He also brought along a pair of gloves signed by star Aggie wide receiver Christian Kirk.

I don't know Kendall Bussey, but no one asked him to do any of this. To remember a kid he had met almost two months before. To get a ball and gloves signed by other players he knew that kid admired so much. To make the drive back out to see that kid, a drive that takes half an hour one way when there's no traffic. To make that trip before heading home to New Orleans for what I know is an already shortened holiday visit since the team flies to Charlotte on Christmas Day.

I don't know Kendall Bussey, but I know this: He could have kindly said he was a busy guy and just didn't have time to meet Emery the first time around. He could have met Emery the one time and just moved on. He even could have put together the gifts and mailed them or had the Faulkners pick them up from the football offices. He didn't have to go that extra mile, but he did. In fact, went a lot of extra miles before heading home to his own family. Why?

I don't know Kendall Bussey, but I think the answer to that question is simple. He saw Emery. I'm sure he has taken hundreds of pictures with kids, and I imagine the temptation to not stop long enough to actually see a kid is strong. I have three who live in my house, and I sometimes realize I haven't slowed down to really see them in a day or two. 

Kendall saw Emery that day. It was a simple kindness, but it mattered.

"Emery is over the moon excited about the football and gloves," Brittney told me. "He noted that Kendall even remembered his name when they met the second time. He has been showing everyone that will look and listen. Kendall made this kid’s year, and it’s something Emery will probably never forget."

Kendall did all of this with no thought of being noticed, but Brittney wanted it noticed. Kendall is one of countless Aggies, including many of Brock's former students, who have seen her and the kids and gone out of their way to love and serve them. And though Brittney is an LSU grad herself, she wants it noticed that the Aggie family, along with many other family and friends, has noticed their family. Her goal isn't so much to make a hero of Kendall Bussey as it is to make sure people know that there is reason to be encouraged, reason to hope. 

Sure, it can seem like our kids' heroes are often exasperatingly proficient in knuckleheadery. 

And yes, there is plenty of bad news in the world. The Faulkner family knows that better than most. 

But on the eve of Christmas, take heart and know what they know: There is still light in the world, and even a little light can scatter a lot of darkness.