One mighty step

If you grew up in North Carolina, you understand — perhaps better than most — that sometimes, rivalries can bring out the very worst in people.

If you’re old enough, you probably remember when blood was drawn in the Feb. 5, 1992 Duke/UNC basketball game and again when the programs met at the Dean E. Smith Center March 4, 2007.

You might have attended a Carolina/N.C. State football game and heard profanity-laced tirades shouted from the stands — or seen the aftermath of vandalism inflicted by one student body on the other’s campus.

It’s no different in Wayne County.

When certain programs meet, high schools beef up security at games and keep a watchful eye on the crowds to ensure a safe environment is maintained.

It’s no secret that Goldsboro High School and Eastern Wayne are rivals.

And it is well-documented that lines have, on occasion, been crossed on social media, in the community and at school functions.

But sometimes, one small gesture can start to heal decades-old grudges.

And if you’re lucky enough to witness that moment, it can inspire you to remind today’s youth that there is more to life than what neighborhood you come from or which high school halls you happen to walk.

That’s a powerful lesson to teach a young person.

Friday night at Eastern Wayne could have been another tense meeting between crosstown rivals, with spectators wondering when the first fight would break out.

But a historic pre-game moment set a different tone — one that, we can hope, might have made Wayne County a better place to live.

It started nearly 30 minutes before kickoff when the EWHS and GHS marching bands came face to face on the track.

Both groups had something to prove. And these were teenagers — fueled by the back-and-forth that all too often unfolds on social media.

EW band director Bobby Sherard decided to break the ice.

He welcomed the GHS musicians to campus and urged the two programs to literally “hug it out” before they would, for the first time ever, play the “Star-Spangled Banner” together.

“Out here, between the bands, we’re gonna be cool,” Sherard said. “That way, we can still see each other at the mall or at Walmart and it’s going to be copasetic because they share this common bond.”

His message might seem simple enough. But if you understand this particular rivalry, you know that it was anything but.

Watching teenagers from these two schools embrace, bump fists and laugh before their performance was a moment. If you saw it, you won’t soon forget it.

And in the long run, the common ground found on that track is more significant than who won the game that followed – or how they did it.

“It’s OK to have some friendly competitive rivalry, but it ain’t got to be where there’s fighting and all that kind of stuff,” Sherard said. “Just to see them marching again — marching on the field — and to do it at Eastern Wayne, that’s a special thing. And when we can make that happen for them and it’s all love, that makes it even better.”

Better for Goldsboro High School. Better for the young men and women who welcomed them into their house. Better for the community we share.