Trevor Ariza chose family over basketball. He chose his son—a month with him—over $1.8 million dollars in salary. He made the right choice, although it couldn’t have been an easy one. This year’s NBA season has already been cut short. Who knows what the future of sports will hold?

But for Trevor, in the middle of a custody battle over his 12-year-old son, decided that this one-month, court-appointed visitation window was the most important thing. So he passed on the opportunity to play, turned down a large amount of money, broke the news to his teammates, and put his family first. 

This is the same choice that Daniel Hudson made when the pitcher missed a National League Championship game so he could be there for the birth of his daughter. It was a beautiful decision and yet, like Trevor’s, was not without its detractors. The media and the press laid into him. You can imagine some of his peers were baffled, even if they didn’t say anything. 

But thankfully one of his teammates understood and expressed what our job as people, as co-workers, as fathers is perfectly. “If your reaction to someone having a baby is anything other than, ‘Congratulations, I hope everybody’s healthy,’ you’re an a——,” Sean Doolittle said. “As important as our careers are to us as players, nothing is more important to us than our families. Our careers will end someday, but family is forever.”

Your job is important. Your hobbies are important. Your hopes and dreams are important. But family is forever. It must come first. 

“Thou Shall Put Thy Family First” is one of the 10 Commandments of being a great parent. We’d love to have you follow along with us in our challenge, The Stoic Parent. Check it out here.