Easter came early this year; right in the middle of the opening rounds of “March Madness.” Yes, it’s spring, that glorious time of year when fans — and others — become engrossed in the NCAA Basketball Tournaments.

Many of the 128 teams were invited to the show, which starts as “brackets” sited around our great country. For those that didn’t make the cut this year, there’s always next year. This will also be the sad refrain for those who made it in, but exited in the first round, or just beyond.

Along the way, the tournament competition will pare down to the Sweet Sixteen, the Elite Eight, the Final Four and, ultimately, the two teams that will vie for the men’s and women’s national championship crown in this the year of our Lord 2008 A.D.

Interesting thought, is it not, that multitudes of people can and will get excited about their teams getting in and then, perhaps,‘staying in longer than they thought, anticipated, predicted, or had the faith to believe?

Perhaps, there is a faith lesson here for all of us as yet another Easter passes into history?

I believe this Easter provides yet another opportunity for all of us to reflect on faith, and what it means to have faith and live it.

How many of us understand what took place on Calvary that day, now called Good Friday? And, how many of us realize the significance of what happened the night before; as well as the significance of what happened on each of the days following that Friday?

For Christians the world over, Easter Sunday is the culmination of what followed the Friday crucifixion — and embodies the most fundamental article of faith — the Resurrection.

For believers, it is a time to rejoice; to celebrate their faith, “walk the walk” and their daily practice of it. They have a quiet excitement about their faith that is part of everything they do ,and how they think of and interact with other people.

For those who just, well, “talk the talk” as well as those who go through the motions, such as, showing up in the church pews, whether they do so occasionally or regularly, they seem unable to have or be able to consistently practice faith, in just about anything.

That attitude can even spill over into March Madness. For example, might it be more likely that these are the individuals to likely say they knew all along their team would not prevail.

Of course, the truth may be that they do not prevail in their faith — or in anything — because of their lack of faith … in anything or anyone, human or divine. The more important question to contemplate here is: How many of us take our understanding, accept it on faith and use the inherent strength of that foundation to construct a belief system that will serve us as we practice and play every day in the tournament of life? With applied faith anything and everything is possible.

Let’s remove the artificial “brackets” we or others impose inappropriately to sort and divide Americans.

While it is understandable why we arrange our organizations and sports leagues into brackets of various sorts, such as conferences, playoffs, tournaments etc., the time has come to stop sorting ourselves and others; and to insist that politicians and government cease doing so immediately. In other words, “bracketing” by hyphenating ourselves as Americans, or permitting government or others to hyphenate citizens is what ought to be politically incorrect in our society.

We know from history that the teams that advance to the NCAA Championship Games will shed their “brackets” along the way. It is time for all Americans to shed the hyphens and move forward with faith in Life’s Tournament.

Richard Olivastro is president of People Dynamics, an executive leadership development company, is a professional member of the National Speakers Association and founder of Citizens For Change. He can be reached at Rich@Olivastro.net.