It seems that I was born with a “glass half empty.” But, I will not play my sad violin for you to illustrate my life’s drawbacks. Suffice it to say that I didn’t get the four leaf clover, the horse shoe, the brass ring or the winning lottery ticket tucked into my diaper. I have, however, been given many basic god-given physical talents. I’m short but I could compete well in most sports. I will for sure say that God gave me something far richer. He provided me with an insatiable desire to win and a matching drive to be the best.
That does not mean that I won all the time. Quite the contrary. There were numerous times I did not win. Each time there was a set back there was a choice to be made. To continue trying or to quit and never try again. Some of the losses were so severe that it made the choice to quit very real and very possible. Let me illustrate this with a couple of personal stories.
When I was about 10 I played on a softball team for guys under age 12. I hated sitting on the bench and I played as often as they would let me get onto the field. My Team was the Roosevelt summer playground midgets (ages under 12). We were playing the Garfield summer playground midgets. With my team down by one run in bottom of the last inning I got on base (I have no recollection how). I stole second. There I was representing the tying run. All we needed was for me to get around third base and score. Without any coaching (permission) I took off third base in an attempt to steal third. I got thrown out by a country mile. You could hear the audible groans and verbal abuse the rained down on me for being so stupid. I was so crushed by what I had done that I stayed away from the playground for 3 weeks. I was so afraid that my teammates would see me and continue their attacks on me for my indiscretion and idiocy. None came and I could resume my summer at the playground in peace. Lesson learned and I did not quit.
My second story has to do with football. When I was a freshman in high school I had spent the entire summer running around with no shirt, skimpy cut offs, and low cut tennis shoes daily. Played softball, baseball and rode my bike to see my new girlfriend nightly. I stayed so late each night that often the temperature dropped so low I found myself shivering and riding home with no shirt, skimpy cut offs and low cut tennis shoes. About three weeks before football practice started i started coughing up some of the greenest oysters ever produced by man. Every time I ran I got short of breath and the coughing began. One night at practice I coughed so much stuff up it poured through my face mask. I was running a fever, chills, aching, headaches, severe weakness. I went home and toughed out a case of pneumonia all by my lonesome. It took days to get my fever down. When I returned to the team I was still sick. I only took aspirin which alleviated my body aches, chills, and headaches in order to play. I could have and should have quit. Stupid or courageous is still a great debate. But, I played an entire season with pneumonia. Again, I should have quit but it illustrates the drive I have had to continue even in the face of a self-inflicted wound. I learned there is never a time to quit. BUT there is a time to take a break and heal. This is not quitting! Taking a break sometimes is as important as not quitting. Remember, in the face of great calamity you have to live to fight another day.
I have very little natural talent but God gave me a drive to never quit and don’t not even today.
Today, as back then, I am given the choice to quit or to endure daily with something or many things. My reflex for living has taught me to continue despite the burden or the pain. This trait does not make me tough or smart it’s just me. Each of us has these qualities inside us and it’s up to us to know when to continue or when to take a break. The great running back for the Cleveland Browns back in the 1960s, LeRoy Kelly said it best, “Sometimes there are times when you give a second effort. There are other times when you just look for a nice soft place to land.” This is wisdom on the half shell for all of us to learn from.
Remember this! “NEVER QUIT BUT ALSO KNOW WHEN TO LOOK FOR A NICE SOFT PLACE TO LAND—-FOR A TIME
Bodybuilding is the same way. When we don’t do so well on stage it only means that we take some time to figure out what needs to be done to be better. We take a break. We work harder to be better. We focus. We get back to the stage with our improvements to see what we need to do next. Quitting is never an option. So get after it! See you on stage soon! Doug
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Six Pack and Senior 