Motivational
Minute
November 29, 1999.
Hello
Friends!
Here is a message of POWER and PASSION to get your week started with
ENTHUSIASM!
Please feel free to share it with your friends and associates.
Do you sometimes think that you are challenged with more than you can
handle in life? With responsibilities for so many different things and
having to be accountable to both yourself and others for all of your
actions, it might seem that trying to live a well-balanced life is just
short of impossible. When things go wrong or even just go differently than
they were supposed to it is very easy to get discouraged. Discouragement
is a normal and healthy emotion so don't push it away. It is important
though to see things in the big picture of life to really understand what
you are going through.
A couple years ago I was watching the "Iron Man Triathlon" that
takes place in Hawaii. This is a competition for men and women that starts
out with a 2.3 mile swim in the rough Pacific Ocean and then goes to a 112
mile bike ride through the hills in sweltering heat and is then followed
by a 26.2 marathon. I have spoken of this event before because I think
that ALL of the athletes who compete are absolutely incredible people.
Yet today I would like to focus on one man in particular named John
MacLean. He is an Australian who was one of the most talented professional
Rugby players in the country. At the height of his professional career he
was hit by a truck while jogging and which made him a paraplegic. Most
people would have given up on life itself after such a horrendous setback
- but not John MacLean.
He trained harder than he ever had before. John decided that he was going
to FINISH the Iron Man by qualifying for each time trail just like
everyone else. The race starts in the morning and has to be completed by
midnight or you don't finish. You have to qualify in a low enough time on
the swim to move on to the bicycle and you have to complete the bicycle
portion in a low enough time to qualify for the run.
As the race began John started into the water by pulling himself with his
hands. He swam 2.3 miles with just his arms as his legs dangled in the
water. When he completed the swim his team put him on a machine that he
propelled with just his arms in the same motion that a bicycle is pushed
forward. You could see the agonizing pain his arms must have been in but
he kept on going. He qualified for the marathon portion in plenty of time.
His team placed him in a wheelchair and he was off into the late afternoon
sun. As the sun dipped below the horizon the cameras followed John into
the night. His team asked if he was all right and with obvious pain on his
face he said, "I'm doing great guys - just a little sore but doing
GREAT!" Then John came to a huge hill. He was so exhausted and his
arms were in such screaming pain that he could not make it up the hill. As
he thought for a moment at the bottom of the hill his eyes lit up.
He turned himself around in his wheelchair and went up the hill inch by
inch with agonizing persistence. He made it over the hill and never looked
back. John MacLean enthusiastically popped a wheelie over the finish line
that night with lots of time to spare. A crowd of hundreds erupted in wild
cheers and screams of support as John achieved his goal.
After his extraordinary feat he was interviewed on NBC. The reporter asked
him what he would like to say to the world. John looked into the camera
and said, "You know you don't have to do the Iron-Man to be
successful...but just DO SOMETHING!"
When you feel the pain of life just think of John MacLean as he inched his
way over that hill. When you think that you can't achieve your goals
because they are too hard, think of John MacLean training for thousands of
hours in a wheelchair to accomplish something that most people can't do
even if they can walk. Remember to just, "DO SOMETHING" that you
believe in and your life WILL be fulfilling.
LAUGH-A-DAY
"For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier.
I put them in the same room and let them fight it out."
-Stephen Wright
"The day after tomorrow is the third day of the rest of your
life." - George Carlin
"I wrote a song, but I can't read music. Every time I hear a new
song on the radio, I think "Hey, maybe I wrote that."
- Stephen Wright
QUOTE-OF-THE-DAY
"Honesty without compassion and understanding is not honesty but
subtle
hostility."
- Dr. Rose Franzblau
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