I WATCHED a foot race on television the other day. Hundreds of athletes ran through the streets of a European city along roped off roads lined with cheering crowds. At a tight bend, the runners crowded together, some bumping occurred, and two runners fell. One of them, dejected and defeated, curled on the ground massaging his injured knee, and although he eventually got back up and continued to run, by his expression it was obvious he had given up any chance of finishing the race. The other runner immediately sprung up from the ground and, although he was battered and bleeding, ran to regain the lost time. He chose not to let the accident be the end of him, and it was clear by the look on his face that he determined to win the race in spite of what happened. If anything, he used the setback as motivation to succeed.
I pondered the incident for a long time and thought about how the race is a metaphor for life. Like the two stricken runners, we fall and cut our knees, sometimes because of our own mistakes and sometimes due to others. Some of us lie on the ground, nurse our wounds and give up on the race, while others get back up and resolve to finish. One big difference between a foot race and life is that we are not really competing against each other. It does not matter who crosses the finish line first, only that we cross. Knowing that winning is defined by finishing makes it more bearable when we fall, don’t you agree?
While we can apply the lesson to ourselves as individuals, it also applies to groups, organizations and businesses. Take Northern Marianas College, for example. It cannot be denied that the double disasters of the typhoon and Covid were the equivalent of falling down. To be honest, it may be compared to falling down and being run over by a truck. Institutional knees are scraped, noses are bleeding and some bones may even be broken. But without sounding cliché, it could be worse. The truth is, students are signing up, classes are being held, administrators are setting goals and achieving them. Based on these actions, the NMC family has gritted its teeth and determined to get up and get back in the race. As it should. Bravo.
Theodore Roosevelt’s most famous speech should be the institutional motto for NMC and should display prominently in its halls. It is a mission statement for student and college alike: “It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Babe Ruth was baseball’s homerun king for decades (to many, he still is). But he also holds the record for the most strikeouts. If he feared striking out, do you suppose he would have hit all those home runs? Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” There is a famous motivational poster that shows boxer Muhammad Ali lying on the mat, receiving the count from the referee. It is superimposed with the words, “Even the greatest of greats fall.” Does history remember Ali as the guy who was knocked down four times?
I watched a foot race on television the other day. The runner on the ground despairing his fall had no future. His race was over. But the one who got back and kept running finished. He kept running.
BC Cook, PhD lived on Saipan and has taught history for 20 years. He currently resides on the mainland U.S.
