Challenges
I saw a fella at the gym today wearing a tee shirt that read…’Don’t Let The Hard Days Win’.
Writing this tonight, I think of Gary who had polio in the fifties and still played baseball for The American Alloys Alligators.
Connor Stroud comes to mind and he played competitive tennis at 12 while dealing with PFFD which caused him to be born without femurs, hips, knees, or ankles. By age 14, he began playing wheelchair tennis and became one of the world’s premier players.
Chase Merriweather developed a severe case of sepsis when he was just three years old. To save his life, his arms and legs had to be amputated. He now has become a standout track and field star and a terrific runner and competes against able bodied high schooler athletes in Pennsylvania.
I awoke this morning thinking about Louis Zamperini whose story is told in the incredible book Unbroken by Laura Hillebrand. Louis was an Olympic sprinter in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Soon after, he was in the war in the South Pacific. He was flying 850 miles south of Oahu when his plane (The Green Hornet) crashed into the ocean.
Only four of the eleven men survived and they floated in a raft for two thousand miles before being captured by enemy soldiers. Louis was in four different prison camps for over two years and his treatment redefines the words hard days. In one camp, he was forced to endure fellow captives lining up and punching him in the face 220 times.
I reckon there’s no telling how many hard days these fellas have looked in the eye…how many times they could have held a pity party but didn’t blink as they steamrolled over their challenging days.
What You’re Saying