Someone gave me the DVD "Rudy" for Christmas a couple years ago, saying it was inspirational and he thought I'd like it even though it was old. As Miracle was my inspirational movie obsession at that time, I didn't really have the capacity to get emotionally wrapped up in another movie. And as I got busier and busier, I didn't have 2 hours to sit down and watch it.
Seeing as how I was snowed in and without the leg capacity to be navigating through the snow to get anywhere today, I started cleaning my apt and noticed it on my shelf of DVD's. At which point, I promptly discarded my cleaning campaign and sat down to watch.
Wow. Timing is everything. How opportune.
Going into the home stretch of preparations for the final fight-offs, "Rudy" was a good reminder that it’s not just about winning or losing. On the contrary, it's about having the heart to work for it, and not being afraid to put it all out there and fail in the process. It's about getting knocked down and coming back bloody but stronger. It's about not being discouraged by all those who say you can't do it.
It's about being single-minded for a goal.
Sometimes I step back and wonder why I do what I do. I look at the choices made, the sacrifices it's taken, the priorities I have and the way I spend my time...all for something so seemingly impractical and improbable. Somethign I don't appear to have been built for.
When anyone watches the tape of me fighting the Dominican girl at Pan Ams '04, their first reaction is to guffaw. Not laugh. Not gasp. Not chuckle. GUFFAW. You see me come into the ring, you think, OK maybe she's a little small next to the referee. Then you see the DR girl come onto the screen and her 6'4" presence dwarfs me. Heck, she dwarfs the ref. The sheer height difference between me and "the giant" was insane. I remember thinking...sheez, even David had a slingshot and some rocks when he faced Goliath.
If I had a dollar for every time someone came up to me and told me "when I first met you I didn't think you'd be any good, because of the way you're built"...well, I'd have a few bucks. But those are only the people who had the guts to say it to my face, I'm fairly certain more people have thought it than let on.
Sure, there are always circumstances that aren't favorable. I have short legs so it's hard to reach my opponents. I'm stocky so my height to weight ratio is low. I have a full-time job and therefore can't be a full-time athlete. My coaches have full-time jobs and therefore can't be full-time coaches. I'm prone to injuries.
But borrowing a quote from another great sports movie I watched recently, "It's supposed to be hard! If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard...that's what makes it great!" (A League of Their Own)
In small group this week, we were talking about who your favorite Bible character or story is. I said mine was Gideon. And without getting too detailed and long, the reason I like Gideon is because it's a story about how God used a nobody and made him into a somebody. God used him precisely because of his weaknesses, so that he and everyone would know that the great works that would come from Gideon were not by his own strength or doing.
When Rudy is praying for a chance to start as his final season winds down, he constantly asks the priest whether he's done everything he can. Whether he's going to get his chance to make his dream come true. And the priest says this: "Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I'm not Him."
Indeed. There is no amount of willpower and desire that can make everything go my way when I want it to. Circumstances are what they are. Injuries happen. Referees blink. You have an off-day. Your opponent is totally on. Who knows?
But there is also a certain freedom in knowing that it's not all in my hands. As Sab Sr said to me in Greece the first time he really coached me: "Do you trust God? Then leave the worrying to Him. And me. You just go in there and fight your heart out."
It's about understanding that sometimes, along the way, you've attained so much more than what you shot for. Rudy inspired me because even though he only had a precious 8 seconds to play like one - he had the heart of a champion.
Steele: "Are you ready, champ?"
Rudy: "I've been ready my whole life"
T-minus 4 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment