The Bouncer (Turning Defeat into Victory)
?>
Download eBooks and Software
 The Lotto Black Book
This Radical Approach To An Online Sales Letter Converts In The 3-5%... We've Never Seen Something Like This Since The Early Days Of 2004-2005 And I'm Sure You Haven't Either... We Convert More Than Our Competition And We Pay Out More... Try It!
Paleo Recipe Book - Brand New Paleo Cookbook
Brand New Paleo Diet Cookbook With Over 370 Recipes. Pays 70% Commission On This High-quality, Easy To Sell Product. Get Banners And Promotional Material At Http://paleorecipebook.com/affiliates.html
Real Writing Jobs
New & Improved Pricing Structure With Multiple Price Points, Downsells, And Upsells. Doing Better Than Ever! Plus, We Keep Emailing All Interested Users With Your Affiliate Link In The Emails To Make Sure You Get Credit! Realwritingjobs.com/affiliates.php
Articles > Self Improvement and MotivationThe Bouncer (Turning Defeat into Victory)
by: Gary E. Anderson
From Spiders Night on the Boom
Gary Anderson
www.abciowa.com
I'm a pretty competitive guy, though I try to keep it in perspective. But there are times, often when I least expect it, when life teaches me lessons about the true nature of competition. One of those lessons came on a warm spring day several years ago, in a small town outside Portland, Oregon.
I used to love to watch the high school track team trainespecially the distance runners. But that year, my eye was drawn to one girl in particular. Her running style was all wrongshe ran with her arms tucked close to her body, bouncing up and down in a way that must have driven her coaches crazy. My athletic mind scoffed at her strange style, I began to think of her as "the Bouncer."
But the more I watched her, the more I began to notice something else about this awkward young girl. While she ran, she was oblivious to everything and everybody as she bounced around the track, and always wore a smile that could only be described as serene. For her, running had taken on significance that was difficult to define, and in spite of myself, that young woman with the angelic smile began to intrigue me.
Even so, I couldn't help wondering how she was going to fare once the real track season beganand it didn't take long to find out. In early May, the high school hosted its first big track, featuring athletes from every school in the conference.
Since the conference ran the distance races with both boys and girls on the track at the same time, a large group of athletes gathered at the starting line for the two-mile runincluding the Bouncer. The gun sounded, and the runners took off in a multi-colored flash.
That year, our school had a very gifted runner named Dave, and he quickly took the lead, one he would never relinquish for that entire season, because he never lost a race.
But the Bouncer quickly fell far behind the pack and as the race progressed. Dave lapped her once, twice, and finally a third time. In fact, every runner, male and female, lapped the Bouncer at least once before it was over. But she just kept running, arms tucked close to her sides, never varying her stride, bouncing up and downand always wearing the same angelic smile.
I found myself being embarrassed for that ungainly girl who was being lapped again and again. Surely she must be mortified, I thoughtbut it didn't seem to bother the Bouncer at all. She didnt even seem to notice, and just kept doing exactly what she was doing, never changing her stride.
A short while later, the crowd rose to its feet, cheering Dave to another victory, followed by scattered applause for every athlete who crossed the finish line after him. It wasnt long before the Bouncer was the only one left on the track, running all by herself.
That poor kid, I thought. What must she be feeling? Why didn't she just give up? There was nothing at stake now, and nothing to be gained by finishing so far behind the pack. Still, the Bouncer never faltered, and her serene expression never changed.
After what seemed like an eternity, the Bouncer finally approached the final turn, a full five minutes behind even the slowest runner. But then, something strange began to happen. As the Bouncer entered the home stretch, a cheer began to rise up from the bleachers. It rose and swelled, growing louder with each stride the Bouncer took toward the finish line until, finally, every person in the stands, regardless of which team they'd come to support, stood and cheered as if the fate of the entire meet hinged on this one lone girl, bouncing toward the finish line.
The Bouncer turned on no extra burst of speed or big kick down the straightaway. She just continued to run exactly as shed been doing from the opening gun, smiling so sweetly that it made my heart ache. But as she neared the finish line, the roar of the crowd could be heard echoing throughout the valley. And in the midst of all that noise and celebration, the mighty, invincible Dave walked out onto the track and held out his arm to slap the Bouncer's hand as she crossed the finish line.
It was an incredible moment.
I've seen hundreds of races since that day, and I've seen thousands of runners cross the finish line. But I've never seen anything that embodied the true spirit of victory as I watched on that warm spring so long ago, when I saw a race wonand I mean wonby an ungainly girl I had laughingly called the Bouncer.
So here's to you, Bouncer, wherever you may be, and may your smile always be as sweet as it was on that day.
© Gary E. Anderson. All rights reserved.
About The Author
Gary Anderson is a freelance writer, editor, ghostwriter, and manuscript analyst, living on a small Iowa farm. Hes published more than 500 articles and four books. Hes also ghosted a dozen books, edited more than 30 full-length manuscripts, produced seven newsletters, and has done more than 800 manuscript reviews for various publishers around the nation. If you need writing or editing help, visit Garys website at www.abciowa.com.
abciowa@alpinecom.net
|
?>
News on Self Improvement and Motivation
Workshop on personality development
Neha Foundation will be organising one-week workshop on ‘self-improvement' for students aged between 13 and 19 years from May 21 to 25 between 9.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. at No. 153, Bells Road, Chep... After-school activities form well-rounded kids
If you're carting around more than one child to several after-school activities in the hope of rearing learned, talented, self-assured adults, the message from researchers is clear - keep it up, you're on the right track. Toolbox: Prime Cycling Pyramid
As I discussed in my first post, Prime Cycling is defined as “riding at a consistently high level under the most challenging training and race conditions.” Looking back through the years, 5/17/12
Five years ago Pinal Hispanic hosts Eloy Block Party Science Fiction or Fact: Humanlike Intelligent Machines Will Soon Exist
In this weekly series, Life's Little Mysteries rates the plausibility of popular science fiction concepts.
|
