Relentless Determination

“No matter who you are, no matter what you do,

life is not promised to you tomorrow.”

--Doug Williams, former quarterback for the Washington Redskins--

It’s hard not to make observations about people while at the supermarket.  The ground is incredibly fertile for such things.  It was no different the other day when I was shopping but somehow my head was putting a different spin on what I saw.  I like to write about things I find humorous.  But there was nothing funny about this.  Person after person was obese to the point of either having to develop an altered stride or resort to a motorized cart to make forward progress.  Whether physically afflicted or self-inflicted this was very disconcerting.

Like a lot of guys I played high school basketball.  But unlike a lot of guys I had a coach that was a star player in college.  He had been out of college for some time before he came to my school but he could still

out-run, out-shoot, and out-hustle the best players on our team.  He was the consummate athlete with relentless determination.

Some thirty years later I was at a 10K footrace and happened to run into my former coach and his wife who were competing in the 60-64 age group.  We had unknowingly both moved to the same city.  They had never stopped exercising, were the picture of health, and routinely won their age groups.  In addition they were both avid cyclists and swimmers.  Relentless determination.

One day while training on her racing bike my coach’s wife had a fall breaking her hip.  During some routine tests at the hospital it was determined that in addition to the broken hip, she was suffering from cancer.  After a very lengthy battle she overcame both the broken hip and the disease due in no small part to her physical fitness.  Not only is she cured, but she can’t wait to get back into competition.  Relentless determination.

At age 73 my former coach still competitively runs, bikes, swims, skis, and does triathlons, often winning his age group.  He’s at it every weekend.  Oh yeah, did I mention he’s had both knees replaced?  Relentless determination.

So, here’s to you coach — and your beautiful wife — for being my daily inspiration to be better fit and to never give up at whatever I do.  How could anyone not be inspired by you?

And how does all this fit in with my trip to the supermarket?  If you don’t need that handicapped plate, park a little farther from the door.  If you don’t need the power chair, don’t use it.  If you use a wheelchair, try to stand.  If you can’t stand today, try again tomorrow.  Then try to walk.  Relentless determination.  Never give up!  Never give up!  Never give up!

“What I’ve learned is…There ain’t no genie.  I am it.

If the wealth and adventure and fame are to come,

I’d better get tough on the only one who can make it happen…Me!”

 --Unknown--

Space Invaders — The Salad Bar Mentality

Don’t you just hate going through a salad bar line?  I mean it wouldn’t matter if the Waldorf Astoria had one or you were going through the one at Joe’s Diner.  There is always some schmuck behind you absolutely convinced that you are going to take that one cherry tomato out of a thousand that he has his eye on.  He’s pumped-up and close enough you can smell the testosterone.  His tray keeps bumping yours.  The guy’s toe keeps catching your heel and the odor of consumed garlic toast certainly isn’t coming from you.  And if he’s really scared of what you might get before he does, you see the darting arm under the sneeze guard like he’s in some sort of salad bar passing lane.  So, you shoot him a look and he says “sorry” but he really isn’t.  He’s looking straight through you to the pickled beets up ahead.

It’s my contention that people are generally hogs.  If you want to know a person’s true personality — what he’s really like — watch him in action at the salad bar.  My guy here is on at least his second trip.  He’s got salad dressing on his shirt as well as on the shoe that keeps kicking me.  There’s enough food on his plate that he may need a wheeled cart and he hasn’t even made it to the pudding station yet.  And right behind him another 400-pounder — presumably the little woman — has just clicked trays telling him to get a move on because she’s starving.