Something that I read in the telegraph in Kolkata.One on “Dada” returning back to competitive cricket, being as tough as he has always been and the other on confusion.
Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them-a desire, a dream, and a vision. They have to have last-minute stamina, they have to be a little bit faster, they have to have the skill & the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill.
Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul & come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
Confusion is a result of conclusions. If you have a conclusion already & then life appears as something else, you are confused. Don’t fix life, but drop your conclusions.
Well the first one was said by probably the toughest sportsman ever, the living legend Mohammed Ali. A man who I got to know about first during my 12th standard and whose will power has never ceased to amaze me. He has been through race subjugation, Alzheimer’s and many other traumas and still arose like a unicorn from its ashes. A source of inspiration for many a black American during the late 70s and 80s and probably the most uncelebrated of all the anti racists. The man was treated a true hero upon his return to Kentucky, was given the city keys. Yet the devotion he had to his brethren made him do an unimaginable thing. How many would have chucked an Olympic medal into oblivion coz he & his race was insulted, remember the medals those days had lots of real gold in them unlike today. A genius of a boxer, the butterfly, as he was called because like the insect he flutters around hitting when he needs to and tiring his opponent into submission.
The words are not only apt for dada, but many among us who have to go through some of the toughest times and yet find THAT inner self that makes us go further, more stronger than ever, more determined to achieve the impossible. Not many people can cope up with defeat on their faces everyday, not many will like to keep on facing defeats, yet living to fight for it another day.
You always have the option of either choosing to live or die. And in dying you can chose to fight and die or to commit suicide. It’s better to fight it out, know what you are worth and die rather than being a coward and taking the easier way out. This is true in every case. Our day to day work, our family life, in relationships, almost every second we fight within ourselves. Take for example our body, it’s in war with millions of bacteria every millisecond, yet the moment we lose our will, we find ourselves being thrown into a hapless world of doctors, test reports and dosages. As the man said, it’s only a matter of will.
The second was supposedly by a Zen master (was in the Tarot column). I don’t know why iam putting it down here. It just sounded quite logical to me. True, the japs always had a practical way to life.
