Whenever I start to hang my head in front of failure’s face,
my downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.
A children’s race, young boys, young men; how I remember well,
excitement sure, but also fear, it wasn’t hard to tell.
They all lined up so full of hope, each thought to win that race
or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
Their parents watched from off the side, each cheering for their son,
and each boy hoped to show his folks that he would be the one.
The whistle blew and off they flew, like chariots of fire,
to win, to be the hero there, was each young boy’s desire.
One boy in particular, whose dad was in the crowd,
was running in the lead and thought “My dad will be so proud.”
But as he speeded down the field and crossed a shallow dip,
the little boy who thought he’d win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his arms flew everyplace,
and midst the laughter of the crowd he fell flat on his face.
As he fell, his hope fell too; he couldn’t win it now.
Humiliated, he just wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
which to the boy so clearly said, “Get up and win that race!”
He quickly rose, no damage done, behind a bit that’s all,
and ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself, to catch up and to win,
his mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.
He wished that he had quit before with only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn’t try to race.”
But through the laughing crowd he searched and found his father’s face
with a steady look that said again, “Get up and win that race!”
So he jumped up to try again, ten yards behind the last.
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought, “I’ve got to run real fast!”
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight, then ten…
but trying hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.
Defeat! He lay there silently. A tear dropped from his eye.
“There’s no sense running anymore! Three strikes I’m out! Why try?
I’ve lost, so what’s the use?” he thought. “I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he’d have to face.
“Get up,” an echo sounded low, “you haven’t lost at all,
for all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
Get up!” the echo urged him on, “Get up and take your place!
You were not meant for failure here! Get up and win that race!”
So, up he rose to run once more, refusing to forfeit,
and he resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn’t quit.
So far behind the others now, the most he’d ever been,
still he gave it all he had and ran like he could win.
Three times he’d fallen stumbling, three times he rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.
They cheered another boy who crossed the line and won first place,
head high and proud and happy — no falling, no disgrace.
But, when the fallen youngster crossed the line, in last place,
the crowd gave him a greater cheer for finishing the race.
And even though he came in last with head bowed low, unproud,
you would have thought he’d won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his dad he sadly said, “I didn’t do so well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said. “You rose each time you fell.”
And now when things seem dark and bleak and difficult to face,
the memory of that little boy helps me in my own race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win is rise each time you fall.
And when depression and despair shout loudly in my face,
another voice within me says, “Get up and win that race!”
attributed to Dr. D.H. “Dee” Groberg
thanks to bhavin for sharing.
“As soon as God (or evolution ) gave us free will , He immediately let loose the potential for human evil in the world. If there is no choice , there is no evil . If one is to have free will , then one must have the power to choose between good and evil. And one is as free to choose the evil as the good.” — The Road Less Traveled and Beyond.
“the only easiest way to quit is to start hating it.”
“The fences aren’t just around the farm. They’re up here— in your heads.” — What It Really Takes to Achieve the Impossible « Self Improvement Saga
“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.” -Lao Tzu” — Feel Good Page « Self Improvement Saga
“Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words. Keep your words positive because your words become your behaviors. Keep your behaviors positive because your behaviors become your habits. Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values. Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.” -Ghandi” — Feel Good Page « Self Improvement Saga
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” — Greatest Inspirational Quotes from People of Greatness « Self Improvement Saga
Greatest Inspirational Quotes from People of Greatness « Self Improvement Saga
“The purpose of positive thinking is not to distract you from the truth, but to refocus your attention on beautiful truths that you may often take for granted” — The Productive Art of Positive Thinking | Marc and Angel Hack Life
“Positive thinking means choosing thoughts that feel good rather than allowing outside elements to control the caliber of our thoughts.” — The Productive Art of Positive Thinking | Marc and Angel Hack Life
First Glimpse at Google Chrome OS - Google Chrome OS - Lifehacker
Went through 5 lectures of this course, http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/death.
Philosophy is simply amazing.
Even though the title of this course is “Death”, many of the initial lectures are about questioning the existence of Soul.
The most interesting part for me apart from the amazing arguments which demonstrates critical thinking, was this question: How do you prove that soul exists? and the surprising answer was, you cannot. There is just no way to prove or disprove existence of soul.
Now, imagine how curious I got, when there are lectures upon lectures in the syllabus, that are titled, “Arguments for the existence of the soul”, “Arguments for the immortality of the soul”. And the professor starts the lecture by claiming, rightly so, that there is no way to prove existence soul. Than what the f**k are these arguments for?
Than, he continued by explaining, “Inference to the best explanation”, by which, even though there is no way to prove soul, but if the soul theory can explain many unexplained phenomenon better than physicalists or other theories can, than since it is the best explanation we can infer its the correct one.
And this is how the theory of germs, wins over theory of demons. The germ theory is clearly better than the demon theory, in explaining, why do we fall sick, and allow us to treat it. Since germ theory provides the best possible explanation it is inferred as the correct one.
Wow. Simply Amazing.
Intuitively I knew that to be true of most things, including atoms and supernovas, we can’t prove most of the things, since we can’t see them, hear them, directly through our senses, but with help of science, we do believe them to be true. And why is that? “Inference to the best explanation”.
I know some of you are going, ya that obvious, ”Inference to the best explanation” seems only logical and its makes common sense, but think again, do you really respect it, or do you let your prejudices run over your better judgement.
Nevertheless, there are some incredibly amazing arguments, primarily from two perspectives, the dualists (body+soul) and physicalists (only body) in this course.
“Philosophy of Death” —
Philosophy of Death | Yale Philosophy Lecture
http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/death“Free video courses from leading universities” — Academic Earth | Online Courses | Academic Video Lectures