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Heard somewhere or read somewhere – can’t remember which – an insight that we should all wish that we have an experience of working tirelessly on a major project, putting in all the sweat time, giving all of ourselves into something, and then it falls apart and fails miserably.
A complete flop, a disaster that seems at the time like a personal attack on our self-worth and a colossal waste of time. A blown-up mess.
Why want this? Because it will teach us to be resilient, to pick ourselves up off the ground, no matter how bad we fail, to keep persisting no matter how low we go.
The lesson gets at that reality that we’re going to try our best sometimes and it just won’t work no matter how many different swings we take at the problem, no matter how much effort we put forth.
We just don’t succeed.
Isn’t that true that we often give a sincere all-out effort and, for any number of reasons, we don’t achieve what we were after? We don’t get the sale. We don’t get the article published. The editor doesn’t like what we wrote. We don’t get the job offer. The business just doesn’t catch on. A friend is just not into spending time with you and it’s not stated but obvious.
I’m thinking about this after watching Wake Forest lose for the third straight game to all but eliminate themselves from the March Madness tournament unless they win the ACC Tournament.
As dismaying as it was to endure last night, it’s not like they didn’t try. They fell behind early to a hot-shooting team. They could have quit. But they didn’t. In the second half, they stormed back and took the lead by one point late only to lose when a Ga. Tech player hit a shot as time elapsed. All that effort to come back and for what? Well, a loss. But imagine how much worse we would all feel had our team not shown effort to try to win the game.
It was another setback at exactly the wrong time of the season crushing their hopes of achieving something Wake Forest basketball hasn’t been able to in several years, make the Big Dance. But it’s not like they folded. They showed they have guts and forced their way back into the game after falling behind by nearly 20 in the first half.
Isn’t that something to celebrate that they didn’t quit? We should all respect basketball players – and anyone – who doesn’t quit when facing adversity.
As an undergraduate student at Wake Forest, I got a D for a final grade in an Introduction to Film class meaning I had to take the entire class again because I needed a C in any class in my major. I could have quit and not taken the class again. Sure didn’t want to but had to if I wanted to graduate. But I did and got a C the second time around.
Unimpressive grades, for sure, but in this story there is someone who didn’t just give up despite being slapped around and insulted with low grades. I got kicked around but wouldn’t stop. Wanted that diploma. Kept going while enduring emotional pain.
The Wake hoops team is getting a slew of low grades right now. They’re losing basketball games at exactly the wrong time.
None of us are happy about this because we want them to make the tournament. But you know what, if I see them being tenacious against Clemson showing me they can get knocked to the ground and stand up again and again – never to be denied in this game called life, to overcome all obstacles, that will be all I need to feel good about this team.
Just keep playing with moxie and energy, you guys, all the way through as far as you go in the ACC Tournament and all of us Wake Forest fans will be impressed by who you are as human beings which is far more important than winning basketball games.
These players are going to get beaten down over and over during their lies. They will lose and lose and lose some more.
But if they keep picking themselves off the ground and continue to strive – no matter what happens to them, regardless of the difficulties of which there will be many – they’ll ultimately be winners.
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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