By Robert Clements
Struggle and Win in the End…!
And as I saw the sad faces of the Indian team yesterday, I wanted to shout across, “Hold tight to your dreams and climb the mountain again.
Very often at parties, I hear someone telling me, “Bob, I also dreamt of being a writer!”
“Oh!” I exclaim politely, “Then what happened?”
“People dissuaded me from being one!” they say dolefully.
“And you stopped dreaming?” I ask.
“Yes!” they whisper.
Ah well it’s a tale that’s often told to me, and it’s often that we don’t hold too tight to our dream!
The story of a man who held tight to his dream is that of Sylvester Stallone, one of the biggest and most famous American movie superstars. Stallone was a struggling actor in every definition. He slept at the New York bus station for 3 days. Unable to pay rent or afford food, his lowest point came when he tried to sell his dog as he didn’t have money to feed the dog anymore. He sold it at $25 only. He says he walked away crying.
Two weeks later, he saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that match gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie, ROCKY. He wrote the script for 20 hours! He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script.
But his dream was to be an actor, and he had only one request, he wanted to star in the movie. But the studio said no, as they wanted a real star. He left with his script. A few weeks later, the studio offered him $250,000 for the script. He refused. They even offered $350,000. He still refused.
After a while, the studio agreed to give him $35,000 for the script and let him star in it! The rest is history! The movie won Best Picture, Best Directing and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for Best Actor! The Movie ROCKY was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever!
Today, the same Stallone who slept in the streets and sold his dog, is one of the greatest movie stars! Have you ever had a dream? A wonderful dream? But you are too broke to implement it? Too tiny to do it? Too small to accomplish it?
Life is tough. It’s a tough world. Maybe rough. Doors will be shut on You. People will steal your glory and crash your hopes. You will push and push. And then your hopes will crash.
But never let anybody crush your dream. Hold tight to your dream! Fight on! Fight for your place in history, it’s waiting for you!
Most often it’s adversity that helps build muscle to accomplish such dreams.
I remember well the story of a young man who asked a holy man to pray that he would have more perseverance. The holy man got on his knees and began, “Lord ,send this young man problems in the afternoon, send this young man adversity in the evening, send this young man…”
“Stop!” shouted the young fellow, “I didn’t ask you to pray for problems and adversity, I asked you to pray for more persistence.”
“Ah,” responded the holy man, “It’s through adversity that you learn perseverance..!”
We in India saw this happening at the Olympics some years ago with J.J. Shobha, the athlete from Hyderabad. Shobha ran with an injury.
Spectators cheered as they saw her surging forward, grimacing with pain from her torn ligament, they cheered as she gritted her teeth and slowly, steadily inched past her competitors….”I was shocked,” said one of the others on the track, “to see her striding past me.” But Shobha put her heart into that race and finished third!
Nobody is ever going to forget the gutsy, gritty girl. She taught the world that injury, problems and adversity could spur one on to success.
Yet, we pray for wonder drugs to help us win battles. We pray for easy solutions where we won’t have to put too much effort or muscle. “Take away the mountain in front of us God!” we shout.
“Climb over it my child,” He whispers.
“I can’t.”
“You can!”
“My feet hurt, my legs ache!”
“Climb,” says the Lord, “climb..!”
There is this romantic story of the father and mother of Thomas Becket: Gilbert Becket, Thomas’s father, made a trip to the Holy Land and was taken prisoner by a Saracen who had a lovely daughter. She fell in love with Gilbert and told him she wanted to marry him. He returned her love until he found an opportunity to escape with his servant Richard. When he returned to England he forgot the Saracen girl.
But she had not forgotten Gilbert!
She left the safety of her father’s home and in disguise made her way to the coast. She had learnt two English words; “London” and “Gilbert.” With these two words she went among the ships, saying again and again, the same word, “London,” Sailors being sailors tried to tease her, molest her and even rape her, but she fought them off and went from ship to ship till she found one bound for London. She paid for her passage with some jewels and arrived in London.
As Gilbert Becket sat in his office one day, Richard, his servant came running in, “Master! The Saracen woman is here. She is going up and down the street, calling out, “Gilbert! Gilbert!’
Gilbert hurried out to find her. When she saw him she fainted in his arms. Soon after they were married and lived happily ever after.
“Take away the mountain in front of us!” we shout.
“Climb over it my child,” He whispers.
And that’s the mountain that our team faces today. The mountain of defeat. But if they hold tight to their dream and climb past this mountain, then they will not just win the next world cup, but show millions of our youth how to struggle but still win in the end…!
The Author conducts an Online Writers and Speakers Course. For more details send a thumbs-up to him on WhatsApp 9892572883. [email protected]