Extraordinary People

By his own admission he was just an ordinary guy. By my assessment his follow-on statement made him anything but. He used to say, ‘I’m just an ordinary guy who knows that there are no ordinary moments.’

I find this combination of wisdom and humility extraordinary. I also find it useful in many ways. 

I will tell you the same story (that the crow told me) that I offered to this morning’s spin class. I was on the theme of individual responsibility and community opportunity as, of course, they relate to our protocol du jour, a testy little character-builder known as the BTA8, the better than average eights. I remind them that somewhere in there you will each have the opportunity to address your current understanding of the delicate relationship you hold with you as you now and the potential of the you after. One must, I believe, address this moving target on a regular basis. Each of us, as the standard disclaimer requires and the groove-zone directs, must come to terms with the physiological fact that improvement will only follow on the heels of effort above and beyond one’s current comfort zone default value. Or, more colloquially, give till it hurts. 

There is some argument here, as every athlete and artist knows, an internal conversation, very binary at first, but with practice and consistent effort it starts to display the palette-wheel of colorful, artistic personalization, and with perseverance and vision, can, will, end up as a fine piece of art. That vital dialogue usually goes something like this:

DARKNESS

You aren’t nearly strong enough, young enough, rich enough 

or beautiful enough to do this. Stop fooling around, quit now and

let’s go get a pizza and watch some TV on the big screen.

LIGHT

No, you are very mistaken, I can do this. I will do this.

DARKNESS

Right. Take a look around, see that guy going twice as fast? See

those girls over there kicking serious butt? You are fat, slow and old.

You shouldn’t be doing this stuff at your age. Back off, you might get hurt.

LIGHT

Back off yourself bitch. Get outta my head, you lose, I will not give in,

slow down or give anything less than my absolute best effort. 

DARKNESS

Yeah, I’ve heard that before. 

LIGHT

Watch and see loser. 

DARKNESS

Sure, good luck, I’ll be right here when you crash. We can have a beer. 

We all have variations on this theme. The trick, the discipline, the growth is in converting Mr Darkness into Mr Light and moving every day a little closer to the completion of the masterpiece that you began so long ago. Or last week. Keep painting, keep building, keep spinning, keep supporting others. 

The story unfolds as I enter the kitchen after our early morning weight session. Junior is upstairs showering and I see a pamphlet on the counter. It is a recap of donations, contributions to help support our high school and especially kids therein facing difficult financial situations. 

My moment of light, my pride in community and restoration of faith in my small sphere of influence, was in thumbing through page after page of people who made a philanthropic sponsorship donation to the future of our kids. I was so proud that I knew so many of them.

Extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.