I was watching TV last night and there was special on ESPN about Jimmy Valvano. I’ve known who this man was for years and I’ve seen his famous ESPY speech numerous times but every time I hear it I can’t help but think about courage.
Courage is defined as the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. See also, Jimmy Valvano. For those of you who don’t know about Jimmy V, he was a legendary basketball coach who died from bone cancer in 1993. He lived his life stressing the importance of hope, love and persistence and is most well known for his famous quotation, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”
Jimmy V had courage. He had courage despite the tumors that had ravaged his body. He had courage when he led his 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpack basketball team to the NCAA championship and won against the odds. He had courage when he got up in front of the entire sports community and gave a speech at the 1993 ESPY Awards that would live on forever even if 8 weeks later, Valano proved his own mortality. Jimmy V had courage.
Later on in the night, Valano’s speech was still swirling around in my head. As I pictured him at that awards podium giving his speech, I once again contemplated courage. Did I have any? If so would I have enough to really do what I had to do?
The truth is I have a decision to make. A big decision and I have just felt completely torn over it. With every decision we make in life, there are risks and rewards. When it comes to the choice I have to make, whichever action I choose to take, the risk and the reward are both extremely great. I could be active and by doing so I run the risk of losing something that is very special to me but on the other hand, the reward could be something I have always wanted. The other road I could go down leads me to a more passive place. By this I mean I do nothing. The risk of this is that I will continue to internalize everything and maybe regret it one day. The reward is that everything will remain is exactly as it is.
I’ve listened to other people’s advice and opinions, I’ve looked for signs as to what to do, and I’ve tried to find answers in books and movies but the inevitable conclusion I have come to is that there is no clear cut answer for my question. I think deep down inside I know exactly what I have to do, I just don’t know if I have the courage to really do it. It is easy for me to get all pumped up about accomplishing things and taking risks to have incredible experiences but this decision cuts way deeper than any item that I can check off a bucket list.
So I go back to Jimmy Valano who said, “Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.” Jimmy V had courage when facing his killer. All I have to do is pick a road. There’s got to be some courage inside me somewhere, let’s just hope I can find it.
“To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that’s a full day. That’s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you’re going to have something special.” – Jimmy Valvano
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