Never Give Up... - A Story

[Guest guest]

Never Give Up...

While in school, a young boy, all of 10, and with no athletic background, once

decided to participate in a 1,500-meter race. The competition was open to all

ages but was considered the exclusive domain of only well-built, strong, and

athletic, 15-16 year olds. Yet, with a firm determination, he participated in

the preliminary selection rounds. As good fortune would have it, most children

gave up at the very thought of running such a long race in the audience of

thousands of spectators; those that participated in the preliminaries, gave up

halfway and were not selected. Finally, 7 boys were selected, with the youngest

being 10--a record in the school's history. The excitement of participating in a

sports competition for the first time was too much for the boy to handle.

Without an athletic background or a coach, he did not even consider preparing

for the event. All that mattered was running the race.

The annual sports meet finally arrived. He woke-up early that morning, hurriedly

polished his best shoes, and arrived at the stadium hours before the crowds.

Finally, the event began. The guest of honor was a national-level athlete with

a great reputation in the sports circuit. The day was marked by a remarkable

display of sportsmanship as children of all ages performed to the best of their

abilities.

At last, it was time for the grand finale, the moment he had been waiting for.

An announcement was made for all participants of the open race to come on the

grounds. The boy ran to the grounds with great excitement--which was soon

transformed into fear at the sight of his competitors. At 31/2 feet, he was so

short that he could barely reach the trunk of the remaining 6 runners--twice

his size. The gunshot was fired, giving the signal for the race to begin. The

start was very good, but the taller competitors soon outpaced the boy, leaving

him far behind. 3 of the remaining 6 runners gave up mid-way and did not finish

the race. The boy soon found himself alone on the ground as the remaining 3

athletes had completed their run, while he was still halfway. Blood gushed

through his cheeks; he was last--and very disappointed. That didn't matter,

though; all that mattered was completing the race and finishing what had been

started.

The crowd was amazed at the determination of the young athlete. The stadium was

roaring in a thunderous applause and all he could hear was everyone screaming

his name. Classmates, parents, teachers, everyone arose in excitement. He

couldn't understand why the crowd was cheering and applauding someone who had

lost the race. It was beyond his powers of comprehension. The race continued.

The last few laps were the hardest as his feet refused to move. During the

race, he was asked several times if he would like to give up. Pat, came the

answer, "No. I can do it." At last, he crossed the finish point and collapsed.

Ah, the ordeal was over. All of a sudden, he found crowds rushing to

congratulate him. The winners were standing in one corner, being totally

ignored, while someone who had failed to score was an overnight hero. He

ignored all the accolades and rushed to his mother who was eagerly waiting for

him in the corner of the stadium. "Mom," he said, "I am sorry, I let you down.

I couldn't win the race. I will never participate in one again." The kind

mother hugged him and replied, "You won, my son." He scratched his head,

failing to understand the import of everyone's encouragement, as he was so

strongly conditioned, like most of us, to only the words "winner" and "loser."

As the prizes were being given out, the boy's name was called out, and to his

surprise, was given a special gold medal. Wow a gold medal for finishing last.

He thought, "Everyone must be crazy." This was his first medal, though, and he

treasured the coin on his neck with extreme excitement. The guest of honor

delivered his concluding remarks and called on the boy to be an example for

others to follow. A new trend had now started in school. Runners were now

encouraged to participate at a much younger age and compete with bigger and

stronger opponents. What mattered was the spirit of participating, not the

result.

Now, 19 years later, at 29, I find myself running so many races simultaneously.

Some, very tough ones, as life has its own way of throwing hurdles on, an

otherwise smooth racetrack. I now understand the reason for being appreciated

earlier--even in the face of the so called defeat. The only lesson I learnt

that day was to never give up in life.

In the race of life, the ones asking us to give up are the demons in the form of

temptations, desires, and troubles. They will repeatedly ask you to give up.

Your answer should always be, NO. The cheering crowds are like our relatives

and well wishers; they can wish us well, but cannot run the race for us. God is

like the kind mother in the stadium. He cheers, helps, and runs with little ones

like you and me, for he knows that ones of great merit and superior qualities

will surely finish the race. They will surely win the medals of life, the

treasures of wisdom, but it is little children like you and me, that need his

cheering and help to finish the race. All that is wanted is that we keep being

persistent on the spiritual path. Being little children, we will make mistakes,

we will fail, we will fall. But we will rise again with his help and keep

marching toward the goal of self realization. Sai Maa is like the kind mother.

She doesn't judge us based on our standards of "winning" and "losing," or

"right" and "wrong," or "sin" and "merit." Her love accepts even our smallest

attempts as great steps toward victory. And mind you, there is a very special

gold medal awaiting all of us--his grace (which will see us through this race

of life and lead us to the ultimate goal). Brothers and sisters, don't ever

give up in life. Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.

[Guest guest]

Dear Sai brother,

Thank you very much for posting this wonderful motivating story.

Sai Ram,

Bindu

 

 

 

Nimish Thakkar [nimish]

Friday, August 27, 2004 10:29 AM

[saibabanews] Never Give Up... - A Story

 

Never Give Up...

[Guest guest]

Dear Bro Nimish,

Wonderful inspiring story...

Thanks,

Sairam,

Prasanna

On Fri, 27 Aug 2004 Nimish Thakkar wrote :

>Never Give Up...