Half Way There

Today marks my 183rd posting. 

I started this blog on the 3^rd of June, this year. I had made a personal commitment to do a post every day for a year, even when I knew it’d be difficult to keep up with a daily routine, I still wanted to make it significant in an effort sort of way. Since then over eighty thousand words have been used by me to express thoughts and feelings with being in this world. I was thinking on the personal promise; after which I’ve no clear goal.  So the idea of reaching the half way mark spurred up other occasions from my past; mostly with running distances.  In the Army we were required to take a physical fitness test two times a year. Part of that test included a two mile run.  The track was well marked so we could pace our progress to obtain the very best time that would then be translated into points and those points accumulated in order to assess if we would ‘pass’ the test or be assigned additional instructions (after hour physical training).  When I was younger I would laugh at the necessity of testing so often; I felt it was a waste of everybody’s time.  As I grew older I learned the wisdom in keeping the older sedentary solders oriented to the continued importance of their fitness.  If there wasn’t a test they’d postpone the necessity for exercise for other pressing demands. 

   OK, so that’s swell for a career in the military, but how is that useful now? Because of the practice of reaching the half-way mark.  It serves as a measure of accomplishment; where the hardest part was now behind us, we were on the homeward journey.  Over and over this manner of evaluating progress proved useful when I was struggling with a demanding long investment of effort.  Half way there meant that I could tap my reserves since I was over the major milestone towards my goal.

Recently I’ve observed another aspect of the race, and that would be the nature of obstacles.  When I was younger it was common to quit at the first sign of resistance against my progress.  I’d change course, or just change goals, but I wasn’t seasoned in the way of effort to notice that failure served a great motivator as well as opportunity.  I’d not waste time reciting all the examples we have of people overcoming adversity to become more than what they were before the affliction.  The one that comes to mind is Christopher Reeve, an actor best known for his role as  Superman.  

His career was glimmering as he was in demand for many films.  One weekend while out horseback riding, a fall changed all that.  He was paralyzed from the neck down.  I was never a great fan of his acting but I became a fan of Christopher Reeve who, from that debilitating accident, became the flesh and blood spokes person for all handicapped people in America.  He became the light of hope, the spirit of positive attitude, the living example of victory over adversity.  

What would have become of Chris if he had given up after the accident?  He had enough money accumulated he could have spent his remaining days staring out at the sunset into the Pacific Ocean without a care in the world…beyond perhaps a hovering pall of feeling useless.  But he didn’t choose that and instead rallied to take on life for the next round; just as so many maimed and horrifically disfigured warriors do from war.  I am humbled by that spirit of living well.  And in reading about the struggle, the dark moments of self pity and surrender to limiting obstacles there remained one quintessential truth in all of these heroic efforts. 

They accepted life on the terms it was presented to them. They took stock and cherished the opportunity to keep on fighting.  In those times of self doubt and seemingly insurmountable odds the story tells out pretty much the same way.  They recognized that in their struggle to prevail…they were only half way there.