There’s a well-known saying that is based on the famous racetrack call, “Off and running.” I have adapted the expression to fit my thinking of the week, “Off and Trying.”
Challenge me if I’m wrong, but I am of the opinion that success is more often the result of “try, try and try again.”
Now, I know, you might be like the “Roy Swift” of my high school days. Following a lot of practice that just about drove my parents out of our house, I managed to achieve a First Chair Clarinet in my high school band. What an achievement, you might say. And you would be correct. After all that hard work, I made it to First Chair. However, Roy made it to Solo Chair, the step beyond my celebrated position of First Chair in the high school band.
Actually, it is no doubt a good thing that I didn’t play on the high school football team. That makes sense since the leading running back on the team was, you may have guessed it, Roy Swift. I am sure it did not escape you that Swift was an appropriate name for the fastest player on the team! Swift, the running back indeed!
Jealous? Okay, I will admit to being jealous at the time. But, of course, those were school days, and this is now. Okay, I admit it. When I think about it, like right now, I am still jealous. After all, it has only been seventy years. That’s right, seventy years.
By the way, Roy became a successful minister. I lost track of him after that. Unfortunately!
It is quite interesting to me that some of us never grew up, so to speak. For some reason, we could not, or would not leave our jealousies behind. Did you or, better yet, have you been unable to turn your jealousy into “congratulations” and mean it?
You may recall that it was jealousy that caused a young man by the name of Cain to actually murder his brother, Abel. It would seem that times have not changed. Jealousy has become the theme of many novels, stage dramas and films over the years. Fortunately, the other side of jealousy called “grace,” has resulted in harmony and prosperity within families, workplaces and other places of growth and development.
You, yes you, have developed a love and appreciation for others who may even be in competition where you labor, study or serve others, perhaps even here in The Garden of Eads.
Thank you, Roy Swift, for the challenge. I keep trying!
A message to the men of our region: Fight Club is on the horizon. Just a few weeks away, Tuesday, September 17th. We meet at 6:30 p.m. at JJ’s Restaurant in Eads. Join us. We’re looking forward to seeing you.
