There are wisdom in the ongoing London Olympics 2012. My focus here is on the world fastest man- Usain Bolt. I love stories of greatness. Most especially how many great men and women don't usually start out promising. The Jamaican born fastest man in the world today was reported to be a hyperactive child while growing up. As a child, Usain Bolt was taken to the doctor for diagnoses. Thank God for that Jamaican doctor who did not medicate Usain into slow-motion! The story would have been different today. Considering the case in his hands, the doctor ensured that Usain Bolt's psyche was not dented. That was how we got the fastest male runner in the 100M at the London 2012 Olympics.
I am flashing back to one critical moments in the world history because a doctor handled his medical practice with wisdom. Many medical decision don't always go that "right". Usain went out of that doctor's office to become a thunderbolt in tracks and fields of the world's sport because of one doctor's decision! Today, Jamaica as a nation can boast of producing the fastest male-runner in the world!
The question is how and when is history made? The answer? Everyday! Every moment! Everywhere! Every time! Your small and big decisions make history. In parts and pieces, we all make history. We are all writing history per second. The actions we take, our inactions, all contribute towards history. Your one minute reaction can make history. My choice to write this piece is part of history. Your choice to read it, is part of history. As difficult as it can sound, history are only understood in hindsight. Before they are ever made, history remain a mystery, unclear.
However, we can avoid certain negative incidents from going down in history. For example, history has proven how some human assumptions, judgement, criticisms or conclusion end up quite wrong. For Usain, he was assumed to be hyperactive. Behold! His hyperactivity end up justifiable! Your hyperactive child of today may be another Usain Bolt in the making. That child may have been designed for something special like Bolt. Usually such level of greatness are hidden from all of us, until the divinely set time ticked!
This is why i caution that we all strive not to break the spirit of any child. It is dangerous in the name of discipline or correction to break people. Don’t try to contain them. Our individual personalities are all designed differently. Our makeups are based on what our life purpose(s) are meant to be. You don’t know whether or not, you are nursing, teaching, treating, serving, parenting, coaching, feeding, the next Usain Bolt. So, beware how you quickly react. If you break a child down into what you can “manage” and “contain”; you have lost that child! Several people have killed the greatness that was in the brooding stage around them, under their roof, in their very homes!
Out of ignorance, due to wrong culture, out of parochial viewpoints and sometimes envy, some people have lost what would have catapult them into greatness of a lifetime! You never know what is hidden in any child. That is why it is important to stop the western doctors from medicating children into disability. Just because the teachers cannot contain this child does not mean the child has a problem.
I am neither a Pediatrician, nor a child-psychologist; but i believe it is time to start talking about these things. Let us stop the western teachers from sending hyperactive kids to special needs schools, or special learning classes. Do not cull any child into special learning group just because you cannot understand them or handle them. Those children are your challenge to push the limits. They are your life-tests of tolerance. They are your assignment to be figured out. It is time for the world to learn from the Olympics by picking life lessons that are applicable to what we see around us daily.
Looking beyond the childhood of Usain to his present victories, we saw a man who won the gold medal in the 100M race for men. He just did it again you will say?! A quick evaluation of his success showed us something worth noting; that his private world was not "normal". Such level of achievement was attained through hard-work, goal setting, a sense of purpose, endless rigorous practices, a regimented life of discipline that is full of sacrifice.
There were days of injuries when pain would have to be endured. Yes! We watched him play and celebrate in the public, but his hidden life was spent preparing over and over. Surprisingly, Usain did not like to take himself too seriously but he never underrate the place of hard-work, passion, purpose and preparation. He maximized life principles to get to his dreams. His relationships were carefully chosen. He was loyal to his old Jamaican coach even when he made it big! He remained humble in victories.
Through this fastest runner of all time, i strongly believe that life is teaching us many things.
Some of those life-lessons are: just anybody can achieve greatness irrespective of where they are coming from. You don't have to be born with a silver-spoon. You don't have to be born with a supernatural hallow on your head like Jesus Christ. All you need is understand important principles of life. Such as: setting goals, working at them. And once you have achieved those goals, set bigger goals! Be hungry for greatness. Usain Bolt is thirsty for more! He want to be a legend! It is not bad. Avoid settling for small, ordinary life of nothingness. Even,those who live in Nottingham don't settle for nothing!
The fastest man in the 100M of 1996 Olympics was Michael Johnson. According to him, he retired because he ran out of goals! Once he set goals and achieved all; he stopped! Alas! His early retirement was defined by what he could see. Although, he has achieved much; the danger is in running out of goals! So the question is what are your goals? How many are they? What are you seeing? How far are you looking? Are you still gazing into the future? What are your dreams? Do you think you have set enough goals? Are the goal-bars too low? Can you reset them? What can you still add to the list? Where is your book of vision?
Beyond dreaming big, the place of execution is very vital. It is the most important. It is the great gulf that separates us all. It is the gap between failures and success. The margin is not race, discrimination or injustice. It is execution! Bolt could not be stopped from winning. Nobody can stop you! You are the maker of your own destiny! If you can remind yourself that the cutoff point is not what the teacher/lecturer wrote on your scripts; rather it is the implementation of your dreams and vision! Can you work it out? Can you log in those hour? Can you withstand the pressure? Will you keep moving even when no prize is in sight for you? Can you take the lonely journey until the goal is achieved?
There were days Usain and his coach were alone on the track, just pushing at it. There were days they had no one to affirm them. There were days nobody clicked "like" on their Facebook pictures. There were days no one viewed their profiles/status on new social media. If they had stopped because they had no fans, they would not have made history. But they stuck at it. They hung in there. Until that great moment came when everybody wants to be associated with them. "Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).
Usain's story taught us how and why we need to become determined...to be resolute about winning in our own field of endeavor! Especially because it is possible! Winning becomes normal when you see mortal men and women like you doing it. All we have to do is strive for it. Run to win. Work towards it. Achieve that goal. Do whatever it takes! Once you have set your hearts to do it, just do it! Usain's life-goal is to become a legend in tracks and fields. His preparation took him as far as practicing for eleven months in one year! Can you imagine that? I am sure that many of us love to play. How would you quantify and qualify your time with respect to how Usain spend his time? Considering such level of inputs, you can see where success stories emerge from? You can see the single gulf that separates us. It is not racism, it is not discrimination, it is not injustice. It is execution!
