They Are Legends

Every once in a while, fate extends its hand to a select few in each sphere of life. It is not everyone who are fortunate enough to be given such a privilege. One must earn it through hardwork and dedication and talent too. Even amongst them, there are very few who grab that and use it to reach the pinnacle. We call them legends. Roger Federrer, Sachin Tendulkar, Madame Curie, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Frank Sinatra and the likes.

But to each success story, there are thousands of failures. Ones who lost their way, ones who lost it all due to a moment's hesitation, ones who lost it all because the going was just too tough for them and fell on the wayside to glory. There are ones who never really get a helping hand too, as the luck factor simply eludes them. There are ones who work all the way but hasnt got enough just to reach the top and the name of George Leigh Mallory and Robert Scott springs to my mind. Then there are people like Rosalind Franklin who were not recognised because of their sex or colour of skin or financial background. I read about an IAS aspirant from Kerala, coming from an extremely poor family being disqualified due to lack of physical fitness.

I am reminded of Dorando Pietri who ran an awesome race at the London 1908 Olympics Marathon. The marathon, originally ran for 42 kms, was extended a couple hundred meters to end at the royal box and to think that Pietri took 10 mins of his total time of 2h 54min 46s to cover the last 350 meters and fell down around 5 times. He was disqualified as he was helped up by umpires. Although he was given a Gilded Silver Cup by Queen Alexandra, an award proposed by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the heartbreak of being stripped off an Olympic Gold Medal will never be compensated. I remember Jan Ulrich whose worst finish in a Tour de France is 4th place and has got 5 2nd places finishes and one 3rd place, all against a certain Lance Armstrong. Unlike Armstrong, Ulrich competed in all the major races of the year, won an Olympic Gold Medal and also won the tour in 1997. A more consistent cyclist one can never find and yet all accomplishments pale in comparison with Lance Armstrongs comeback from Cancer and his tryst with the Yellow Jersey.

So, this is a tribute to them, to those who run the entire race but fall few feet short of the mark. This is to all those who work, work and work and get no results, this to those who swim upstream but the flow just keeps pushing them back. This is to those who tire against insurmountable odds, to those who commit themselves to a task only to find themselves failing due to the silliest of reasons. This is to all those who dream of making it big and try their best to get there, this is to all those who still keep going inspite of failures.

Courage is easy to embrace
when you are undisputed ace,
to keep going once falls darkness,
that measures your greatness.

They are the true legends. They are the ones who deserve respect and applause for they keep going even when there is no one to applaud for them, even appreciate their efforts.