Since school days, I have read lots of poems in textbooks in different languages — English, Hindi & Marathi. Not being a fan of any kind of literature, I never took poems seriously.
Every poem learnt occupied my memory for that particular semester only. Here’s one memory of a poem which stayed with me till today & will stay forever.
The poem called “The Race” by Dr. D. H. “Dee” Groberg. It is an inspiring story in itself. A running race is organized among children with their parents cheering for them.
With a hope for winning & excitement, the children took their positions. When the whistle was blown the runners sped up like an out breaking fire.
And then, their was a boy, the main character of our story who was running with a hope to win it & make his dad proud who was cheering for him in the crowd.
Unfortunately, after some yards, the boy slipped & fell on the ground. He tried hard to regain his balance but to no use. Only you can understand the kind of embarrassment you go through, in front of a large crowd watching you fall. He not only lost his confidence but also his hope, determination & desire to win was destroyed.
His father refused to give up on him & strongly encouraged him to bonce back & run. This gave the boy little confidence. He stood up & set out for his run to win.
Unable to sync mind with his body, he slipped & fell again. It is not necessary that everyone will react to this boy’s fall in the same way. Some will sympathize, some will encourage like his father did & sadly some will even laugh as they find the scene dramatically hilarious.
The boy could hear the laughs & wished he backed out the last time. Once again, his father’s told him to get up & run. Not wanting to give up, he rose again & started running.
He fell for the third time while trying real hard to gain back his strength & catch up with others who had left him far behind. He wondered what’s the use of running when the first position was already claimed & the crowd was applauding the winner. While he was about to give up, knowing his father would not want him to give up, he decided to rise again & at least cross the finishing line. He ran & finished the race. The entire crowd was cheering for this boy who fell thrice, yet didn’t give up & chose to run & gave it all he could.
The story narrated in the poem says, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, it doesn’t make you a loser. It’s your spirit to rise each time you fall that makes you the winner.
Never think about whether you came 1st, 2nd, 3rd or last. But think “Did I give my very best?”. And if the answer is yes, then you are already a winner.
