Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Audacity Of Hope

There was once a fifteen year old boy who dreamt of becoming a basketball player. His friends and family were in full support of his ambition. But, I guess, his fate didn’t support him. On the eve of his school’s basketball match, he was kicked out of the team by his coach because he wasn’t tall enough.

All the other players were 6 feet or taller. He was 5’10. That left him heart-broken. He felt angry, at himself, and at life, for having treated him so badly. He had practiced regularly for months. He had worked hard. He had sweated it out. He deserved to get a chance to play. But life wasn’t fair to him, like it isn’t for most of us. The faith inside him was shaken. But he hung on to his ambition. He clung on to hope. A hope, that someday he would be the basketball star he wished to be.

During the summer after his sophomore year, he trained rigorously. He grew four inches during that time. The next year he was selected in the team. After two years he earned the basketball scholarship at a celebrated university. He led his college basketball team and won them all the games. He was named player of the year. He won many awards and titles during his college basketball career. Later, he went on to become the greatest basketball player of all time. He is none other than Michael Jordan.

Had he not hung on, we would have missed seeing a legend. Had he given up after failing, he would probably be working at a local coffee shop today. Had he lost hope, he wouldn’t have become the star he wanted to be. This, is the audacity of hope.

You will fall down. You will get hurt. There will be times when you’ll feel empty, hollow. Then, the easiest choice will be to give up. But you must hang on. You must not quit. When all is lost, there is one thing to support you: Hope. It takes a lot of courage, yes, to hold on when the times are dark. But you can do it. Everyone can. You just need to tell yourself that everything will be alright soon. Then it most certainly will be. It is said that the darkest hour of the night comes just before dawn. I couldn’t agree more. When you're at your lowest point, when all seems lost, have hope, because things can only get better from there on.  When things are extremely bad, it may signal that they are about to get much better.You always see things at their worst just before things get better. Life is like a rollercoaster, you're down one minute and up the next. Just stay strong because peaks always follow troughs.


“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”- Michael Jordan 

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