Every Once In A While Blog

Here’s an interesting human interest story: Gebrselassie apologises to Tergat for breaking record .

Gebrselassie, after breaking the world marathon record, apologized to long time friend and rival Paul Tergat who held the record before Gebrselassie’s win. Tergat called to congratulate him and got an "I’m sorry" response instead. Very curious indeed.

I’m not that much into sports, but this Gebrselassie’s reaction to his win is, I’m quite sure, not typical of sportsmen. I really wonder why he reacted the way he did. As some very well know, humility and inferiority can often be confused. Was Gebrselassie humble or inferior?

More than that, if he was humble, he would "count all height of honor as nothing" (Thomas a Kempis). If he was genuinely feeling inferior he would have said, "I don’t deserve it". But he said "I’m sorry" to his friend? Virtue or Insecurity? Somehow I feel I can relate to this.

However, one thing that occurred to me was how his pursuit (and his achievement)  didn’t get in the way of his friendship. "Hi, Paul, I’m sorry. You can come here and try to get
it back again next year." "Paul is my friend." And it was reported that Paul Tergat would have none of it, telling Gebrselassie he was
delighted for him. Touching.

I love quotes like the ones below. I simply love them. What many (including myself) would take pages to write about, these people could in a few words.

"Although potential leaders are born, effective leaders are made" - Bennie E. Goodwin

"Be not afraid of greatness! Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them" - Shakespeare

"You see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were, and ask ‘Why not?’ - George Bernard Shaw

"Strong people always have strong weaknesses too" - Peter Drucker

"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" - Alfred Lord Tennyson

"We all share in the glory and tragedy of being human"
- John Stott

Luciano Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer. He was 71. Even the King of the High ‘C’s dies. No one is spared. No one. I never gave much thought to it, but when I heard the great Pavarotti is dead, I couldn’t believe it. Not that I really loved the guy, but I in a sense took his life for granted. He was famous, rich, with a glorious voice…yet he dies. I don’t know how else to explain it but this famous man who captured the hearts and attention of so many stopped living. His lifeless body is somewhere, but his life i gone. His flame snuffed out.
    I’m reminded of the brevity of human life. The fragility of human life. "10 out of 10 die". That’s the ultimate statistic. The truth. It’s, in a way, correct to say that we’re all dying. "Every heartbeat is the the drumbeat to your own funeral march" I recall someone saying.
    With death comes a torrent of important questions. Afterlife? Heaven? Hell? God or no God? Legacy? etc. It’s good to think about such things, gloomy as it may be. Cause I think these times are moments of clarity where we realize what matters and what doesn’t. What’s the real and what’s not. Better seize such moments before we slip back into our own subjective realities.