Wednesday, 10 April 2013

10 April 2013 ~ TREES; TENACITY, PERSISTENCE, GROWTH

10 April 2013 ~ TREES; TENACITY, PERSISTENCE, GROWTH


I have come to take great joy in the simplest of things; trees.  I love their tenacity to grow in to these big, strong entities.  As a boy I took pleasure in climbing them and as a man I take pleasure in their majestic, symmetric stance. 
When travelling (on the ground) I am always fascinated by them; whether huddled together in woods, groves and forests or when proudly standing in the middle of a field where their exuberance stands, solitarily, for all to see.
A lot can be learned from trees.  For example, in order to grow so tall, broad and strong, it takes a great deal of work that is not seen by the eye; underground is a root system that ensures the stability of its future growth.  They have to dig down deep and secure themselves whilst striving to reach for the sky.  Another example is the fruit they bear.  If you want the fruit of the tree you have to move away from the stability of the strong, secure trunk of the tree to get it.  The lesson learned?  To enjoy some of the fruits of life, you will have to go out on a limb in order to get them. 
Mother Nature, it seems, is always trying to tell us things.  I am not sure what her message is regarding her persistent insistence to ‘torture’ us all with this ongoing and seemingly never ending winter that is ever present here in Ontario, Canada.  Perhaps she is teaching us about persistence itself; from acorns, do mighty oak trees grow.
Regarding persistence; I have often found it difficult to make (or take) the time to write the two blogs a month that I committed to when I started going public with my writings last year in May of 2012.  Now, as I look back over the year, I am quite proud of myself for my own tenacity.  It is that tenacity which has afforded me the persistence to actually do it.
Looking back, I have done what I said I would do.  Looking forward, I am not going to commit to doing the same for the following twelve months.  Why?  I truly am far busier than I ever thought I would be.  I have had the good fortune, over the past year, to enjoy travel, teaching, speaking engagements and the ability to commute downstairs to my home office and work on many projects for clients, in the aviation industry; a lucky man by all accounts.
My tenacity for work has led me down a path I did not expect; a tremendous work-load that requires more of my time than I had initially wanted or expected.  Just as a tree is symmetrically balanced, I need to work on having balance in my life.  Ahead, I see a lot of travel and busier times.  It is for that reason I will not make the same commitment for the coming year.  I still hope to write, but I will not commit to two blogs being published every month.  I don’t even know if this stuff gets read!  Well, that’s not strictly true; I am astounded that people all over the world are reading this dribble.
The tree is patient in its growth and I, too, have to be patient in my quest to be able to write for a living.  Though it may not happen, it will always be my dream and I will never give up on it. 
Just as a strong wind will take down a tree if it has not got sufficient roots underfoot in its foundation, so it is for me; my foundations for a better life require self-discipline, focus on the task in-hand and most importantly it requires balance.  I cannot allow the winds of change to blow me off course or, worse still, blow me over so that I lie on the ground with my inadequate roots exposing my lack of stability for my own future personal and professional growth.  
Growth takes time and patience; and it would appear that getting through this winter requires the same!
 

Friday, 5 April 2013

6 April 2013 ~ CHAMPION, ALDINITI; LIFE






It was thirty-two years ago on Saturday, 6 April 2013, that a gentleman by the name of Bob Champion (incredibly apropos last name) won the Grand National on a marvellous horse named Aldiniti.  The race actually took place on Saturday, 4 April 1981, at Aintree racecourse in my old hometown of Liverpool. 

First, I want to briefly talk about the time before the race with a few things of note here…
  • Bob Champion had been diagnosed with cancer and went through chemotherapy and recovered.
  • Aldiniti spent six months in his stable with a plaster cast on his leg because of injury; a vet had even recommended he be humanely put to sleep because he would probably never race again.
  • The Grand National is a gruelling race in which horse and jockey have to jump over thirty fences, some of them brutal, on a circuit that runs just longer than four miles; a true test of stamina, courage and focus.

They even made a movie; it is called ‘Champions’.  A great name for a movie because horse and jockey were both champions of the highest calibre.

In April of 1984 a young man took a young lady on a date.  It was their first date.  They went to the movies.  They watched a movie called Champions.  They already knew, within their own hearts, that they were in love with each other and had to find their way through the clumsiness of youth to share how they felt.  They failed.  They broke up for about twelve months before he had the courage to ask her out once again.  He had to get over the death of someone he already loved and would never come back.  She felt that she could not compete with a woman who was already dead.  Such is life (and death); complicated, confusing, complex.

I was that young man.  That young lady was, and is, my lovely bride of over twenty-six years.  I cannot speak for my wife, but that movie touched me in a way I had never been touched.  It showed me, for the first time in my young life, how to face adversity.  In this movie I was watching Bob Champion go through what we all wish to avoid; cancer, and the treatment.  He went through that treatment, whilst a horse that could have been put down was trapped, literally, in a box for half a year.  And they both stuck with it and came through.  But here’s the thing; they not only came through, but they went on to win one of the most famous horse races in the world.  There is not a single horse-racing fan that has not heard of the Grand National, I would wager!

You can pay good money to go and listen to a voice of value at a seminar (and there is nothing wrong with that) to find inspiration for ones’ self.  Or you can spend about $10.00 on Amazon and buy this movie.  Not only is the movie a wonderfully up-lifting true story, but the musical score is an almost eclectic mix of James Horner’s work on Titanic and the work of Vangelis with Chariots of Fire.  The music is simply uplifting as a stand-alone item; but combined with the story in this movie it is elevated way beyond that.

I cannot be certain, but this movie may be the reason that I have the life I enjoy today.  It showed me how to have courage even when unsure and afraid.  It showed me that we all have our road-blocks in life and that we have to work around them or plow through them; you decide.  It showed me to never give in; I believe that one of my mentors, Sir Winston Churchill, said the very same thing during the adversity of World War Two.  It showed me that just when you think it is over; done and dusted, it is not because you get yourself up and you dust yourself down and by the Lord God Almighty you move forward and you go on. 

Onwards and upwards!