Undefeated

One morning I was sharing a cup of coffee and a fried egg sandwich with my daughter, Jennifer, at her house. We were conversing, as we often do while, watching her son, Micah, busy himself with toys and activities. On this particular morning Micah had decided to see what else was inside his toy box. With his eyes on the goal, he moved swiftly across the floor by employing a commando style low-profile crawl.  

When he reached the toy box and found it to be much taller up close, he didn’t stop. Unable to reach the top from the floor, Micah pushed himself up on his knees and reached up with one hand and steadied himself for the next move. Then he brought his other hand to the top and grabbed on tight.  That was all well and good, but what he did next was the most impressive.

As this little boy pulled himself up, he grunted and growled, summoning all his strength. “He’s pulling from within,” Jennifer said. Pulling from within – I immediately loved the phrase and wrote it down.

As I rolled it around, I was reminded of a story my Dad told me. One wet spring he and Mom were visiting my sister and her husband in central Wisconsin. In the field across the township road, a tractor had become stuck in the mud. Soon, a larger tractor was brought in to assist. Soon that tractor became mired as well.

My sister, although not Amish herself, (not that there’s anything wrong with that) has many neighbors who are.  One of the neighbors, hearing of the sticky situation, brought his Percheron horses over to help. As Dad told the story, the team was hitched to the first tractor and waited for the signal from their master. With just a few words of encouragement and direction, the team leaned into their traces and pulled one tractor out and then another.

No tractor or machine has anything beyond its measured horsepower to give, but a living, breathing creature can always reach down within to find a bit more to pull themselves up and out.

The political elections are over for this year, and barring any recounts, almost everyone knows whether they or their candidate won or lost.  I am writing this on the Saturday before the election, and although I can’t predict the results, I know for certainty there will be winners and losers. That’s the way these things work.

Most of us have heard the phrase, may the best man win. That’s a hope, a desire – not a guarantee of results. I don’t pretend to be Zig Ziglar or even Matt Foley, but I offer my condolences and encouragement to those who have lost the election.

The real test after facing any disappointment, whether its love lost, being passed over for a job or losing a race, is to find the invisible inner strength and pull yourself up; to persevere. Speaking from experience, I can tell you that life does indeed go on and that losing does not mean the end. As my friend, Dean, said to me, it only means you were out-voted, not defeated.

I personally knew many candidates in the local races – even opponents in the same contest. My heart goes out to those who lost, but remember the sun does come up and soon things will look better. See what else life has in store for you. Find the strength within, pull yourself up and let out a growl. Then grab a cup of coffee and a fried egg sandwich with a loved one. The battle is over, but not the war.