Once In A Lifetime

Chicago, 2002

In the fall of 2001, I had received a proclamation from the Olympic Torch Relay Committee awarding me a spot on the team as a support runner, flanking the person actually carrying the Olympic Torch. Still paralyzed from a stroke 2 years earlier, this was a real ‘no-brainer’. I couldn’t do it. I had no running motion. I had no stride. I didn’t even know if my brain could process a running motion. I remember feeling uneasy. I had never done that before, quit without even trying. No, I couldn’t run, but I had 100 days to learn how. Once again, I would jump in without knowing how deep the water was and, once again, I would find myself in circumstances I’d never dreamed of. All I could do now was practice, practice, practice.

And boy, did I practice. Day after day. Week after week. But still, I couldn’t find it, the running motion, I mean. I hesitated calling the Committee and gave myself until the last minute to pull it off. A young friend of mine, having just graduated from the business school at the University of Chicago, asked me what my ‘cut-off’ date was, when I would decide or not decide to do this. I was thrown back by this assessment. I simply pointed out that there was no way of knowing if you could do this or not until the last possible moment. Life had taught me that much.

Sadly, the day before the Relay, I realized that this was not meant to be. I had found a quasi-running motion, one that would have gotten me through a small relay, but I had pushed myself too far too fast and had injured my challenged leg. I remember feeling disappointed, not for myself, but for those in my situation who were told from the beginning not to try too hard, to accept their lot in life and not to expect too much from themselves. Then as well as now, it was a feeling that made me sick.

Later that night, I called my brother and gave him the news. He just listened, then he said: Remember when you were a kid, even those bigger and stronger were slower ‘cuz you always ran with your heart. Well, do that now, run with your heart. Try that, Mick.

The following day, I showed up at the Relay two hours early and explained my situation to the woman in charge. She was ticked. But what they did was put me at the end of the Relay hoping no one would notice that I was unable to run. I was to flank a man by the name of John Payette. I didn’t know him. He had never laid eyes on me. But, I’ll tell you this much- somebody Upstairs had a hand in this. I thought that the woman in charge had explained the program to John, that I couldn’t run. But, as soon as they lit his Torch,-ZZZIIIPPPP- he took off running. And I stood there frozen.

My wife stood there in shock and so was my brother. I didn’t know what the hell to do. I looked up and saw the parade was passing me by and without even thinking about it I just put my head down AND STARTED TO RUN. I caught up to John in about a ½ block and he yells over his shoulder that he wants me to run next to him. I know he’s breaking the rules. I’m supposed to be one step behind and one step to the outside. So I move up, he looks at me and he hands me THE OLYMPIC TORCH. He let me carry it almost the entire way. He gave me his moment in the sun. Knowing that he’d probably never be able to run with the Torch again, I asked him later why he had done that, he just shrugged his shoulders and said it just seemed like the right thing to do.

All of us, at one time or another, will decide to do one thing and then find ourselves questioning our own decision. Make sure you do all the necessary prep work and burn that decision onto your psyche and then you will find an inner-strength to do that which is impossible. Maybe then, the Heavens will conspire to send someone special into your life to help you along your path and they will be able to hand you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This is why it’s always best to believe in ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES.

At least, that’s the way I see it. MLPROKO(2011)   www.mikeproko.com