“Sometimes our best is simply not enough…. We have to do what is required.”
Sir Winston Churchill
In the early 1990’s, I was still semi-ambulatory and therefore would take a nasty fall from time to time. Because of both the lack of motor coordination and muscle weakness intrinsic in my condition, when I would fall it would be hard- no ability to break or cushion my fall whatsoever. Because I could still put myself to bed, I would often stay up into the night working on various projects. On one such night, I stood and turned to pivot towards the bed, got off balance, and took one of these falls. My room, at the time, possessed hardwood floors. Do you know how loud a 190-pound man hitting the floor like a toppling sack of flour in the middle of the night sounds? As was usual, I expected my parents to come pouring into my room to assess the extent of my injuries- they never came. Everyone must have been extremely exhausted that night, because my hitting the floor sounded like an elephant stampede through a library. Yet, there I lay with absolutely no ability to get myself up.
Because of the weakening of the muscles in my throat, when I lay on my back, even with a pillow under my head, I often begin to choke. The muscle tissue on my shoulders and back have deteriorated to the point where I need a sufficient amount of soft bedding to cushion the bones that protrude from beneath my skin or the pain is simply intolerable. Unable to get myself off the floor, I could lie on my back, in which case I would choke, or I could lie on my side with my body weight driving the bony pressure points into the hardwood floors. I could not stay like this until morning, so I began to panic and started screaming for help. If no one could hear the elephant herd, then it was absolutely useless to yell. I was faced with a dangerously intolerable situation that I desperately needed to come up with a creative solution for.
As I lay on the floor for what seemed like forever, I shifted my body weight back and forth to relieve the painful pressure points while I brainstormed a solution to my dilemma. How could I possibly get my parents attention? I spotted my stereo across the room and determined that somehow I must use its ability to blast music to get their attention. But, how? I could not get across the room, and if I did, it was well beyond my reach. By sheer will and necessity, I began twisting my body from side to side, fraction of an inch by fraction of an inch, I was starting to shimmy across the floor towards the stereo. Miraculously I made it across the room and now was faced with how I would turn on the equipment, press the buttons necessary, and turn the knob of the stereo sufficiently loud to wake up the household. I was able to raise my foot up enough to balance it on the desk drawer handle. After resting a moment, I somehow managed to get my foot up to the next handle. Then the next, and finally on to the table the stereo rested on. After much trial and error I was able to use my foot to punch the stereo on, press the FM selector button, and turn the volume up to sufficiently shake the walls of the entire house. This time, my parents did burst through my bedroom door and I was quickly raised up out of danger.
It is amazing what we can accomplish when failure is simply not an option. How often do you suppose we give up on something vitally important to us because we think it is impossible to do? Next time you are about to give up on something important, imagine that failure is simply not an option. Then picture me inching my way across that room determined to get that stereo on and maybe you’ll come up with a second wind of resolve.
In the trenches with you,
Coach Jeff