resiliance
An excellently written article in the Washington Post on the Ladies Figure Skate paints a picture of Sasha Cohen that brings out the attributes I really like about her. Yeah she can skate, but so can others. Athletic excellence is often an inspiration; it's one of the more potent demonstrations one sees of how dedication and hard work can transcend its own fruit and soar into being a celebration of human ability: the four minute mile, eric heiden's five golds, michael johnson's near-perfect 200m, michael (yeah, that michael), bruce lee, and many more. It's rare that such feats make me into a fanboi though, because a moment of physical perfection, or even a career woven of such moments, say little about an athlete's personality.
The '06 winter games, for me, will be identified with Sasha Cohen. This is certainly not to take away from Shizuka's grace and seemingly effortless jumps. What really gets me, and lights a fire in my heart is how Sasha skated an excellent program after a fall and stumble that surely would have denied her a medal. It's a key metaphor for me, because I fuck-up a lot, but would do some really good things if I just stayed focussed and kept going forward.
Figure skating is a dramatic sport: the area where skaters await their results is called the kiss and cry; there are primadonnas like Johnny Weir, and media darlings like Michelle Kwan. It's an athletic soap opera, blown out of all proportion by the media. It's easy and fun to get caught up in all this, and I have to admit I did so.
It's good to have heroes who can stoke emotional fire. I had a very intense yoga session yesterday, and I became aware if this fire again. I am so much more. So much more than a guy who lives to blog his life; who always avoids eye contact with strangers; who lets the world distract him from his purpose. It's not perfection I need, but a relentless rededication of the type that can win a silver medal after a huge mistake.
The '06 winter games, for me, will be identified with Sasha Cohen. This is certainly not to take away from Shizuka's grace and seemingly effortless jumps. What really gets me, and lights a fire in my heart is how Sasha skated an excellent program after a fall and stumble that surely would have denied her a medal. It's a key metaphor for me, because I fuck-up a lot, but would do some really good things if I just stayed focussed and kept going forward.
Figure skating is a dramatic sport: the area where skaters await their results is called the kiss and cry; there are primadonnas like Johnny Weir, and media darlings like Michelle Kwan. It's an athletic soap opera, blown out of all proportion by the media. It's easy and fun to get caught up in all this, and I have to admit I did so.
It's good to have heroes who can stoke emotional fire. I had a very intense yoga session yesterday, and I became aware if this fire again. I am so much more. So much more than a guy who lives to blog his life; who always avoids eye contact with strangers; who lets the world distract him from his purpose. It's not perfection I need, but a relentless rededication of the type that can win a silver medal after a huge mistake.