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"Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win (or making the effort) is." - What Vince Lombardi actually said - I remember my Dad taking me to the County Fair for the first time. As a small boy growing up in rural Kentucky, I was familiar with the cattle, sheep, horses, goats, pigs and other livestock. I was familiar with Mom’s peach pie, Aunt Dixie’s strawberry preserves, Sister’s Quilts and the sound of Bluegrass Music. Thus, my attention was directed to the sights and sounds of the Carnival Midway with its carny games, dancing girls, the oddity shows and the awesome Rides with their flashing lights, whirligigs and whoop-de-doos. Of course I was too small to try out, or in some instances even see, the best of them and could only stand gazing upward with mouth agape ("the fly-catching pose" as Mom used to say). Ferris Wheels 4 times taller than our barn, Tilt-a-Whirls spinning faster and faster, Roller Coasters click, click, click to the top then Whoosh, downward at the speed of light. Oh my how my heart got going fast and I had that funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. Somewhat aghast, tighter and tighter, I held onto my Dad’s hand, pulling him this way and that way until his head must have been spinning. Alas, we came to one ride which I was big enough to get on. My memory is of the squeals of glee heard above the sounds of the Kaleidoscope, the great Stallions galloping up and down, the wind offering up that sweet smell of saw dust, fresh cut hay and cotton candy as we went round and round on this, the Carousel which was/is also known as the Merry-go-round. I also remember watching older boys (and even some girls) reach out and attempt to grab a Brass Ring as we whirled past a certain point each time around. When one was successful, it seem to enhance the good time being had by all, they all would cheer and slap each other on the back, then on the next time around they would try again, and again. I just had to try for that Brass Ring myself. My attempts were feeble, for no matter how far I stretched I could not reach the Ring. "Be careful" my Dad would say. The harder I tried the more infuriated I became until the tears of frustration stung my eyes. It was about that time that my Dad took me off and fussed that I was not even enjoying the ride because of my fixation and fascination with the Brass Ring. Through the years, as Dad searched for ways to guide and teach me lessons, he often referenced my initial ride on the Carousel and the intensity which I exhibited. You see, that was the way he was. Yes, he wanted me to succeed, to get that symbolic Brass Ring however, he also wanted me to learn the lessons which making the effort taught. Dad’s lessons: Success can be measured in more ways that just grabbing that elusive Brass Ring, Growth comes from stretching to achieve a specific goal. Enthusiasm generated from the attempts to reach the prize creates lightness and enhances the chances of success, while fear of failure limits the efforts by creating heaviness and consequently causes us to languish in doubts. If you enjoy the ride then the taste of success is much sweeter. If you have to be pulled screaming and kicking toward to objective, upon it’s achievement, you will undoubtedly hesitate to make such a journey the next time. The year was 1980, the setting was a physics lab near Geneva, the key players were 25 - year-old Tim Berners-Lee and his computers. Berners-Lee had been tinkering with a computer program that would allow those computers to share information and he was successful in devising a way to move documents swiftly and efficiently over his network. This young scientist became intrigued with a larger and more complicated vision of this information sharing. At a time the Internet was a rudimentary and awkward structure, Berners-Lee thought he could program his computer to create a space in which anything could be linked to anything and thus create a single, global information space. The World Wide Web has many pretenders however, it was this quite young Englishman who became the true architect of the Internet. His network opened the door through which the world now communicates. While many involved in the development of the Internet achieved riches beyond their wildest imagination, Tim Berners-Lee joyfully gave his vision, his efforts and his inventions to the world and was perturbed by those who suggested that he too, should have also gotten rich off the Internet. He once said: "To only measure success and happiness in terms of financial gain would create a problem for me!" Now 45 and Director of the World Wide Web Consortium at the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science, Tim and those others in the Consortium seek to keep the network open and free while working on a new network vision which would overcome International language barriers. Clearly having exhausted the experience of riding the first Carousel and grabbing what he believed to have been the Brass Ring it offered, Tim sought out a much larger Merry-go-round, convinced others to join him for a spin, and regardless of the up’s or down’s to come, that they could indeed seize a Ring of much larger magnitude. Final thought To many that the Brass Ring affixed to the side of a Carousel has become representative of the objectives, goals, prizes, awards, trophies, treasures, or other things we value or covet. Just the other day I noted a report on the Sports page of my newspaper that Tiger Woods played in a Golf Tournament and came in third. I am sure that none of us would ever consider that Tiger played a round of golf just for the pure joy he received from striking the ball in just the way he envisioned it and then watching its flight unwaveringly toward the flag. Like me, I am sure that you can just look at his face and tell that he is just about ready to give up the game because he missed the Brass Ring on this latest go-around. For me the lesson learned was that had I not been first attracted to the sights and sounds of Carousel ride itself, I would never have gotten on board, nor would I have experienced the pure joy of it. If the only purpose was to get the Brass Ring, I could have simply walked around to the post to which they were attached and taken one. Having done so, I would have avoided the ups and downs, the whirling, dipping, spinning, heart pounding, stomach twitching, gut wrenching, fun which came after first grabbing that rail and venturing onto the ride for the pure joy it provided. If asked, I am sure that Tim Berners-Lee and Tiger Woods would both admit that somewhere in their past there was a mentor, like my Dad, who talked of Carousels, Brass Rings and lessons about the... Bottom line .... If you are not having fun yet, get off the ride, 'cause the Brass Ring, in and of itself, is not worth it. |
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