Roger Bannister was the first human to run a four-minute mile. Athletes had been chasing this goal for decades until that point, and have accomplished it almost 1,500 times since. When you see a person break barriers, it changes something inside. A small part of you starts unfurling to embrace more ease and less fear. Even more so if it’s someone you can identify with, or they had to overcome similar or greater odds. Their achievement gives you faith and confidence in yourself, which is a precursor to dreaming and then resourcing yourself to action those dreams.
A friend’s courage in having her child against odds made the idea of family accessible to me. 77-year-old Nancy Pelosi’s eight-hour speech (in four-inch heels) on a topic she was passionate about gave a new face to how I think of stamina and aging. That Mother Teresa could make a significant difference in the world while privately facing spiritual doubt gave faith a more nuanced color. All these people are quite different from me, but there is a part of their story that some part of me was hoping could be true. When I saw their stories, I quietly added a patch to my personal tapestry of vision and motivation. There are countless people who helped me through their example in ways they will never know. This is what people mean when they say stories matter. We need all types of examples and all types of stories. Maybe one day that spark I need comes from an elderly white man who faced unexpected and excruciating personal loss, repeatedly, and still rose up (Joe Biden) or a conservative Mormon who had the courage to go against the grain (Mitt Romney). My point here isn’t political; these people happened to be top of mind on the day I made this observation.
The point is that each of us living fully in a way that is truly and uniquely us, allows us to be that 4-minute mile for another human. We just pass along the motivation, faith, and courage that has been passed on to us. And it’s ok if we never know whom we impacted.
“That we can make a house called tomorrow.
What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,
Is ourselves. And that’s all we need
To start. That’s everything we require to keep going.
Look back only for as long as you must,
Then go forward into the history you will make.
Be good, then better. Write books. Cure disease.
Make us proud. Make yourself proud.
And those who came before you? When you hear thunder,
Hear it as their applause.”
— Alberto Ríos
