When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.
Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.
On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea, she struggled on - hour after hour - while millions watched on national television.
Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn't much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had . . . until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.
Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, "Look, I'm not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it." It was not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.
Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men's record by two hours!
Author Unknown
Source :A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul
4 comments:
Hi Sudhaa,
I read this article few days back struggling between alert-sleeply mood and almost forgot about it as I slept without my knowledge; until I got to recall a story later which I could co-relate to this positive quote.
Here I want to narrate you and all the readers few stories from my childhood...
1. Story from Mahabharatha(Arjuna)
2. Story from Mahabharatha(Bheema)
3. Story by my English teacher(Robert Bruce and the Spider)
4. Many more...
As each of these story takes quite a space... will split it into multiple comments as required.
to continue...
Story #1: Aim of Arjuna
Once Dhronacharya wanted to test his pupils for their archery skills. He gave bow and arrow to few of his students and asked them to aim at painting of a bird drawn on dartboard. While they were focusing, he asked them "what are they seeing as they are aiming ?".
Some of them replied "dartboard", few of them "a bird".. however when it was Arjuna's turn, his answer won the teachers heart. It was the birds eye that Arjuna aimed and all that he saw was just the eye.
This is what means - Keeping your goals in sight.
Its was not just Arjuna, his other brothers too had strong focus on their own arena... one such story, lets see in my next comment...
Story #2: Bheem Boy... Bheem Boy!!!
Pandava kumaras used to play hide and seek in the evening after their gurukula chores. As it gets darker, everyone settle with their dusk activities( may be studying, sleeping, etc.,).
Very often four brothers found Bheema missing after their evening games. They wanted to know where he goes. They followed him quietly to realize, he goes to granary attached to kitchen every evening. On reaching the granary, which was pitch dark didn't find Bheema. Instead they could only hear him munching something. When questioned - Bheema replied, he come their to have his body built with some gym and a heavy meal.
Elder brother asked how can he be eating in the darkness, for which he explained - if your goal and ambition is to achieve something, you can do it even in darkness. He is all to eat, and can do even without light.
May be this story is related to other story of Arjuna(may be not a suitable one for this context... someother time...).
Whatever, it means one can achieve anything if the goals are in sight, even in darkness.
Its not just Mahabharatha... our modern history too teaches quite a lot when it comes to determination/goals.
Lets see one such story in next post...
Story #3: Robert Bruce and the spider !
Well, with my misty memory, I could only recall the story, but not the actual names of the characters.
With some googling( .. a verb... hahah), found this -
Robert Bruce and the spider
This is a story about King Robert Bruce of Scotland, how he was exiled after a war, hunted for his life by King Edward of England and how he succeeded later after multiple wars.
This story also explains how a spider taught him not to give up the goal, till its achieved.
Read it yourself to know more...
I have more stories to share... if only Sudhaa permits... its her blog afterall...:D
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