PERSEVERANCE WINS THE DAY

SMED 11

This week’s prescribed blog,  ‘the sound of one hand clapping,’ also reminded me of a story relating to ‘perseverance in the face of little support,’ which recently appeared in the You magazine.

It relates the story of America’s Got Talent (AGT)  Season 2 winner, Terry Fator.  According to the producer of the show, Terry Fator is the best known winner of AGT and has a ‘knack for mimicking famous singers through a range of puppets.

In the article Fator alludes to the fact that he had almost given up on achieving success in show business as a ventriloquist. By the time he was in his late 30’s he was not even sure if success was ever going to happen.  Before appearing on AGT in 2007, he performed at a fair near Houston, Texas and the only spectator was a 12-year old boy.[This to me sounds like one hand clapping]

Discouraged, and ready to change careers, his family encouraged him to ‘hang in there.  Shortly after that he entered AGT and the rest is history.  He has gone from performing for 10 to 20 people to filling up every single chair at the Mirage, Las Vegas!

Changing gears from music to sport:  I have also spoken to a hockey coach who mentioned that he could clearly remember the day his team played hockey in the England Hockey 3^rd   League. On that particular day they were lucky to have only a man and his dog as spectators. [Sounds like one hand clapping]

As in the case of Terry Fator, they too were disappointed in the lack of support.  They however persevered as a team, and when they started to win game after game, spectator numbers grew significantly.

The lesson learnt from both ventriloquist performance and hockey match is that one has to always give of one’s best performance no matter how big or small the audience and/or spectator numbers. Most importantly, perseverance wins the day -  perseverance always brings rewards (financially, emotionally, spiritually, etc). 

In a previous blog I wrote about the scene between Maria and Mother Superior (The Sound of Music) in which Maria was ready to through in the towel due to the numerous challenges she faced whilst looking after the von Trapp children.

The following lines from the song sang by Mother Abbess, in which she encourages not only Maria, but each one of us, that hurdles can be overcome in pursuance of our goals :

‘Climb ev’ry mountain,          

ford ev’ry stream         

Follow ev’ry rainbow,  

till you find your dream!’ 

Maybe Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss psychologist, was also thinking along the line of ‘perseverance’ when he penned the following quote:

‘I do not believe … I know.’

                                       

                                          Climb ev'ry mountain - perseverance wins the day!