Lou Gehrig

You know what I think about when I'm down，when I'm sad, and when I feel like there's nothing else to look forward to? You know what I think about when I'm in the "depths of despair" (Thanks Anne of Green Gables)?

When I was in high school and I felt like there was no place I could go, no one I could turn to, my only friend was my television. He was the only one who understood and the only one who waited for me when I returned from school. And through him, I met my closest friends at the time, the LA Lakers, the LA Clippers, the LA Dodgers, and the Anaheim (this was years and years ago) Angels. I witnessed all the sport cliches, idioms, and metaphors there ever was. From taking it one game at a time (or one day at a time) to knowing that it's not over until it's over. I've seen athlete's overcome obstacles and win in huge upsets. Even if the the cards were stacked against them, they still persevered. Even if it seemed like the only place they could go was down, they sometimes defied all odds and came back to win. I've celebrated at their victories and cried at their agonizing defeats.

So in times of need, I think about my old friends. Since I have no time to watch games (which is a shame) because I have stupid classes in college, I cannot visit them as much as I used to. However, whenever I need inspiration or motivation or determination, I turn to Lou Gehrig. I look at his life, his career, and his most famous speech. Here's a guy who found out that he had a fatal disease and realized that he could no longer do what he loved to do most, but he didn't let it get him down.

"Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

"Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.

"When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that’s the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for."