Story 35: How to be number one

Lets face it I love to compete. Most guys do.  I think working in a Men’s  Phys. ed. department, is in some ways a great job for me, because it seems that we are always getting into Mega Millions lottery, or competing over something small like who is the best at tennis, handball, lost the most weight, etc.

When I was younger I also liked a challenge. I was very successful at the National Bible Contest, ran a 1/2 marathon in High School in under two hours, and coached two intramural sports teams in college.

When I was in middle school, I ran for Student Government president, and was part of a spelling B. I remember trying to spell the first word I was given, “pursue” I thought it had an extra “e” in it, but it didn’t.  I was disappointed that I lost, but that didn’t stop me in future efforts.

Another time when I was on a college intramural basketball team I remember being called “The little guy.” I didn’t stop trying, but instead beat an opposing player to the ball by jumping higher. I felt great about my efforts, even if I did end up temporarily on the floor afterwards.

I also recall participating in a twister event at my college SUNY Albany. My school broke the record for the largest amount of participants doing twister at that time.  And guess who got out first? Me.  It was quite disconcerting to hear “Eric Levine...... out first....”  The sound seemed to reverberate across the whole throng of participants and for a while echoed in my head as well, and seemingly through time.  

     In retrospect, I probably should have started in the back of the twister competition to give me more of a shot. Well they say that hindsight is 20/20, I just wish the man who was judging the contest had a worse prescription.  

     Life Lesson 35: “The thirst to be first” is something many of us have,  but remember being first to try something even failing is almost as valuable as the person who succeeds at the same thing. Remember Amelia Earhart? Sometimes trying to do something helps to forge our strength as we “pursue” our goals, and keep in mind that you should’t feel like number two in your quest to be number one.