by Marty Coleman | Aug 8, 2012 | Olympics - 2012 |
Olympics Series – #3
Heartbreak
I watched a lot of the American Olympic trials that were broadcast about a month before the games. They are really more heartbreaking to me than the Olympics. If you are at the Olympics, the heartbreak is falling short there. But if you fall short at the trials, you watch the Olympics at home on TV like the rest of us. For some, it’s disappointing, but they have been to the Olympics in years past and won something. But for those who don’t get there the first time, and perhaps will now never get there, it is not just disappointing, it’s depressing.
What they need, even more than some of the Olympians, is Olympic size courage. Courage to lay down one dream gently and pick up a new one, one for which they might not even know where to start looking.
I admire greatly those who don’t make it after trying with all their might. I always feel for them but I also always root them on to find a new dream.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who has never been to the Olympics.
Quote by Mike Singletary
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 7, 2012 | Italian Proverbs, Olympics - 2012 |
It’s day #2 of Olympics week at the NDD. Notice anything different about the drawing today? It’s a ‘not a napkin’ napkin (because I ran out of napkins).
Guess what I drew it on.
FAME and GLORY
So much fame, so many endorsements, so much attention, money, glory, adulation, hype and talk for the winners. So much obscurity for the losers. But answer me this. Who won what 100 years ago in the Olympics? I don’t know, I am sure you don’t either, unless you look it up or are related to a winner from back then. We all go back in the same box. Most of us, famous or not, eventually forgotten. Is that depressing? In some ways, yes. One of the things I like most about being an artist is leaving something behind. But art is corruptible (especially when drawn on a napkin) and it too will not last forever most likely.
What Remains?
What remains then? Kindness remains. That is it. That is what I want to get my gold medal in when the time comes. That is what I want to hand down to my daughters and grand kids (come on daughters, times a’ wasting). I want to be good at what I do of course. I want to work with those who strive for excellence. But I really don’t have much tolerance for excellence that is covered with anger and vitriol. I don’t want to be around a winner who is mean and hurtful. I don’t want to be in a business relationship (though it is unavoidable at times) with someone who is scheming, manipulative, insensitive and negative.
I want to be, and I want to surround myself with, one who is both excellent and kind, who achieves great things and does it with love in my heart.
That lasts.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who has a lot to learn.
Quote is an Italian proverb
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by Marty Coleman | Aug 6, 2012 | Olympics - 2012 |
Where?
Who would you root for if you didn’t know where the athletes were from? So far I have wanted a Mexican, a Canadian, a Nigerian, a Chinese, a Japanese, an Australian, a Brit, an American, a Swede, a Russian, a Jamaican, a South African and a Romanian to excel and win in their efforts. And that is just who I can think of off the top of my head sitting at my computer.
I love when those in my country wins, its exciting and it makes me proud. But in the end it is an individual who wins, or a team of individuals, not an entire country. There are bragging rights for sure, but the medals go to individuals. I am proud of them, no matter the geography of their birth and raising. I am proud of their effort and their diligence, perseverance and determination. That is what I am in awe of.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
Quote by Pablo Casals, Cellist
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