Years ago I remember watching a Timex watch commercial in which we see a man and a woman walking towards each other in a crowd and the voice-over tells us that soon these two will meet, fall in love, get married, have a house in the country, tremendous careers, children, the whole dream-come-true…however, we watch them pass each other without a flicker of recognition at all. The voice-over tells us that because one of them wasn’t wearing a Timex watch they were just seconds from missing each other. The dream never materialized. Maybe it wasn’t supposed to happen. Maybe it was and it was sabotaged. Maybe…
That commercial had a huge impact on me. The idea that the line between this and that is so fragile. A blink. A cough. Missed seconds. If I hadn’t taken that road I never would have… Because he missed the plane… She stopped to have one more cup of coffee and…
You know what I mean? That’s how I feel about the Olympics. Such a fine line between a great run and a dead-end defeat…
I don’t know if you’re as crazy an Olympics fan as I am, but for me this is an every four-year true addiction. I absolutely LOVE the Olympics. Each time I watch them—summer and winter—I vow to reincarnate as a world class athlete. Maybe next time around I’ll have the discipline and strength and stamina and fortitude and vision and grace and above all COURAGE to go for the gold no matter what. And even though I find myself watching a younger and younger world of athletes (forget the fact that each time I’m older and older!) I still work on stepping outside of my ego—and the mirror—and am given so many gifts by watching these young warriors fight to win while the entire world is watching.