This morning I was following my normal routine after sending the kids off to school. In other words, I was spending some quality time on the couch while reading and enjoying my morning latte. Today I was re-reading Take a Good Look Around, by eventing guru Jim Wofford, and giggling at all the funny bits (there are quite a few.)
Anyway, while I was doing this one of those large, B52 type bumble bees decided to try to to crash through my picture window. He gave it a good try, smashed his little bee brains against the window 5 times before flying off to tilt at other windmills.
His efforts made me think of Ben Franklin's definition of insanity. To paraphrase, repeating the same actions while expecting different results. The more I thought about it, though, why couldn't his efforts be looked at as a lesson in perseverance? Perseverance is defined as a determined continuation of something, often over a long period of time in the face of numerous failures. They may not be the same, but in many respects I'd say they are similar.
Am I insane to continue spending a fortune on riding when I am never going to realize my dreams and compete at the highest levels. Heck, the odds are against me ever being competitive at A level shows. Or am I persevering in the face of pretty long odds?
How am I going to tie this back into the World Cup, you ask? Simple -- insanity and perseverance tie together at the intersection of dreams. My dream may once have been to ride at the World Cup level, but I know I'm more likely to be spectator there than a participant. I spent much of the the 2010 World Cup weekend glued to my laptop, watching other's dreams unfold. Some saw their dreams come true (congrats on the 3-peat, Marcus!) and others saw them tumble around them.
Like many others, I was flabbergasted at the news that Sapphire and McLain Ward were disqualified due to hypersensitivty tests. I pored over all the press releases and related articles, watched the videos, and lurked the forums, and I'm still not quite sure what to make of the FEI ruling that dashed what seemed like a very realistic chance at realizing a dream.
There's a lot more to say, but others have said it far better than I can, and I've got a ridiculously early plane to catch.
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