I just had an experience. I went to a movie tonight with my mom and it really brought me back to a different time, a time that wasn't really that much different in a lot of ways from now.
After I got out of college in 1973, the country was pretty much a divided place. The war in Vietnam was winding to an end, Nixon was about to resign in disgrace, the right and left were totally divided, hippies were turning on and dropping out, it wasn't really cool to be successful in the real world. It was not as bad economically, but it wasn't great. There were a lot of similarities.
My sister, and I were out traveling on the road, selling turquoise jewelry and Navajo rugs to tourist shops in Wyoming and Montana. I remember one Saturday, we were were driving like crazy to get to Sheridan to find a bar with a television. Why? It was the day of the Belmont Stakes and Secretariat was the first horse that had a chance to win the Triple Crown in something like 25 years.
We made it to town and found a bar filled with cowboys and ranchers, watching the build-up to the race. What was the big deal?
I thought about it tonight and it came to me that in those days, everyone in our family always watched the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont. Why, I don't know. But we enjoyed it and as youngsters we always heard that no one had won the Triple Crown since Man O'War, sometime in ancient history. When Secretariat won the first two legs, it really created an excitement around the country. It was hard to find someone to talk with that didn't argue about whether the horse could go the distance, or if he would just be another horse that couldn't finish the long race. Regardless, I don't remember a single person that didn't hope he would win. It was a commonality, a reason to cheer for something together at a time when the country seemed to be coming apart.
So, while we were a long ways from hippies, my sister and I definitely were not working cowhands, but in that bar in Sheridan that day, no once cared. Everyone was pulling for that horse. Most sporting events have people pulling for different competitors. In America, in 1973, everyone was pulling for a beautiful red horse. It was the second most exciting sporting event I ever watched.
I knew nothing about the story behind the horse and how it came to be that he was where he was, but when I watched that movie about the struggles and effort that went into getting him there, it made me appreciate that experience of 37 years ago even more. It also reminded me that it's not the succeeding or failing that counts, it's the effort you put into it. As long as you run your best race, you'll never lose.
Take a box of Kleenex.
