[image: paulinaderbez.com]


Added. Competition comes in many forms. It is one thing to surpass others who are your known competitors. You may be rewarded for finishing a tenth of a second sooner; or by leaping half an inch higher. Those are measureable and laudable achievements, best appreciated by those who finish in second place. But how do those achievements help the man or woman who is strapped to a wheelchair for life? Must we relegate them to be mere spectators, to set and watch others compete from along the sidelines because of their limitations or misfortunes? I think not.

Embracing excellence and striving for the best that is within us has an entirely different standard. It is inclusive. If you are burdened or handicapped in any way, you must still compete, but your objective is so much harder when your competition is yourself. The standard for excellence gets set one notch higher every time you compete successfully, and the bar is reset. Your achievement is but momentary for now you have a higher standard to surpass. And who, among all the world’s best athletes, is more competitive or more demanding than the voice within you that that keeps repeating “nice going, but you can do better.”

The drive to excel and to find the very best that your body, mind, and soul can produce is the ultimate challenge. It is not impressed one whit by all the standards being set by others, against others, or against themselves. You alone know your strengths, your weaknesses, your dreams, and your desires. You would not risk your life on what you know about your limitations today. But that is not the ultimate test of your will. You can always test your drive, your resolve, your trust and your confidence to reset your own standard of excellence, little by little. Your success or failure in life is not measureable in inches, pounds, or seconds. It asks only “where did you start, where did you finish, and how much effort, trust, and confidence did you expend in your journey?”

Horace Man, a most remarkable educator and human being, challenged us all to embrace excellence with these words: “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.” For those who have been held back because of physical, mental, emotional, or environmental limitations, I think it is fair to add “you have found your victory when you have given us your best, and you inspired at least one other person to do the same.”