I’ve never followed boxing closely, but I chuckle at the attitude of a high school boxing coach. Some of the new athletes were, let’s say, better suited for other activities. One of his boys worked furiously for a couple of rounds, but never connected with anything that might be construed as a punch. Nevertheless, he asked, “What do you think, Coach? Have I done him any damage?”
“No,” said a bewildered coach. “But keep on swinging. The draft might give him a cold.”
Slim as it is, that might be his only chance to win! And we’ve all been there, haven’t we? Slim to none are sometimes the best odds we can hold out for. And actually, sometimes it is better to keep on swinging — failure comes only after we have given up!
For instance, it took 32 years of failures for dedicated climbers to reach the top of Mt. Everest, a peak scaled so often now it hardly makes the newspaper! At over 29,000 feet of altitude, snow never melts atop Mt. Everest. Sometimes winds at the summit reach 200 miles per hour.
George Leigh-Mallory is first recorded as attempting the climb in 1921. On his third try, in 1924, he disappeared into the mist, never to be seen again. The mountain had won. But friends of Mallory one day gazed upon a large picture of Mt. Everest and declared, “Mt. Everest, you defeated us once. You defeated us twice. You defeated us three times. But, Mt. Everest, we shall some day defeat you because you can’t get any bigger — and we can!”
Eight more attempts were made on the mountain resulting in eight more failures. But finally, along came Edmund Hillary in 1953, who, along with his guide, conquered the peak for the first time!
Failure comes only after one has given up. If slim to none are the odds of winning, they might be worth taking. For we can always get bigger — bigger in ability; bigger in experience; bigger in wisdom; bigger in faith.
I like the observation of Josh Billings, who says, “Consider the postage stamp: its usefulness consists in the ability to stick to one thing ’til it gets there!”