Dealing With Your Hand

   I think I've been watching the Doug Flutie episode of "A Football Life" way too much. I can't seem to help it though. There isn't a whole lot that is uplifting or even appropriate on television these days. After listening to scandals involving atheletes behaving badly watching an hour program about the life of someone who isn't in any kind of trouble is refreshing.
  The last time I watched it, I started pondering on the end of the program. The end of his program focuses on his life after football. It also highlights his view on life. I can't find the exact quote, but it has to do with looking at the hand you've been dealt and then moving forward. A writer that was interviewed in that last segment mentioned that when you don't have something, in this case height, you have to find a way to get things done. It means doing things in a new creative way.
  One thing Doug Flutie had to deal with his entire professional life as a football player was the fact that he is much shorter than the typical NFL quarterback. He found ways to get the ball down the despite this. He would run and duck and throw on the run. He would see an opening and take it before anyone else had a chance to react. Since he didn't have the kind of height that most players had he made up for it by being quick and throwing well.
  To me, that is the secret of being successful in life. One of the best things a kid can learn growing up is how to manage when things don't do your way. How to do something when everyone is telling you that you can't do it.
  My parents raised me with the attitude that I could do anything I wanted as long as I was willing to put in the needed work. This has helped me a lot through my life. When we took all those aptitude tests in school none of them pointed to me being a good pharmacist. There were just too many things that I lacked. Pharmacy was something I wanted to do though. I went to school and studied hard. I was part of a group of students who were all struggling though pharmacy school. We banded together, helped each other out and all of us graduated. We found a way to do it.
  At one point in time I took a a musical aptitude test. I  failed it flamingly and was told that I was not capable of learning to play a musical instrument. For a few years I believed that. Then one summer, I was given the opportunity to learn to play viola. If I learned to play I could play with the school orchestra. In one summer I managed to learn what most of the other kids learned in three school years. I wasn't the best player, but I could play. In later years I took up the hammered dulcimer and lap harp. I'm nowhere near professional quality, but that is all right. It makes me happy to play and some people have found it soothing and enjoyable. I somehow found a way to do what I was told I could not.
  I admire those who manage in the face of opposition. C is a good example of that. He was the first in his family to graduate from college. He worked very hard and was determined to get an education. he did not see a future for himself in the cotton mills in the Carolinas. He had no family support and very little money. What he did have was will and the knowledge that he could do it and the support of people who believed in him.
  That's one of the things I admire most about him. He didn't have much, but he always was able to do something with what he had. He is the most optimistic person I know. He is a master of dealing with the hand he has been dealt. He may not be able to move up, but he know he can always move forward.