This
past week there has been one thing that is mentioned every time I turn on the
T.V., and that is the Super Bowl. Granted that is probably because I only watch
ESPN. Anyways, this last week, while I was trying to decide what to write this
blog about, I saw this little segment on
a guy named Matthew Jeffers, on ESPN, and after watching, my eyes were opened and
it made me really think about life. So, I thought I would share his story with
you.
Matthew
Jeffers is a die-hard Baltimore Ravens fan. Mid-season this year, the Ravens
were in a slump and just lost three games in a row. So Matthew decided to write
an email titled, “A Reason to Win” to the head coach, John Harbaugh. His email
had such a strong message that the John went and sent it out to his whole team
and immediately got positive feedback. In his letter he mentions that he suffers from
skeletal dysplasia. He is twenty one years old and stands at only four foot two.
He then tells us of his mother. His mother
recently got diagnosed with a stage four brain tumor and might be going into
hospice care. Then he goes and asks you one simple question, “So you tell me,
is life fair?”
Now I want
you to think about your life. I want you to think about the things you do not
like about it, the things you wish you would change, and even the things you
enjoy, and ask yourself, is life really fair? Everyone, at one point or
another, will have hardships in their lives, but what would you say in these
hard times? I want to share with you
what Matthews strongest comment, that stuck to me the most, was, “the only
disability in life is a bad attitude. A positive attitude is the most powerful combatant
to life’s misfortunes.” Here is a man with
a huge disability telling us that all you need is a positive attitude.
When I happened
upon this video, it really impressed me. Here is a young twenty one year old
man whose life is full of hardships, yet he has a great attitude towards life. This
is exactly what my blog is all about. He could have spent his time moping
around being sad for himself but he didn’t! He just took the situation he was dealt
and he made it positive. He chose to dominate every day. This is a lesson that
we could all learn from. Life is not fair. It never has been and it never will
be. So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to let life walk all
over you and put you down? Or are you going to take hold of your life and make
the most of it with a positive attitude? The choice is yours.
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.” Wow, that was amazing. I cannot imagine how much strength that takes to go through what that man has been through. He gave the Ravens the courage to win the Superbowl and help them push through to win. He really proves that when life gets you down, you need to keep going and not give up. There are bumps in the road, and their always will be. But it is heart and valor that will get a person through hardship. That man has learned the secret of life while going through pain.
ReplyDeleteThat is a pretty awesome story that has the power to motivate anyone to just take control of their life.
ReplyDeleteThat is an attitude that we all need to have. It is very easy to just have self-pity. It is much harder to ignore the difficulties and press onward with a good outlook on life. Maybe I should be watching ESPN more so I can learn about cool stories like this one. When you put this into perspective, this guy is really the least handicapped out of all of us since he has such a good attitude. Great story.
I always tend to think along the lines of people like this. I can't stand when people tell you how bad their hardships are, without considering the long list of people who are in situations like this. Yet even still there is a list of people in even worse situations. The phrase “count your blessings” tends to stay pretty true in this situation. It bothers me when people only see the bad things in their lives and consider themselves in a hopeless place. Stories like this need to come out more often, they tend to do a lot of good in the world.
ReplyDeleteNate, it is very inspirational what this one man did for the ravens to rebound them in the middle of a slump. I personally did not know about this until I read you post, and I am very grateful that you brought this to my attention. This is just another way of showing us that there is always something bigger out there than ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this story till just now as I watched and read your blog. Life isn’t fair at all I see people like Matthew that have more drive than some professionals and what life has given he puts him in a place where he cannot show his drive. Even then he is still pushing to dominate everyday by his own limits he has exactly what everyone needs in their life, a reason to win on your own level. Not everyone can become a professional at what they enjoy, but they can have a positive attitude and make what they’ve got. Matthews has it all I look up to him and I’m inspired by his story thank you Nate for showing us this lesson on life.
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