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Mildred "Babe" Didrikson was one of the world’s greatest all-around
athletes. Shep Steneman, in Superhuman Achievements (Random House,
1981), reports that she led her basketball team to a national
championship in 1931. She set world records at the 1932 Olympics in
the javelin throw and the 80-meter hurdles. And she went on to win
every important women’s golf tournament, including an amazing 17 in a
row in 1946 and 1947.
But her greatest single performance was at the 1932 national
track-and-field championships in Evanston, Illinois. Babe competed as
a one-woman "team" against the best teams of female athletes in the
country. She entered eight events and won five of them. She gave
world-record performances in the baseball throw, javelin, and 80-meter
hurdles, and matched a previous record in the high jump.
When the team scores were tallied up that day, the runner-up team of
22 women had a total of 22 points. Babe Didrikson alone had 30.
Few people will ever excel in a field as did Babe Didrikson. We can
admire her, but few of us will ever be like her. Chances are, we may
never be the very best at any one thing we set out to do. But being
the "best" is not always what matters.
I like what a young boy said to a famous baseball player. Rabbi Wayne
Dosick tells that he heard a youngster cheering on all-star outfielder
Dave Winfield. "I expected the young boy to yell, 'Hit a homer, Dave,'
or at the very least, 'Get a hit, Dave.' But instead this young man --
well trained in the art of the possible -- called out, 'Do your best,
Dave. Do your best.'"
There are people who are silently calling to you: "Do your best. Do
your best." Listen well. For those who play the best may win games,
but winners in life are those who do their best, regardless of whether
they are the best. They will eventually find joy and peace and an
abundance of satisfaction.
One of life's greatest winners, Helen Keller, put it like this: "When
we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in
our life, or in the life of another."
Do your best...and expect something good to happen!
Steve Goodier Publisher@LifeSupportSystem.com
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