Growing up, one of my favorite games was “King
of the Hill.” I really wanted to be “the fastest draw
in the West;” but much like Ralphie in the movie A
Christmas Story, I wasn’t allowed to have a BB gun
for the same reason that he wasn’t.
Olympic athletes who set world records know that, at
any time, their records can be broken. Even Babe Ruth got a scare
when Roger Maris hit 61 homers. Thankfully, they figured out a
way to put an asterisk on Maris’ record, not that “The Babe” really
cared by that time.
Most of us strive to be the best, the biggest or some other superlative.
But that reign, even when achieved, often becomes harder to defend
against the next contender. No one could run a four-minute mile
until Roger Bannister did. But, since his record-breaking achievement,
the four-minute mile has been beaten time and time again.
In professional sports, some teams, such as the New York Yankees,
have been able to dominate for years at a time. Yet, in business,
companies that were once considered blue chip and the leaders of
their industry are displaced by new start-ups that do it better, faster,
cheaper or whatever. In fact, whole industries have disappeared,
as new technology replaced the needs they once served. The oftenjoked
about buggy whip is now the Sony Walkman, since
the invention of the iPad, iPhone and whatever else people listen to
music on now. However, there are other times when, even though
the leader was predicted to fail, they have gone on to become even
stronger. Those who envisioned that TV would be the end of the
movie industry certainly got it wrong.
Therefore, I have settled into a position of comfort by doing what I
do, not to be judged by others, but rather to satisfy my own expectations,
many of which probably are delusional. Even so, I remain a legend
in my own mind. I prefer to proceed at my own speed, with my
hand firmly on the tiller, following my own course. I have learned to
ignore those competing with me, as I run my own race for excellence.
Being the first child and grandchild, I was raised with my family
expecting me to be an overachiever. Therefore, I have spent much of
my life trying to meet what I believed were my parents’ expectations
from their firstborn, even though I knew that they loved me
unconditionally and that they would be proud of me, whatever I did.
They are no longer here; but, somehow, I think that I am still doing
my best to make them proud of me. By doing so, I can overlook the
fact that I still like to win. And I don’t care how many faster rats they
put in the race, I’ll always be out there doing all I can to stay on top. I
really like being “King of the Hill.”
I’m not myself today and everybody has noticed the improvement 43