Preface: A Race To Run

“Success Is Never Final And Failure Never Fatal. It’s The Courage To Continue That Counts.”

That was printed, without attribution, on the back of a T-shirt in the middle of a pack of runners.  There were dozens of similar encouragements, on other T-shirts and hats, on signs along the side of the road, even in the cheers of bystanders along the way.  “Best Parade Ever!” one sign said.  And another: “Run, Walk, Crawl - Whatever it takes!”  People I didn’t know were calling out my name, having only read it off of the tag on my chest: “Go, Jonathan! You can do it!”  And in the end, even before I got there, I knew it wouldn’t matter what place I finished in or what time I posted.  There would be an even louder crowd at the finish line, and they would be giving out medals to everyone who finished the race.
 
It was my third half marathon.  I was gearing up for an even bigger race one day and  I had to smile at that shirt I saw.  Success is so relative, and never what we tend to sum it up to be.  How disappointing it would be if it were a one time thing, a goal reached - and then what? For those who still have some fight in them there are no final rounds, and to those who look beyond the finish line it’s always on to the next!
 
And failure... I smiled again.  Run, walk, crawl, I might even fall down, but it’s never fatal if I can pick myself up again.  Even if I can’t someday, I will not let my spirit be defeated: the parameters may change, but there is still a race to run.  And even when my spirit starts to lag, it is so good to know that I am not alone.
 
Indeed, it was not my own thought that had made me smile, but the shared spirit of another runner.  Courage! That’s what it takes for every one of us!  That’s what we can do!  And if we are to  continue, that, more than winning and losing, is the only thing that counts.

It does not really matter who said that saying first.  I’ve found so many attributions, each with its own question mark: Was it Winston Churchill? Coach Ditka? Coach Wooden? Coach Paterno? A Congressional Record reporter?  Whoever said it first, it was good to see, and good to hear.  And yes, I finished the race, and yes, by the spirit within and with the encouragement of many around me and before me,  I will keep running.



“Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.”

—attributed to Chicago Bears Football Coach      
     Mike Ditka, 1990


“Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”

—UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden, 1972,      
     attributed (in error) to Winston Churchill


“Success is never final; failure is never fatal; the only thing that counts is courage.”

—Penn State Football Coach Joe Paterno, 1971,     
     attributed (in error) to Winston Churchill


“He held to the belief that success is never final ...and failure never fatal.”

—Congressional Record: A tribute to U.S.      
     Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn, 1961

“Success is never final and Failure never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”

—George F. Tilton, as cited in Forbes Magazine,      
     1948


“Men with the spirit of youth pioneered our America…men with vision and sturdy confidence. They found contentment in the thrill of action, knowing that success was never final and failure never fatal. It was courage that counted....”

—Anheuser Busch copywriters, 1938-39 ad campaign 
     for newspapers/Life Magazine