The Race
At 10 minutes to seven on a dark cool evening in Mexico City in 1968 John Stephen Akwari of Tanzania painfully hobbled into the Olympic Stadium -- the last man to finish the marathon The winner had already been crowned, and the victory ceremony was long finished. So the stadium was almost empty as Akwari --alone, his leg bloody and bandaged--struggled to circle the track to the finish line.
The respected journalist Bud Greenspan watched from a distance. Then, intrigued, Bud walked over to Akwari and asked why he had continued the grueling struggle to the finish line. The young man from Tanzania answered softly, "My country did not send me 9,000 miles to start the race. They sent me 9,000 miles to finish the race".- Walter Anderson
I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
Ecclesiastes 9:11 KJV
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"The Race" was originally found at e-light on the web
