An Awesome Story to Illustrate My Point

Over the past few insights, the discussion has focused on the fact that life is difficult and challenging, and many times, life is very much a grind. Every day is a battle: each day a struggle… sometimes, quite literally. This insight is a story about toughness and determination that’s just too good to pass up. So I had to pass it along…

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A few years ago, a story came across the morning news about a 62-year-old retired man living in Florida. Early one morning while taking out the garbage in his backyard, the man heard a rustling noise in a nearby bush. When he turned to see what was causing the racket, he was rather surprised to find a bobcat standing there: staring him right in the eyes and ready to strike.

Apparently, the large animal had been out looking for food in the neighborhood’s trash cans. When it saw this poor old man standing helplessly in his driveway, the predator had found its breakfast. Before the elderly gentleman could do anything, the bobcat made a beeline for him and pounced on the old man. The animal began mauling and clawing at the poor man, scratching at his face and biting a chunk out of his abdomen. Needless to say, the battle was on.

Unfortunately for the bobcat, however, the object of the animal’s desire was not your typical retired Floridian. Quite the contrary: he was a former United States Marine. Among his record of service in the Corps, were two successful and highly decorated tours of active duty in Korea. The years of elite-warfare training, and the development of proficient hand-to-hand combat skills, quickly made their way back to the surface. Well, in the midst of a fight for his life, this suddenly not-so-old retiree thrust his hands toward the bobcat’s throat and began squeezing with all his might.

Old habits die hard. And so do Marines. After a few moments of struggle—and I mean struggle (after all, the man literally was fighting a bobcat here)—the former Marine finally strangled the life out of the predator. When the dust had settled, the man was alive; the bobcat was not.

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Now that’s toughness.

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So often in life, victory goes to the man who is determined to succeed. It goes to the man who refuses to lose, to the one who ultimately is left standing when the smoke clears. Victory does not go to the person who merely competes. It goes to the person who is willing to battle… each day, and every day, all the way, and to the end. It goes to the man who is ready and willing to fight for his life until the fighting is through.

Life is a battle, and you must always be ready and willing to battle through it. Whether it is a difficult moment, a tough situation, a trying set of circumstances, or a real-live bobcat… the fact of the matter is that each and every day, you must be ready and willing to battle. What is more important is that each and every day, you must be ready and willing to win the battle.