The Strokes of Daily Effort

What makes a good person great?

- Smt. Sujatha Rao

Context

Recently l saw the movie titled 'The Young Woman and the Sea' which was based on the life story of Gertrude Ederle, an erstwhile American swimmer. The movie title movie was inspired by "The Old Man and the Sea," one of Hemingway's most popular books. The message from both stories happens to be the same - the human capability for resilience and perseverance, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.

The elderly Santiago's unwavering determination to achieve his goal from Hemingway's book is matched by the young Gertrude Ederle's resolve to be the first woman to swim the English Channel way back in 1926 - a feat which was accomplished only by five men prior to that. Gertrude or Trudy as she was popularly known, completed the swim in a record time of 14 hours 34 minutes, two hours faster than the earlier fastest time recorded, which was subsequently broken by Florence Chadwickin1950.

There are 'n' number of people who achieved tasks which were considered to be impossible until the time they weren't. Perhaps such people are the ones who read the word Impossible as I'm possible.

Are they super human beings with genes different from us normal people? Or are they people who are launched ahead by the circumstances they were born into? What is the magic potion that makes it possible for them to set and achieve impossible targets? If indeed there is such a thing, is there something we can do to replicate that, so as to aim high and achieve some of our own 'Everest' goab?