Faster than he has strength — 1962
Faster Than He Has Strength — 1962 —
I have a vivid recollection of an experience I shared several times with my sister Dayna in the early sixties. Dayna was enamored with a young man in our ward who ran the mile for the Reno High School track team. The track meets were held on Saturday mornings and Dayna would go to cheer for her heart-throb, hauling me along so that she wouldn’t have to sit alone in the bleachers. Dayna’s friend had a unique strategy in running the mile. At the sound of the starting gun, he would bolt ahead of the group in a full sprint and would continue at this pace until he was at least half a lap or more ahead of the other runners. He would always do well for the first half of the race, maintaining an apparently insurmountable lead, being exhorted on by my frenzied sister and myself. Soon, however, his pace would begin to flag, his head and shoulders would sag, his legs would grow heavy, and the other runners would begin to close the gap. By the last lap, the pack would catch and then pass him, and he usually finished last, with my sister and myself sitting in quiet despondence. This pattern was repeated Saturday after Saturday. I have since gleaned a few valuable principles of life from these memories: 1) the value of a good coach, which this young man obviously didn’t have 2) the importance of moderated persistence rather than sporadic bursts of effort 3) an understanding that flamboyant leadership is usually less effective than subtle leadership. This young man apparently learned some of the same lessons from his experiences, as he went on to become one of the top executives in the McDonald’s Corporation. The words of King Benjamin from the Book of Mormon seem applicable as well: “And see that all things are done in wisdom and order, for it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength…”. (Mosiah 4:27)
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