When I played sports competitively, I once watched a pass go by me without trying because I thought I couldn't make a play on it. A teammate asked why I just watched.
I said, \"Because I couldn't reach it.\"
He said, \"At least try!\"
Larry Bird said something similar: \"It makes me sick when I see a guy just watching it go out of bounds.\"
The view has stuck with me. I haven't gone for every pass I could, but I respect when an outfielder sprints to the wall even when he know the ball will carry over the fence. The difference between watching and trying is meaning and purpose. I try for as many passes as I can.
The pervasive environmental view, \"If I act but no one else does then what I do doesn't matter,\" and the passive behavior it leads to, embodies a meaningless existence.
I try in part today because I tried then. Today's post explores this view and several related ones in more depth.
","author_name":"Joshua Spodek: Author, Speaker, Professor"}