In the dirts

Ben Hogen said, 'the secret is in the dirt.' I don't know the context of this and whether the 'secret' was meant for just golf or life in general.

But I like to interpret this as a metaphor for success in life. Hogen himself had ups and downs in his golf career. A near fatal car accident almost ruined his career as well. But he managed to come back--in a big way. So maybe it's the great failure that can really rid all the unnecessary things and help one to stay focus.

Many successful people has also great failures along the way, but they don't stop there. They 'rise up from the ashes' and start the even more glorious second act of their career. Steve Jobs is another example that comes to mind. He was once outed from the same company he founded, but got hired back as CEO and created recent blockbuster hits like iMac, iPod, and iPhone.

Maybe their successes attribute to the previous failures--what some may even call disasters. When they are down to the level of dirt, the conjure up strength to jump up and fight again, somehow.

Not afraid of failure is probably the prerequisite for any success. And there are things nothing else can provide when one fails--that's where the secret lies.

An Old Song in the Olympics

[zz http://www.bokerb.com/user/ydling/archives/2007/23051.html]

王莘老人留下了一首脍炙人口的大合唱《歌唱祖国》走了。

一首好歌恰如美酒佳酿，能活血提神，调动情绪，促进微循环，令人热血沸腾不能自制。《歌唱祖国》发表于建国初期，在其总谱上标注着“壮大进行”，进行曲的速度、琅琅上口的歌词，正适合那些个年代多如牛毛、花样百出、七斗八斗的群众运动的需要：大会上唱，小会上唱；田间地头唱，工厂车间唱，部队学校也唱；高兴时唱，悲壮时也唱……

这首堪称第二国歌的《歌唱祖国》一经发表，中央就非常重视，在全国推广这首歌曲，差不多是动员了全民来唱，有人说，这在当时是十分罕见的举措。

到了文化大革命，那是全民脑溢血高峰期间，仍然需要歌声来激励人的革命豪情，鼓舞人的革命斗志，但是《歌唱祖国》原歌词中的“繁荣富强”、“独立自由是我们的理想”等都属于“复辟资本主义”的提法，说都不行，唱的比说的好听就更不行了，于是便有了文革版本的《歌唱祖国》。令人啼笑皆非的是，因为“祖国”一词是中性的，不知道你在歌唱的封建主义祖国还是歌唱的资本主义祖国，这首歌的歌名也改为《歌唱社会主义祖国》，歌中反复五编的主要歌词“歌唱我们亲爱的祖国”，也因为“亲爱的”一词涉嫌暧昧、黄色，属于当时的“敏感”词汇，干脆改为没有争议的“歌唱我们社会主义祖国”……。从那个时代过来的人，在唱这首歌的时候，仍会把歌词唱混，时代的烙印很难去掉啊。

Rick Warren with Obama & McCain

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