Choose Strong
For Tim.
The following quote
“Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”
- Samuel Johnson
caught Bill's eye on a Facebook post. In the picture below, the guy was
receiving his blackbelt from a legendary BJJ master. For a moment, Bill was
taken in: Dr. Johnson was legit, his maxim rang deep, and the jiu-jiteiro was
promoted after 10+ years of hard work.
But then, he started to ask himself: for one that succeeded, in anything, how
many tried and failed? Geniuses like Da Vinci accomplished one feat after
another throughout life without breaking a sweat. Why there haven't been more
like him? And then there was Niels Bohr, the physicist, who said that the oppostie
of true was false but the opposite of a profound truth another profound truth.
In other words, "Great works are performed not by perseverance but by strength" could be equally true.
At length, this internal discussion led nowhere and confused and agitated, Bill
gave up and came back to what he did everyday--copying the dictionary. And soon,
the soothing scratching sound of the pencil on the 32-line college ruled paper
calmed him down.
Convinced that he was making progress (after all, he was going forward on paper)
Bill had secretly expected good things to come out of his daily grind. From very
young, he was inspired by stories such as dripping water bored through stone and
the amazing things one would achieve had he only done a small amount of fill-in-
the-blank a day.
Three years, however, seemed enough to prove that it was a delusion: no monumental
success looming on the horizon and, except for a few more wrinkles on his face,
nothing was visibly transformed. Often, after being fascinated by its description,
he forgot right away the entry word he had just transcribed. It took him this long
to realize that each word was a mini-story and, all this time, he was only trying
to escape boredom and reality and to entertain himself. He already had fun and it
would be quite ungrateful, let alone missing the point, to ask for anything else.
Therefore, after finishing page 1003, the official midway of the AHD4(The American
Heritage Dictionary, 4th Ed), he decided to select a few words and jot them down
regularly, not as a task or obligation to meet but a pleasure to look forward to.
- Leda
Leda the queen of Sparta mothered four kids: Pollux and Helen by Zeus and
Castor and Clytemnestra by her husband Tyndareus. The poor king seemed the
least known. At Bill's workplace, two servers were named castor and pollux and
he planned to name two of his computers after the two most famous daughters.
- left bank
Bill had always referred to the trail he rode bike on "the paved side" of the
Alameda Creek Trail. And it was a great pleasure to learn that from now on he
can call it the left side. He learnt it from one definition of the word left:
left: 1c. Located on the left side of a person facing downstream.
- leghorn
This was the name of a street in Mountain View. According to the dictionary,
it is also
Any of a breed of small hardy domestic fowl of Mediterranean origin,
noted for prolific production of eggs.
If Bill were to have a big enough garden, he'd definitely raise some leghorns.
- leotard
n. A snugly fitting, stretchable one-piece garment with or without sleeves
that covers the torso, worn especially by dancers gymnasts, acrobats, and
those engaging in exercise workouts.
- leonine [lion] and leporine [rabbit or hare]
- lethe
n. 1. Lethe Greek Mythology The river of forgetfulness, one of five rivers in
Hades. 2. A condition of forgetfulness; oblivion. - Lethean adj.
- letup
n. 1. A reduction in pace, force, or intensity; a slowdown. 2. A temporary
stop; a pause.
- leuko or leuk- also leuco- or leuc-
pref. 1. White; colorless: leukoderma. 2. Leukocyte: leukopenia.
- leukocyte
n. See white blood cell.
- levant intr. Chiefly British To leave hurriedly or in secret to avoid unpaid debts.
- Levant The countries bordering on the eastern Mediterranean Sea from Turkey to Egypt.
- Levant n. A heavy, coarse-grained morocco leather often used in bookbinding.
