The first time I heard the term, St. Elmo’s Fire, was the movie and also in correlation to Rick Hansen and his Man in Motion tour (both came out in 1985). It wasn’t until later, when I looked it up, that it means a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a discharge from a grounded object in an electric field in the atmosphere (see Wikipedia.org.) But to me, the words mean determination. And still after all this time, each time I hear the song, I don’t think of the movie, I think of Rick Hansen and it gives me the strength to persevere.
I didn’t get the chance to actually meet Rick but the Man in Motion tour did stay at the hotel I was working at during one of the stops in British Columbia. Of course there was a lot of activity and security, not to mention I’m sure the guy was dead tired at the end of the day. But if I had the chance to speak with him, I wouldn’t have asked him why, because the whole crux of his incredible feat was for spinal cord injury awareness and the proceeds of his tour went to research. I would have sat down, looked him in the eye and asked, “what drives you?”
Marathon runner, endurance biker, prolific writer (one of the authors in my publishing house is like that and I am in awe of her <grin>), it doesn’t matter what the arena but more the reason of what pushes them beyond the achievements of the next person. Is it something in their individual genetic make-up, compelling them to advance father? Are overachievers (not sayin’ that you are Lynn 
) influenced by a person in their life or is the desire their own dream?
I am by no means a super sportsperson (I can barely make it to the gym three days a week!) nor an abundant writer, mainly because I work full-time. But I used to be a competitive athlete and now channel that “fire” into writing novels, short stories and stage plays. And I can tell you that whatever embraces your soul to do something that it becomes almost all-consuming, is as individual as the person itself. No one told me to enter the world of competitive sports or to pick up the pen but when I did, it was like something ignited in me and it would not be smothered until I took it as far as I could go.
But what about the rest of modern society? Why can’t everyone have that glow? Maybe they haven’t found their spark. Some of you might say because of opportunity. I believe we create our opportunity, by keeping an open mind and pushing forward. And what about the ones who jumped off the wheel. Did they have enough, pack it in because achieving their ultimate goal became too much work? Perhaps the spark fizzled because it wasn’t given enough air to breathe.
What about you? Are you a person who won’t give up and if so, what compelled you to continue past the point of pain, rejection, exhaustion? And when you did push past the barrier, what did it feel like to break out the other side?
“Just once in your life, a man has his time. My time is now and I’m comin’ alive” Tell the world about it. You never know…you might influence someone else to pursue their fire.
Ordinarily I don’t link two videos on my posts but because of the monumental accomplishment of Rick Hansen and his determination, I’m making the exception. The video is short but truly inspiring.
