QUIT! GIVE UP! YOU’RE BEATEN!

Trying to find an old email in my inbox, I stumbled upon this one sent to me back in the year 2000. I remember reading it while I was in my dad's office and got teary-eyed as I neared the end. So, here's something for the fathers (and mothers) and their children; something for the people who have fallen too many times and need to find some encouragement to stand up again. Hope you like it.

QUIT! GIVE UP! YOU’RE BEATEN!

D.H. Groberg

I

Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"

They shout at me and plead.

"There's just too much against you now;

This time you can't succeed!"

And as I start to hang my head

In front of failure's face,

My downward fall is broken by

The memory of a race

And hope refills my weakened will

As I recall that scene;

For just the thought of that short race

Rejuventates my being.

II

A children's race- young boy, young men,

How I remember well.

Excitement, sure! But also fear;

It wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope

Each thought to win that race.

Or tie for first, or if not that,

At least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side

Each cheering for his son.

And each boy hoped to show his dad

That he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went

Young hearts and hopes afire.

To win and be the hero there

Was each young boy's desire

And one boy in particular

Whose dad was in the crowd

Was running near the lead and thought:

"My dad will be so proud!"

But as he speeded down the field

Across a shallow dip,

The little boy who thought to win

Lost his step and slipped

Trying hard to catch himself "Quit! Give up! You're beaten!"

They shout at me and plead.

"There's just too much against you now;

This time you can't succeed!"

So down he fell and with him hope

-He couldn't win now-

Embarrassed, sad he only wished

To disappear somehow

But as he fell his dad stood up

And showed his anxious face,

Which to the boy so clearly said:

"Get up and win the race!"

He quickly rose, no damage done

-Behind a bit, that's all-

And ran with all his mind and might

To make up for his fall

So anxious to restore himself

-To catch up and to win-

His mind went faster than his legs;

He slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before

With only one disgrace

"I'm hopeless as a runner now;

I shouldn't try to race."

But in the laughing crowd he searched

And found his father's face;

That steady look which said again:

"Get up and win the race!"

So he jumped up to try again

-Ten yards behind the last-

"If I'm to gain those yards," he thought,

"I've got to move real fast."

Exerting everything he had

He gained eight or ten,

But trying so hard to catch the lead

He slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lied there silently

-A tear dropped from his eye-

"There's no sense in running anymore:

Three strikes: I'm out! Why try?"

The will to rise had disappeared;

All hope had fled away;

So far behind, so error-prone:

A loser all the way.

"I've lost, so what's the use," he thought

"I'll live with my disgrace."

But then he thought about his dad

Who soon he'd have to face.

"Get up," an echo sounded low.

"Get up and take your place;

You were not meant for failure here.

Get up and win the race."

"With borrowed will get up," it said,

You haven't lost at all.

For winning is no more than this:

To rise each time you fall."

So up he rose to run once more,

And with new commit

He resolved that win or lose

At least he wouldn't quit

So far behind the others now,

-The most he'd ever been-

Still he gave it all he had

And ran as though to win

Three times he'd fallen, stumbling;

Three times he rose again:

Too far behind to hope to win

He still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner

As he crossed the line first place.

Head high, and proud, and happy;

No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster

Crossed the line last place,

The crowd gave him the greater cheer,

For finishing the race.

And even though he came in last

With head bowed low, unproud,

You would have thought he'd won the race

To listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said,

"I didn't do too well."

"To me, you won," his father said.

"You rose each time you fell."

III

And when things seem dark and hard

And difficult to face,

The memory of that little boy

Helps me in my race.

For all of life is like that race.

With ups and downs and all.

And all you have to do to win,

Is rise each time you fall.

"Quit! Give up, you're beaten!"

They still shout in my face.

But another voice within me says:

"GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"

feed on your limits

"In some ways, every business man needs to learn how to be an artist. It's crucial when you're leading a project." --Lionel Poilane

One of Poilane's favorite projects is the cage that he and Salvador Dali made together out of bread dough. "The bird could eat it's way out of the cage," Poilane explains. "That was very real to me. As an apprentice, I too felt like a bird in a cage made out of bread. I just had to feed on my limits."

Lionel Poilane, Fast Company, March 2001

No.1 Trouble Maker

"Fly High, Seek Peace" -- that's a line from Dinotopia, one of our favorite books back in the 90s. I used it a lot and usually ended my letters, greeting cards, and speeches with that line. I also used it for The Flying Phantom, our comic book character.

Ten years ago, Brandie gave me a journal for my birthday and on the first page he wrote: The Adventure continues. We have to wake up a few more times to finish what we have started. To tell stories. Through comics, ads, the net, maybe someday even the movies. We may never be able to run a nationwide television station... but we can evoke emotions through our stories; evoke memories and lives that have yet to be lived by our audience. That is Power. More powerful than being president.

I finally realized what kept us from going onto more successful ground. We keep following Flying Phantom's motto, when it should be "Fly High, Seek Trouble!" That makes all the difference.

Happy Birthday to the Chief Trouble Maker! May you reach higher ground this year and have lots of fun in the process.

Sunday Inquirer reviews UNDERPASS

“Underpass” by various creators (Summit Media)
A CHILLING journey to the dark, hidden places we fear, “Underpass” is a comic book anthology featuring four well-crafted horror stories.


In “SIM,” Gerry Alanguilan shows just how much can go wrong when one picks up a discarded SIM card in a jeepney. Betrayal comes in many colors in “Judas Kiss,” a tale from David Hontiveros, Budjette Tan and Oliver Pulumbarit. There is a magnetic quality to the violence found in Hontiveros’ and Ian Sta. Maria’s “Katumbas.” Vanity and fame come at a pretty price in “The Clinic,” from Tan and Kajo Baldisimo. “Underpass” is a sidetrip worth your attention as it is both disturbing and amazing. 

Read the other titles recommended by the Sunday Inquirer at:
http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/sim/sim/view/20100424-266190/Booking_Passage 

You can also read the complete story of THE CLINIC at:
http://tresekomix.blogspot.com/2010/01/down-other-dark-corridor-clinic.html

For more preview UNDERPASS pages, click the link below
http://www.summitgraphicnovels.com.ph/