The ancient Stoic philosopher Seneca tells us, "I judge you unfortunate because you have never lived through misfortune. You have passed through life without an opponent - no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you."
I've been thinking a lot about this quote today. I tend to be a fairly optimistic person, so I will start with the light-hearted anecdote first! Exactly four years ago yesterday evening (November 2nd), I was sitting in a hotel room in Washington, D.C. (due to an ill-timed business trip) watching Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. My favorite team, the Chicago Cubs, were playing in the World Series for the first time since 1945 - and as any baseball fan or Chicago native knows, they hadn't won the World Series in over 100 years (since 1908). They were playing the Cleveland Indians, another team with a famous amount of bad luck.
The game started off exactly the way I wanted it to do - the Cubs were playing well and their starting pitcher, Kyle Hendricks was dealing! By the bottom of the 5th inning, the Cubs were winning 5-1 and Hendricks was down to the last out of the inning. Hendricks walked the next batter, and Joe Maddon, the Cubs manager, made a decision (second-guessed by many still to this day) to bring in pitcher Jon Lester in relief. Lester came in a bit shaky, and after a throwing error by catcher David Ross and a wild pitch by Lester, the Cubs lead was down to 5-3.
David Ross hit a home run in the sixth inning (in what would turn out to be the final at bat of his career) to give the Cubs a 6-3 lead. Lester pitched brilliantly through the first two outs of the eighth inning, and Maddon made the decision to bring in his closer, Aroldis Chapman, after Lester gave up a hit. Chapman had pitched for more innings than he usually does in the previous game, and his fatigue showed. He gave up a double to make the score 6-4, and then a two-run home run to tie the game up. Cubs fans everywhere (this one included) couldn't believe it - would the Cubs blow it again?
Chapman came back to pitch in the ninth inning with the score still tied 6-6. He pitched great, and the game went into extra innings! And then it happened. The heavens opened up, and the rain came down (it wasn't actually as dramatic as that - it had been raining for a couple of innings by that point). A 17 minute rain delay. The Cubs came back to play and scored two runs in the top of the 10th inning to take the lead, 8-6.
Carl Edwards, Jr pitched in relief in the bottom of the 10th and retired the first two runners. The Indians scored a run to close it to 8-7. Maddon changed pitchers again, this time bringing in Mike Montgomery. Cubs third baseman, Kris Bryant made a great play to throw out the runner on first, and the world changed for the better. "Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win!" I watched it all over again last night! What a great memory.
There was a lot that went wrong for the Cubs then, but they persevered and came through on top. I guess that's what Seneca meant. If you have never been faced with adversity, how can you truly know what you are capable of accomplishing? If you have never failed, how can you learn how to succeed?
Seneca would argue that we are truly fortunate when we experience misfortune. Therein lies one of the key paradoxes of Stoic philosophy. Misfortune is our fortune.
We are living through some difficult times. We are still dealing with a worldwide pandemic, and today is perhaps the most important presidential election in our lifetimes. I do think that, in the end, we will come out okay. We will be fortunate to have experienced the misfortunes of 2020. And we will truly know what we are capable of accomplishing.
No comments:
Post a Comment