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13
Is it sad that I never really understand the point of these things? All that training. All that hard work. Just to say you did X. If you put that much energy into something useful, imagine all the things that could come out of it. All the people you could help. It just seems like kind of a waste of time. (Sadly, this is not a joke comment. I am truly baffled by these types of "accomplishments".)
23
Well, you know, one of the ways that we as a society determine the significance of a life, is by stacking up all the things that people will remember us by when we are gone. For Ms. Nyad and her family, this is pretty big stuff. It will get remembered.
Also, it is useful in the greater sense, for a couple reasons.
One, is that it proves that just because you haven't accomplished your goal by the time you get into your sixties, it doesn't mean that you never will. So there's that.
Also, it is another reminder of just how physically close the US is to Cuba. You can swim there on a good day. Maybe that will get people to re-examine why we have this pointless blockade with a nation that we had disagreements with HALF A CENTURY AGO. Who knows? At least it will make people think about it.
Anyway, that's my take. Have a great day.
4
1
why climb mountains? because it is there.
why live life?
i feel also sad for you reading your comments.
3
That's a pretty good take. And I did totally ignore her age, which is impressive. I am over twenty years younger than her and I don't even want to get off the couch on some weekends.
10
Other people have enumerated various reasons why this is a cool thing. Mine would be that she keeps trying. I really hope she makes it this time, she's put so much effort into it, and she's such a cool person, but if the fates are against her this time, too, I hope she'll try again until she succeeds. So many times people are crushed after their first attempt at some cherished goal fails, and Nyad is a brilliant example that such a failure isn't as final as it might seem. I'm watching someone I'm fond of grapple with this right now, so it feels particularly important to me.
He seems to think of successful people as being people whose every attempt has succeeded, and that's probably a fairly common idea. Obviously I don't have any statistics to back this up, but I'd think that's unlikely to be the case as often as it is that they're people who kept trying until they succeeded. There's no better example of this than Nyad, and I wish her the best.
7
“Many of life's failures, are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”
Thomas Edison
3
NO! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.
Yoda can blow me.
Could you use a bunny?
25
"The toughest athlete in the world is a 62 year-old woman."
- D.L. Stewart. Dayton Daily News
YES!!!!! Take that ageism and sexism!!!!
4
I was certain, up until this point, that I was the only person on Gawker who ever read the Dayton Daily News. I find this more shocking that a 62 year-old woman swimming from Florida to Cuba, actually.
2
While I would love to take credit for being that omnivorous a reader of the nation's papers, the quote is from Ms. Nyad's tracking website. The only time I read that paper regularly, is when I am visiting up there. (Have a few friends from college in the area.)
1
Ah, I see. I also only read the paper when I'm in town to visit my parents- I don't think it is known for being an exceptional publication so I don't seek it out when not in Dayton. But I absolutely love that headline.
1
Indeed. Props to D.L. Stewart, right!
5
She just landed a few minutes ago.
12
Yes!!!!!!!!
5
What a fucking great shot! And boy, the networks really bungled their coverage of it.
2
I googled, and all the links said "Almost there!" so I realized I needed to go to the Miami Herald to get the latest, and there she was. :)
4
She looks like a superhero.
No, strike that. She IS a superhero.
