Following a train of thought full circle

I bought a new wallet today. I’ve had my old one for a long time, and though the lining was torn and the corners were well-rounded and discolored from wear and tear, I was reluctant to replace it. I liked the old one. It was comfortable, dependable, trusted.

As I transferred my belongings to the new fortress of my fortune, I emptied out the dozens of quotes, ideas, addresses, reminders, and other miscellany that I’d scrawled onto scraps of paper over the years and kept for posterity and/or quick reference. I don’t know why I felt the need to carry with me an obscure quote from playwright Lillian Hellman’s appearance before Congress in 1952 – “I cannot cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashion.” Or for that matter why, in the age of Wikipedia, I needed immediate written access to any of the pithy quotes I’d collected, ranging from such notorious wordsmiths as Winston Churchill and Thomas Jefferson to the more banal Led Zeppelin and The Godfather.

But one particular quote, scribbled down in the early morning after a late night, has always stayed with me, in part because I really had to think about it to “get it.” After all these years, I don’t even need to read it. I know it by heart. And I got it from watching a special on Bruce Lee.

Use no way as way, having no limitation as limitation.

Forget the Zen-like simplicity and the wordplay for a moment and just concentrate on the message. Lee exhorts us to be truly independent beings, breaking free from the conventional, allowing ourselves to break new barriers, striving to do that which has never been done in a manner that’s never been attempted. He takes the negative and twists it in such a way as to open up a world of possibilities. Brilliant.

Rereading that quote made me think of this guy.

At an age when most boys are sweating who they’re going to ask to the Homecoming dance, Sean Swarner was beating cancer. Twice. He’s since gone on to become an inspirational adventurer/athlete. He climbed Mt. Everest. Actually, he’s climbed the highest peak on every continent. And a few weeks ago, he competed in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, finishing the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon in 11:44:15. Unbelievable. His message to every child in a cancer ward, “If I can do it, so can you.”

With thoughts of Swarner still fresh in my mind, I come across a reminder of the upcoming Sabres game with the Predators, which makes me think of this story I read a few weeks ago about former Sabres center and current Nashville assistant Brent Peterson, who continues to coach despite the incessant progression of Parkinson’s disease.

Peterson was one of my favorite Sabres during the early to mid-1980s. He didn’t score a lot, he didn’t fight, he wasn’t loud. He was just a solid, defensive-minded player, who happened to be very good at a very difficult job: shutting down the opponent’s top center. When you’re playing street hockey every day, as we did as kids, you can’t always be Gilbert Perreault. You just can’t. So, Peterson was one of my alternate go-to guys. He was unassuming, he could score a little bit and he was so good at faceoffs. And by extension, as Peterson I became the best faceoff guy on the block.

But I digress.

These days, the real Brent Peterson is facing a dire situation, a battle he cannot win. His life has changed dramatically in the years since his diagnosis. Yet, there he is at practice every day, finding a way to live his life to the fullest, refusing to accept the limitations that his body is imposing upon him. Bruce Lee would be proud.

I’m so glad I bought a new wallet.

~ by Porky on December 1, 2008.