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here is the microtheme, but first the quote:
"Without belief, we should be left with nothing but an
overwhelming doom, every single day. And it will beat
you. I didn't fully see, until the cancer, how we
fight every day against the creeping negatives of the
world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping
of cynicism. Dispiritedness and disappointment, these
were the real perils of life, not some sudden illness
or cataclysmic millennium doomsday. I know now why
people fear cancer: because it is a slow and inevitable
death, it is the very definition of cynicism and loss
of spirit. So I believed" (113-14).
It's Not About the Bike: My Journey Back to Life
Lance Armstrong, With Sally Jenkins September 2001
Lance Armstrong, in his book, It's Not About the Bike:
My Journey Back to Life deals with many different
issues, one of the more important themes in his book
is believing in something. He feels that without a
belief we would feel every day as if the weight of the
world were trying to crush us and that we were
helpless. Mr. Armstrong also said he felt that without
belief, one would fall victim to dispiritedness and
disappointment. These things can happen, and I do
agree they can tear you up, but this need not be a
belief in a higher power. This could simply be a faith
in the human spirit to over come things like sickness.
The love of family members and friends can be a
constant reminder of a faith. Simply put, faith
manages. With the constant feeling that you can become
better, you will achieve this, etc. People all over
the world have accomplished great acts.
Never in my life have I met an impossible odd that I
could not over come. I simply held together, I knew
there were times when I could have turned back and taken
the easier way, and many other times when I tried to take the
easier way. But I would always, because of the support
of friends or family, go back and try to achieve
whatever goal I wanted to attain. With this mentality,
your goal becomes a desire, a hunger really. And
nothing but success will quench that thirst. And even
if you do fail, it is still may sate your hunger because
you stuck with it till the end and did not walk away.
This is what I believe Lance Armstrong is trying to
say in the 2nd excerpt. Simply put, find faith in the
fact that you will achieve what you want, regardless
of how long it takes or what obstacles are in your
way. No mountain is so tall that it is un-climbable.
That is, as long as you keep the faith, so to speak,
you can achieve it. This is coming from the man who
recovered from cancer and went on to win the Tour de
France five times, proof that if you desire it, really
hunger for it, you can have it. It can happen if you fight your way
to the summit of that mountain and do not accept any
limitations. Keep in mind that does not in anyway mean that you
will succeed, only that you have the potential to succeed.
