Fighting back against life’s little inconveniences

Some days you find inspiration from the unlikeliest places.

A few weeks ago, CBS kicked off its Thursday Night Football schedule with a short 2-minute introductory speech featuring actor Forest Whitaker.

I’ve long forgotten the game. If I’m not mistaken, the Denver Broncos came back for a last minute victory over the Kansas City Chiefs. However, three weeks later, the speech is still very vivid in my thoughts.

In the montage, Whitaker asks, “How many people in this room have ever had one of those days when everything just seems … to start out wrong?”

I’m raising my hand here. Can’t you see it? Yesterday, I spilled apple sauce all over my shirt and pants right before I had to give a presentation. Two weeks ago, our mechanic called to give us the bill on our car. I’m thinking he’s calling to tell us we owe $100 at most. Umm, how about $2,300? Hello, really?

The CBS montage shows a kid getting up off the wrong side of the bed: spilling his breakfast, getting lectured in class and fumbling the football on the field.

And Whitaker in only the way he can, says:

I never understood people who wished they were born rich.

I never understood athletes who just wanted to join the best teams.

Build your own business!

Start your own dynasty!

A good start to a day is easy; I want no part of easy.

I want the struggle.

I want the fight.

I want the pain.

Every time I hear that speech I think to myself: Really? You really want the pain? You want the hassle of a bill you weren’t expecting. You want the last-minute request that forces you stay late at work. You want traffic congestion, forcing your commute to be tougher than usual.

Really?

And then I want the best feeling of all: the feeling that the world did everything it could to beat me.

 But I won.

 Okay, you got me. I want to beat the odds too. Sign me up.