QUITE often we are likened to crabs who pull each other down whenever one tries to escape from the box it is being held captive in. In 1936, American Jesse Owens seemed sure to win the long-jump competition at the Olympic games. The previous year he had jumped 26 feet, 8 1/4 inches – a record that will stand for 25 years.
As he walked to the long-jump pit, however, Owens saw a tall, blue-eyed, blond German taking practice jumps in the 26-foot range. Owens felt nervous. He was acutely aware of the Nazis’ desire to prove “Aryan superiority. ” And as a black son of a sharecropper, he knew what it is like to be made to feel inferior.
On his first jump, Owens inadvertently leapt from several inches beyond the takeoff board. Rattled, he fouled his second attempt too. One more foul and he would be eliminated.
At this point, the tall German introduced himself as Luz Long. “You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed!” he said to Owens, referring to his upcoming two jumps. For the next few moments, the African American and the white Nazi chatted together.
Then Long made a suggestion. “Since the qualifying distance is only 23 feet, 5 1/2 inches, why not make a mark several inches before the takeoff board and jump from there, just to play it safe? Owens did and qualified easily.
In the finals, Owens set an Olympic record and earned the second of four gold medals. But who was the first person to congratulate him? Luz Long – in full view of Adolf Hitler.
Owens never again saw Long, who was later killed in World War II. “You could melt down all the medals and cups I have,” Owens later wrote, “and they wouldn’t be a plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long.”
Luz Long made his mark in world history and taught the rest of us a valuable lesson. Someone else put it like this: “We can learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp… some are pretty… some are dull… some have weird names… and all are different colours…. But they all have to learn to live in the same box.”
We need to do the same; stop pulling down our own who try to achieve and start encouraging those who have the talent but need a helping hand. Then and only then will we be able to move forward..!
—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com
