Big dreams for ordinary people by Fred Geke

CHAPTER FOUR

TWO KINDS OF ORDINARY

In my opinion, there are two kinds of ordinary. The first is the one that we have described above. Here, we are ordinary by virtue of the circumstances or families into which we are born. We don't choose our parents or race. We don't choose the colour of our skin and I don't think we select an IQ before we turn up. There's little we can do to change any of these initial designations. We can’t determine to whom or under what circumstances we are born. If our parents are poor, we'll be born into a poor family. If they're cattle rustlers, that's the infamy we get born into.
But that does not designate us poor or cattle rustlers for the rest of our lives. You probably have had opportunity to watch the start of a big marathon race with thousands at the starting line. Some competitors are in front while others are way back in that sea of humanity. But you know they don't necessarily finish in that order. Forty years ago you started the race at the rear of that pack. Now that does not explain what you are still doing at the back of the pack four decades later. Here is what explains why you're way back there: the second kind of ordinary.
The second kind of ordinary is ordinary by the choices we make, and that is what we want to tackle in this book. Most people who are doing badly aren't in that condition because of circumstances. Circumstances only affect the beginning of the race. And yes, they can prove a big handicap and draw back along the way, but only so far, only so much.