An Inspiring Legend – Marc Woods
“In my life there are places I remember…” sang the Beatles in their much loved song ‘In my life’. Yes in your life there are places, occasions and faces that you come across in your daily grind, and you remember some and forget many. Meeting Marc Woods is one of those occasions which will remain entrenched in my mind for all times to come.
While in Armonk, the HQ of IBM, I had heard about the exploits of the legendary Marc Woods in Paralympics. That he had won 12 Paralympics Medals of which 4 were Gold are testimonial to the courage and determination of a man who has learnt not to accept defeat under adverse circumstances.
I was in Bangalore on 5th of Sept 07 teaching a Basic Blue for New Leaders session, and IBM made it possible for me to meet Marc Woods. Sitting beside a legend is no easy task. But soon I was feeling at ease with him as he smiled through his bright blue eyes and shared his trials with destiny with me. Coming from a small fishing village in Britain he lost his left leg to cancer at the age of 17 when he was just getting started in life. But though he lost his leg he never lost his courage.
He spoke to me about his days when he was training for 4 hours everyday in the pool with 3 additional hours spent at the gym. He recalls those days as being extremely difficult ones… he was swimming the equivalent of 2 marathons every week!! He had to wake up everyday at 4 in the morning to make it to the pool in time. He remembers waking up every Friday morning feeling every muscle in his body aching from the training throughout the week, his mind and soul extremely tired… and there did not seem any good reason for him to wake up another day only to get more tired and more stretched. But one thing kept him going.. the self belief that someday he will win the gold medal at the Paralympics… and his feeling, that he was on the right track.
This sense of everyday drudgery seemed strangely familiar. Though I was not working as hard as him, but living out each day within the same routine can make anyone feel like a prisoner of his/her own destiny, locked within the walls of duties and responsibilities all the time. So each morning when I kiss my sleeping son good bye to catch an inter city flight I keep on asking myself “why am I leaving and what glory will it bring me?” The answer is not easy to find as there are no Olympics medals waiting for me at the end of this flight. So when I posed this question to Marc I knew I was bowling a googly to him. But like a Sachin Tendulkar he hit it for a straight six.
.
He asked me to think of all the reasons in my life of why I should leave… Are those reasons valid? If the answer is yes, then, that is good reason to leave. He asked me, what will make you proud? He gave me two options:
Do you want your son to be happy with you right now?
Do you want your son to be proud of you when you are no more with him?
To be very honest, it was a difficult choice. But I chose the second option, after careful consideration. I wanted my son to be proud of me because then that is what I want to be remembered as.
To that Marc’s response was, so now that you have made your choice, will that be possible if you stay home? Or will it be possible if you leave? I once again chose the 2nd option.
He gave me a frank smile with a twinkle in his crystal clear eyes, and told me ‘So now you have started thinking long term.’ That was my take away.
As part of the HR Learning team in India, my job has taken me to several places, given me the feeling of being on top of the world. However, all experiences and learning has perhaps made me more attuned to the finer feelings that a woman experiences underneath the shroud of success. Many of us working mothers constantly spend a large amount of energy trying to cover up a guilt feeling about not being able to give company to our children. So we constantly question our credibility as mothers.
But now, having spoken to Marc, I feel more confident. To be successful as a mother, I need to look and think long-term, I need to sacrifice my present for a brighter tomorrow and finally try to think beyond just my feelings and do things which are good for my child.
Choices could be different, but these are some of the reasons that I learnt to believe in from Marc.
My next question to him was around his disability, and I asked him as to how does he deal with his disability. As a 17 yr old how did he make himself overcome the psychological baggage that comes with an amputation?
He was contemplative for a brief second, and I saw for that one fraction for a second his entire past flash through his mind. Within that brief moment, I saw the pain, the losses and the determination come together in those blue eyes.
His story was that of a strong family and a stronger emotional strength. The first few months were filled with dark thoughts of all the things that he will now not be able to do because he is now ‘dis – abled’. Then came his father’s consistent words – “think of all the things that you are able to do.”
Having personal friends and relatives who have had similar disabilities, I have come across numerous situations where a completely healthy and cheerful person has become an extremely dependant, ill and irritable person having undergone an amputation. I have seen them turning from the most enthusiastic people to a person with no hope and no passion.
Marc says that as a 17 yr old cancer patient spending long periods in a hospital ward full of older people in their 50s and 60s was difficult. It was even more difficult to come out of the hospital one day and not being able to do some of the basic things which had not required any effort before.
While he lived through those dark days, within him emerged a strange kind of resolve of not being accepted as a disabled person. Though with time he had learnt to get adjusted with the artificial limb and the limp that comes with it, coming to terms with sympathetic looks were not that easy. Hence he taught himself, with hours and months of practice, to walk straight and started teaching his artificial limb to behave like his normal leg. So at the age of 17, he had to start afresh and started teaching himself to toddle and then to walk. The result is, today, if he walks into a room full of strangers, the only looks that he is likely to get are those of admiration and never sympathy. This self belief helped him to swim across all his troubles, not only to become one of the fastest swimmers but also to spread his learning by becoming the guiding light for a whole team of swimmers. Each of these swimmers had certain levels of physical disabilities but under the leadership of Marc Woods they excelled and reached heights which many of them never dreamt of achieving alone.
Marc Woods, is not simply an athlete, he is a true leader who has overcome physical, psychological and occupational challenges with sheer determination, grit and an innate belief in the human spirit. Being a Learning Professional in the HR Learning team, I had some of my most precious learning from Marc Woods. Through this article I would like to express my thanks to IBM HR Leaning for giving me the opportunity to change my life.
While in Armonk, the HQ of IBM, I had heard about the exploits of the legendary Marc Woods in Paralympics. That he had won 12 Paralympics Medals of which 4 were Gold are testimonial to the courage and determination of a man who has learnt not to accept defeat under adverse circumstances.
I was in Bangalore on 5th of Sept 07 teaching a Basic Blue for New Leaders session, and IBM made it possible for me to meet Marc Woods. Sitting beside a legend is no easy task. But soon I was feeling at ease with him as he smiled through his bright blue eyes and shared his trials with destiny with me. Coming from a small fishing village in Britain he lost his left leg to cancer at the age of 17 when he was just getting started in life. But though he lost his leg he never lost his courage.
He spoke to me about his days when he was training for 4 hours everyday in the pool with 3 additional hours spent at the gym. He recalls those days as being extremely difficult ones… he was swimming the equivalent of 2 marathons every week!! He had to wake up everyday at 4 in the morning to make it to the pool in time. He remembers waking up every Friday morning feeling every muscle in his body aching from the training throughout the week, his mind and soul extremely tired… and there did not seem any good reason for him to wake up another day only to get more tired and more stretched. But one thing kept him going.. the self belief that someday he will win the gold medal at the Paralympics… and his feeling, that he was on the right track.
This sense of everyday drudgery seemed strangely familiar. Though I was not working as hard as him, but living out each day within the same routine can make anyone feel like a prisoner of his/her own destiny, locked within the walls of duties and responsibilities all the time. So each morning when I kiss my sleeping son good bye to catch an inter city flight I keep on asking myself “why am I leaving and what glory will it bring me?” The answer is not easy to find as there are no Olympics medals waiting for me at the end of this flight. So when I posed this question to Marc I knew I was bowling a googly to him. But like a Sachin Tendulkar he hit it for a straight six.
.
He asked me to think of all the reasons in my life of why I should leave… Are those reasons valid? If the answer is yes, then, that is good reason to leave. He asked me, what will make you proud? He gave me two options:
Do you want your son to be happy with you right now?
Do you want your son to be proud of you when you are no more with him?
To be very honest, it was a difficult choice. But I chose the second option, after careful consideration. I wanted my son to be proud of me because then that is what I want to be remembered as.
To that Marc’s response was, so now that you have made your choice, will that be possible if you stay home? Or will it be possible if you leave? I once again chose the 2nd option.
He gave me a frank smile with a twinkle in his crystal clear eyes, and told me ‘So now you have started thinking long term.’ That was my take away.
As part of the HR Learning team in India, my job has taken me to several places, given me the feeling of being on top of the world. However, all experiences and learning has perhaps made me more attuned to the finer feelings that a woman experiences underneath the shroud of success. Many of us working mothers constantly spend a large amount of energy trying to cover up a guilt feeling about not being able to give company to our children. So we constantly question our credibility as mothers.
But now, having spoken to Marc, I feel more confident. To be successful as a mother, I need to look and think long-term, I need to sacrifice my present for a brighter tomorrow and finally try to think beyond just my feelings and do things which are good for my child.
Choices could be different, but these are some of the reasons that I learnt to believe in from Marc.
My next question to him was around his disability, and I asked him as to how does he deal with his disability. As a 17 yr old how did he make himself overcome the psychological baggage that comes with an amputation?
He was contemplative for a brief second, and I saw for that one fraction for a second his entire past flash through his mind. Within that brief moment, I saw the pain, the losses and the determination come together in those blue eyes.
His story was that of a strong family and a stronger emotional strength. The first few months were filled with dark thoughts of all the things that he will now not be able to do because he is now ‘dis – abled’. Then came his father’s consistent words – “think of all the things that you are able to do.”
Having personal friends and relatives who have had similar disabilities, I have come across numerous situations where a completely healthy and cheerful person has become an extremely dependant, ill and irritable person having undergone an amputation. I have seen them turning from the most enthusiastic people to a person with no hope and no passion.
Marc says that as a 17 yr old cancer patient spending long periods in a hospital ward full of older people in their 50s and 60s was difficult. It was even more difficult to come out of the hospital one day and not being able to do some of the basic things which had not required any effort before.
While he lived through those dark days, within him emerged a strange kind of resolve of not being accepted as a disabled person. Though with time he had learnt to get adjusted with the artificial limb and the limp that comes with it, coming to terms with sympathetic looks were not that easy. Hence he taught himself, with hours and months of practice, to walk straight and started teaching his artificial limb to behave like his normal leg. So at the age of 17, he had to start afresh and started teaching himself to toddle and then to walk. The result is, today, if he walks into a room full of strangers, the only looks that he is likely to get are those of admiration and never sympathy. This self belief helped him to swim across all his troubles, not only to become one of the fastest swimmers but also to spread his learning by becoming the guiding light for a whole team of swimmers. Each of these swimmers had certain levels of physical disabilities but under the leadership of Marc Woods they excelled and reached heights which many of them never dreamt of achieving alone.
Marc Woods, is not simply an athlete, he is a true leader who has overcome physical, psychological and occupational challenges with sheer determination, grit and an innate belief in the human spirit. Being a Learning Professional in the HR Learning team, I had some of my most precious learning from Marc Woods. Through this article I would like to express my thanks to IBM HR Leaning for giving me the opportunity to change my life.
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