Chapter 58: Repeating the
Same Mistake Looking up, the sky is full of stars.
The twinkling light is not dazzling. The soft and round halo is like pebbles in a clear stream, gurgling in the velvet sky. The countless faint lights make people completely forget the action of "counting" and just immerse themselves in it in a trance.
Hulala.
A breeze blew across my face, and in an instant it seemed as if all the stars in the world fell down. I couldn't help but stretch out my right hand, as if I were back in my childhood, naively believing that as long as I stood on tiptoe high enough, I could touch the stars and feel their temperature with my fingertips.
In a trance, goose bumps appeared on the surface of the skin, bringing reason back to my mind. I realized how naive I was, but I was neither shy nor restrained. I was just deeply immersed in this brilliance, temporarily forgetting all my worries and simply enjoying the moment.
"Gawain, what are you worried about?"
MacDonald turned to look at his friend, the corner of his mouth slightly raised, and asked with concern, but Gawain didn't understand and looked back at him in confusion. MacDonald thought for a moment and organized his words.
"You seem... anxious, and you're always like this during training. Of course, that's not a bad thing, and training and going all out is a good thing, but... but, too much is as bad as too little, you know? I just feel like you seem to be worried about something, and you want to grab onto something."
After saying this, MacDonald became a little worried again, fearing that he had said something wrong and violated Gao Wen's privacy, so he quickly apologized.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to criticize you..."
Gawain chuckled, "I know, Mike from Canada."
The joke made McDonald laugh, and his reserved expression relaxed a little.
Gao Wen thought about it seriously, then smiled faintly with a hint of bitterness, "Maybe, maybe I do feel anxious, I just..."
After letting out a long breath, Gawain turned to look at MacDonald, his eyes so bright in the night.
"I just want to cherish every day I stand on the court, because none of us can be sure what will happen in the future: whether we will become professional players, say goodbye to tennis after graduation, or change the trajectory of our lives because of a sudden injury."
"Mike, competitive sports are fascinating, but also cruel."
Gao Wen, I am serious.
According to the trajectory of the previous life, tomorrow, February 15th, the Bruins will challenge the Oklahoma Sooners away in the small town of Norman, Oklahoma.
At that time, Gao Wen, who was the sixth singles player, would play in the game. Then in the game, Gao Wen accidentally sprained his knee while trying desperately to save the ball. The pain was unbearable. After diagnosis by the team doctor, Gao Wen was forced to withdraw from the game. After losing this game, the Bruins lost another game and finally lost to their opponents with a score of "3:4", ushering in their first defeat of the season.
At the same time, Gao Wen went to the hospital for an MRI, which later confirmed that he had a slight tear in his knee ligament, which became a turning point in his entire career.
Although Gao Wen took rest and rehabilitation, he still caught up with the National Championship in May Madness and played with the team; but the injury laid hidden dangers, and he later experienced various degrees of injuries such as knee effusion and cruciate ligament tear. Surgery and rehabilitation began to occupy the main part of his life.
Later, he was forced to give up tennis and never returned to the court.
As he said, one injury led him and McDonald to completely different life trajectories.
Everything will happen tomorrow.
Since his rebirth, Gao Wen himself did not realize it, but the day of "February 15th" was like a sword hanging over his head, oppressing him all the time, and infiltrating every aspect of his daily training and life bit by bit.
If it happens again, will he make the same mistake again?
Maybe, maybe not, Gawain has no answer, but the only thing he can be sure of is that he will not escape, he will not let the shadow of his previous life hold him back, having finally won a second chance, he refuses to leave any regrets and refuses to repent, he will bravely face the challenges.
McDonald looked at his friend in front of him with a smile on his face and clear eyes. Although there was a hint of bitterness and helplessness, the vitality was shining in the depths of his eyes, which made McDonald sigh and get excited.
“Mike, do you believe in dreams?”
Gawain began to speak, but without waiting for MacDonald's answer, he continued.
"I want to believe, just like Rudy, that it's okay to be treated as a fool."
"Every day when I'm on the court, I want to make every second count, give it my all and seize the moment."
Daniel-'Rudy'-Ruettiger, an ordinary teenager with no height, no weight and no talent, dreams of becoming a player at Notre Dame University, a traditional NCAA football school. This is almost an impossible dream, and even his family and friends all laugh at him.
However, after three years of hard work, Rudy became a sparring partner for the Notre Dame football team - a sparring partner who could not play in the game and was not even officially on the team's roster. However, he persisted, just for the possibility of one day in the future being able to stand on the field wearing a Notre Dame jersey.
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In his senior year, in the last game of Rudy's college career, he was still not included in the starting roster and was still an insignificant sparring partner; however, his diligence, perseverance and spirit moved his teammates, who threatened to refuse to play in order to secure a place on the roster for Rudy.
Later, with 27 seconds left before the end of the game, when Notre Dame had already secured victory, the coach still refused to let Rudy play. However, the entire team and the audience cheered and won a precious opportunity for Rudy to play. Then, Rudy played -
Not only did he get on the field, but he also managed to sack the opposing quarterback to put an end to the game.
Just twenty-seven seconds, but it was the brightest and most glorious moment in Rudy's life.
After the game, his teammates lifted Rudy high up and left the court. That was in 1975, and no player has enjoyed such treatment since then.
Rudy has a kind of silly courage, a courage that is laughed at, despised and spurned by people, just like a fool, but it is precisely this courage that makes Rudy's life shine with incomparable brilliance.
Perhaps, in the eyes of those realists, the brilliance of "twenty-seven seconds" is meaningless and not commensurate with the efforts made over the years, nor worth it.
But the reality is that Rudy's family was originally just blue-collar workers in a steel mill. From generation to generation, however, Rudy's success changed his family's views and opinions. Later, with Rudy's encouragement and support, all his brothers and sisters were admitted to college and changed their lives.
Those twenty-seven seconds were never just twenty-seven seconds.
Later, this true story was adapted into a movie, "Chasing Dreams".
(End of this chapter)