The Old Man and the Sea

Today's Run:
Distance: 2 miles
Time: 26:42
Pace: 13:19 per mile

If you want to know everything I believe about how one should handle life's trials (as well as why I love literature), you should read Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.

Santiago hasn't caught a fish in 84 days, but every day he returns to the boat intending to catch one. He drinks the shark liver oil that the other fishermen won't touch because although it tastes disgusting, it strengthens his eyesight. He keeps his lines perfectly straight down in the water and at the correct depths at all times. He'd rather be exact than lucky, he says, because then when luck comes, he will be ready. His young friend, Manolin, realizes that while there are many great fishermen, there is only one Santiago. The other men in the village doubt him, and even pity him, but armed with Manolin's faith in him and his own expertise, Santiago refuses to doubt himself.

Tomorrow, my dad finds out the results of his latest diagnostic scans, which will determine whether or not the latest round of chemotherapy treatments were successful. Maybe it will be the day that after his continual persistence, he catches the fish. Or maybe it will be the heartbreaking day that the sharks begin to attack his prize catch and he will have to fight them off one by one. Either way, I'm confident that my dad has not lost his determination. He has drank the shark liver oil. His lines are not crossed, and they're at the correct depth. If this is his turn to catch some luck, he will be ready. If it isn't, he will fight the sharks with every last weapon on the boat.

When he returns home, fish or no fish, the Manolins in Dad's life will be waiting, certain that he will return despite the doubts of the more practical townspeople.

After all-- a man can be destroyed but not defeated.