The Power of Perception

Today, in heat and humidity in Tokyo, the men's 10,000 meter race will take place.

Let's time travel for a moment.

The year was 1964, the last time the summer Olympics were held in Tokyo prior to this year. 

An unknown American was in that race. Billy Mills, hailing from the Lakota Nation, entered the race with a personal best that was a minute slower than the world record holder Ron Clark who was the favorite to win. Mills had suffered discrimination and hardship throughout his life, including losing his mother when he was 8 years old. He reflected on advice from his father during the mourning over losing his mother:

"My dad told me I had broken wings. He said, 'I am going to share something with you and if you follow it, someday you may have the wings of an eagle. Look beyond the hurt, the hate, the jealousy, the self-pity. All of those emotions destroy you'. 

He said, 'Look deeper, way down deeper where the dreams lie. You've gotta find a dream, son'. It is the pursuit of a dream that will heal broken souls."

Cut to the race. 

Last lap. 

Mills has stuck with two other runners who are now battling it out as a trio. He survives being tripped and almost falling to the ground with about 350 meters to go. Of note, the American announcers on the call ignore Mills and focus on the other two runners (from Tunisia and Australia), as if they don't see him right there in the mix.

And then, out of seemingly nowhere and with seemingly no time left to catch up, Mills puts on a sprint that made the other two look as if they were frozen in time. 

With a few seconds to go, Billy Mills passes into first. He wins, the first American to win the Olympic 10,000 meters, and to this day the only one to win at that distance. Close to a minute better than his previous best.

Mills recounts something beautiful in these last 15 seconds of the race:

"As I go by the runner, out of the corner of my eye, in the center of his jersey, I saw an eagle. It was so powerful...back to my dad. 'Son, if you do these things, someday you can have the wings of an eagle.' I have got to do it now! Wings of an eagle! I won! I won!"

I go to find the runner with the eagle on his singlet to tell him that the eagle helped me win. I found him. There was no eagle [on his singlet]. It was just the perception.

I feel so strongly that perceptions can create us. Our perceptions can destroy us. We can choreograph our journey."

The power of perception. What we may discount as visions, as delusions, as hallucinations may be life bringing us to something bigger, better than we ever imagined. The eagle Billy Mills saw was as real as it needed to be. It allowed him to push to a level he might not have found and connected him to something greater. It displaced all doubt and uncertainty and focused him on the finish line ahead.

When we see that eagle on the metaphoric shirt in front of  us, may we simply have the courage to dig deep and say as Mills did, "I have got to do it now!"

Video of Mills talking about the Tokyo race (above) and a story from WBUR in Boston 

that was the inspiration for this piece here.